SDIG recalls how extremists rose above law in East due to political expediency

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Some Islamic groups in the East had armed themselves on the pretext of fighting the LTTE, but had not been involved in extremist activities, former SDIG Eastern Province Edison Gunathilaka on Saturday informed the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks.

Zahran was also a member of one of the 18 extremist groups that had emerged during that time.

The retired SDIG said that those groups also engaged in criminal activities but people were afraid of lodging complaints because those groups had political backing. Former minister Rishad Bathiudeen, former Eastern Province Governor M. L. A. M. Hizbullah and A. L. M Athaullah were among those who backed those extremist groups, he said.

“Around 1997 and 1998,

Hizbullah planted date palms in the East after removing the median barrier on the road.

At that time the price of a date palm tree was around Rs. 30,000-40,000″, he said.

Gunathilaka said that a large number of mosques were constructed at that time in the East and the way women dressed had rapidly changed.

“Around 2008, the government gave a grace period for Karuna and Pilleyan groups to return their weapons. However, they only handed over weapons that could not be used. They didn’t hand over the mini pistols they had in thier possession.”

Gunathilaka said that Muslim groups in Kattankudy and Eravur were heavily armed and that 2008 marked the advent of the first extremist groups there. Those groups had acted violently and engaged in many criminal activities, he said.

The Attorney General’s Department officials leading the evidence asked the witness how the Muslim groups had procured those weapons. Gunathilaka said that those weapons had been procured from Pilleyan’s TMVP and that Basheer Segu Dawood had funded the procurements.

“After the end of the war Jihadist groups emerged in the East. They didn’t use helmets while riding motorcycles; they didn’t obey laws and they even assaulted police personnel. I tried to stop these activities but there were obstacles.”

The witness added that former IGP Mahinda Balasuriya had asked him not to arrest armed Islamists due to political reasons. Hizbullah, Athaullah, Bathiudeen and Amir Ali got together and had removed him from the East because he started taking action against Islamists, the witness said.

Gunathilaka said that former Governor of the Western Province Alavi Moulana had been against extremism and advised them to take action against extremist groups.

The former SDIG added that those Islamic groups had also aggressively encroached on state forests in the East. The Muslim officials appointed to those areas had backed such illegal encroachments, he said.

Gunathilaka added that extremism was still very much alive and that there had been some recent incidents that showed extremists were active on the ground.