Involuntary Displacement and Resettlement — Policy and ... - CEPA

4 Becoming Internally Displaced and Hosts 5In October 1990, the majority of Muslims expelled by the LTTE from thenorthern areas under their control went to Puttalam district in the NorthWestern Province. The local people (particularly the Muslims, but also theSinhalese) welcomed the Muslims from the north into their homes, gardensand schools for shelter, and provided the displaced with clothes and food. Inthis process the locals became hosts. After some days and weeks, the NGOcommunity and the government moved in to assist the IDPs more activelyand the hosts to a large extent withdrew their assistance. Two decades on,the IDPs are still living as IDPs in Puttalam, some on small plots of their own,some still in camps, most still with the status of internally displaced peopleand identities of IDPs and hosts are still strongly maintained. Although thereis much variation within them, it is interesting to understand how thesecategories were formed and how they are maintained. Two discourses inparticular were instrumental in forming the categories; the discourse onMuslim ethics and ideals, and the humanitarian discourse on internaldisplacement (cf. UN-Brookings-Bern project).The Discourse on Islamic Ethics and IdealsThe Prophet went into exile at Medina in AD 622, a key date because it constitutesyear one of the Muslim calendar. The Meccans who migrated with him would becalled the Muhajirun (literally ‘migrants’), [...]. His new adherents, recruited fromamong the tribes of Medina, would be called the Ansar (auxiliaries, supporters). […]The simplicity of their lodgings, their closeness to each other, and their closeness tothe mosque gave a democratic dimension to the Islamic community that makes us alldream – dream about that lack of distance between the leader and ‘his people.’Thanks to the ease of exchange among the Muhajirun and the presence of themosque, the integration of the Ansar and all the other new converts proceeded withrapidity. To accelerate the amalgamation of Medinese and Meccans, Muhammad hadrecourse to some rituals that created fraternal links: each Ansari was to accept aMuhajir as ‘brother,’ for whom he was to be, as it were, responsible for ‘helping himto conquer the feeling of uprootedness’ (Mernissi 1991:30 and 111).The Islamic ethic of welcoming strangers may be traced back to the ProphetMohammad’s time; the Prophet’s flight from persecution in Mecca and hisreception in Medina were often mentioned as an important parallel to thearrival and reception of the northern Muslims in Puttalam. People comparedthe displaced people with the ‘Muhajiruns’ who had to flee, and the localswho received them with the ‘Ansaris’. The Islamic obligation to receive and5This section is based on Brun 2008 and Brun forthcoming132