Attempt to ‘Sinhalize’ Muslim areas in East – Hakeem

Attempt to ‘Sinhalize’ Muslim areas in East – Hakeem

SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem told Parliament yesterday (21), that there was an attempt to ‘Sinhalize’ Muslim areas in the East by naming these areas with Sinhala names.

"I have received complaints from the people living in several places in the East including from those who are in North of Kokilai that the Navy had begun to name places with Sinhala names instead of their former Muslim names. Now there are no Jinna Nagar and Akbar Town but Mihindu Pura, Pubudu Mawatha and Vihara Mawatha. When residents had objected, Navy officers had told them that the re-naming was done for the convenience of Sinhala service personnel, as it was difficult for them to remember Muslim names," MP Hakeem said during the adjourned debate of the Local Government (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill.

He said that the local authorities in the areas had intervened to stop the re-naming but shortly afterwards archaeologists had been sent from Colombo to excavate the area in search for ruins to establish the fact that Sinhalese people had resided in these areas in pre-historic times. Then the re-naming of areas resumed again, he said. "There is an attempt to change the demography of the area," he said.