About 100,000 Muslim refugees victim of Tamil Tiger ethnic cleansing to go home

(Dec.08,2009): In Sri Lanka, about 100,000 Muslim Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) will go home before the end of the year. For the past 20 years, they have lived in refugee camps in Puttalam District and neighbouring areas, as rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – LTTE, had expelled them. The repatriation of the northern Muslim communities will begin on
26 December, in a ceremony in the presence of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The announcement was made by a Member of Parliament and Resettlement Minister Rishard Bathiyutheen.
The war between Tamil Tigers and the army deeply marked the fate of the Muslim population from northern Sri Lanka. In 1990, the LTTE forced Tamil-speaking Muslims to leave their homes, in what constituted to an act of ethnic cleansing. At least 10,000 families, or 75,000 people, were expelled from the northern region occupied by the Tamil Tigers.Over the years, Muslims from the Northern Province increased in numbers but were forced to live in refugee camps until now.