On The Plight Of Evicted Muslims At Slave Island

By Latheef Farook -December 9, 2013

Latheef Farook

On Saturday 8 May 2010 afternoon the Urban Development Authority, UDA,  under the Defense Ministry, deployed police and special forces  to destroy  number of houses at  Mews Street in Slave Island in the heart of Colombo.

All except one house, owned by a Tamil, are Muslim owned. Those who lived there were forced out of their homes with their belongings thrown into streets.

The evicted people said that they have title deeds of ownership of the land, documents to prove the houses are legal and were living there for decades. They worked in and around there and earned their livelihood. Their children too went to schools in the area.

However their lives were shattered overnight when their houses were destroyed without any human consideration and dumped in temporary wooden structures Mattakkuliya. They said the authorities were ruthless in driving them out of their houses.

Justifying the demolition of these buildings in a statement the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) stated that;

“The removal of unauthorized dwellers, formerly residing in a land adjoining the Defense Services School at Mews Street, Slave Island, was done in a very fair and humane manner, consistent with applicable legal procedures,

The land which the dwellers were residing after building unauthorized structures belonged to the Urban Development Authority (UDA). Although the dwellers were residing without proper authority, considering the humane nature of the matter, they were provided with compensation and alternative residences with UDA intervention.

As the illegal dwellers had failed to adhere to repeated reminders to vacate their unauthorized structures they were evicted on 7 Friday May 2010 after providing adequate compensation and alternative houses.

The MCNS also stated that the Defense Services School was established several years back with the intention of providing viable education facilities to the children of war heroes of the Security Forces and Police who acted with selfless determination and sacrifice to save the country from terrorism. As it was a necessity to acquire the land to further upgrade and develop the existing facilities of the School, the Government had to take the decision, which was carried out in a very fair manner, the release said”.

As expected a tense situation arose during demolition of the houses and in the clash between the residents and the police one police officer was injured.                                    Read More