SLMC For Pluralism, Or Racism

By Faizer Shaheid –February 29, 2016

Faizer Shaheid

A recent statement made by Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Chairman and Parliamentarian, Basheer Segudawood sparked quite an outrage among the people of all communities. It implied a separatist view. Dawood seems to have gone into hiding ever since, thereby effectively depriving Journalists of any clarification regarding the statement.

At a discussion held in Kattankudy recently, Dawood had gone all out iterating that a Muslim Province will give a motherland and self-determination to the Muslims. In the same discussion, Dawood had stated that the Tamil community had neither stepped down nor given up on their demand for self-determination, and neither should the Muslims. He added that the demand for a North and East merger was most likely a political ploy to ensure the supremacy of the Tamil Community in the region.

His statements were alarming and the netizens, as expected, ran roughshod on his blatant statement. His former position as a High Command Member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organization attached an extremist label to his reputation. To make things worse, he had also claimed that the late M. H. M. Ashraff had endorsed such a view, and the son of the legendary politician, Aman Ashraff wasted no time retaliating.

In a strongly worded letter, Aman stated that his father’s mandate was purely for a united Sri Lanka, undivided in any way. Re-iterating his father’s stance, Aman claimed that such a separate state for the Muslims was only fair if the Tamils were granted a separate state, but that his father changed his view eventually. As a result, Aman claimed that the National Unity Alliance (NUA) was formed to encourage a pluralistic political entity.

Aman’s letter was a hard hitting one. It also claimed that Dawood was not a part of the Politburo of the NUA because he lacked political maturity and still did. At the same time, the letter was also hailed as an appropriate response to what could have potentially jeopardized the ethnic harmony of the masses. Dawood’s statement could also have firmly branded a racist label to an already prevailing conjecture from among people in the South that the people of the North and East are racist beyond reason. Therefore, Aman’s letter was timely and was afforded adequate media attention to denote that not all Muslims felt the same.

However, Aman may have misconstrued the statement of Dawood. His letter sort to address the issue as a call for a separate state for the Muslims, but drew no response. By then, Basheer Segu Dawood had already fled the open in the wake of incessant fire from the people. Thankfully, the political bigwigs did not take him as seriously most likely due to the other more important issues at hand. Thankfully it also did not inspire further affliction upon the Muslims from racist elements who would usually harp on the minutest of such issues.

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