Muslim MPs in Sri Lanka ask Indians not to discriminate against Muslim IDPs

Seventeen Muslim legislators in Sri Lanka have asked the Indian government to address the issue of discrimination against old IDPs that include a large number of Muslims evicted from the North by the LTTE. The Muslim MPs have written a letter to Indian High Commissioner Ashok Kantha explaining that old IDPs who were displaced prior to 2008 have lost out on the assistance and relief provided to the new IDPs post 2008.
The legislators have raised the issue of the 50,000 houses being built in the North by the Indian government to be handed over to IDPs. "While we have appreciated your valuable contribution to build 50,000 houses in Sri Lanka, we were shocked to see the criteria for housing, which categorically made differences between people displaced before and after 2008," the letter has stated. The letter explains that hundreds of Northern Muslims who had been evicted over 20 years ago and living as refugees have started trying to return to their previous lands after the end of the war. The Muslim legislators have pointed out that these returning Muslims have been faced with many difficulties due to the lack of assistance provided to them due to being identified as old IDPs. The letter also sates, "we very much regret to note that the victimized Muslim population of the Northern Province being overlooked in the process through introducing criteria and following the manipulated data of agencies." The letter was signed by Ministers A. H. M. Fowzie, Rishad Bathiyutheen, Rauf Hakeem, A. L. M. Athaullah, Deputy Ministers Abdul Cader, M. L. A. M. Hisbullah, Basheer Segudawood, Faiszer Mustapha, and parliamentarians A. H. M. Azwer, Hunais Farook, M. S. Thowfeek, Muthaliph Bawa Farook, Faizal Cassim, H. M. M. Harees, Mohamed Aslam Saleem, M. T. Hasen Ali and Kabir Hashim. The LTTE began its systematic ethnic cleansing of the North in 1985 by forcibly occupying Muslim properties. They ordered the Muslim population in Mannar to leave in October 1989 and a year later on October 30, 1990 the LTTE evicted the entire Muslim population of about 75,000 from Jaffna giving only two hours to evacuate the city. The forcibly evicted Muslims have been living with their relatives in the displaced camps since 1990.