- Many Muslims express fear and some are confined to their homes fearing reprisals
- They fear the political changes that may bring about anti-Muslim regime to power
- Easter attacks, and challenges before us cannot be addressed by security measures alone
Fear is ever present now. There is fear in the way people look at each other. There is fear at the site of a vehicle or a bag. Some even fear to go out of their homes. People throughout the country live in a state of fear after the Easter attacks as news reports and the mushrooming of check points are constant reminders of the recent bombings. The Muslim communities, on the other hand, live in a state of double fear. In addition to the fear of bombings, they live in fear of mob attacks and arbitrary detentions with security checks.
Burning books
One of my Muslim social activist friends from the North recently spoke to me about the depressing situation in the country. He is an avid collector and reader of historical and political literature, and over the years has been trying to encourage his friends in the Muslim community to read widely and broaden their horizons. He said he had gifted many copies of the Broken Palmyrah and biographies of Che Guevara to some of his friends in recent months. 
I myself consider the Broken Palmyrah written by the University Teacher for Human Rights (Jaffna) in the late 1980s to be one of the most important book on the civil war. Hurriedly written in the thick of conflict, it was prophetic in the future course of Tamil politics. Dr. Rajani Thiranagama, one of the four co-authors of the book was assassinated by the LTTE for her formidable critique in the book.
My friend, is also a great admirer of the Broken Palmyrah, and was upset to hear that two of his Muslim friends had recently burned their copies of the book. One of them had also burned a copy of Che’s Biography. When he confronted them, they responded with worries of security checks identifying them to be radical for owning these books, and therefore destroying the books. Ironically, during war-time many of my Tamil friends in Jaffna had hidden copies of the Broken Palmyrah fearful that the LTTE might find out and attack them for being “traitors”. At the current moment, it is fear and panic that is leading Muslim people to such drastic measures. My friend had ranted in frustration to his friends that the police burned the Jaffna Public Library in 1981, and now we ourselves are burning our books.
Many of my other Muslim friends in the North also tell me of fear within the Muslim community. Many people are not even leaving their homes over the last two weeks. Even at considerable economic cost, they are not even opening their shops or going fishing, as they are paralyzed by fear. They also speak of being stared at by ordinary Tamil people. Such a gaze immediately makes them feel uncomfortable, as if they are being accused of something. And it also brings fear of what might happen next. They fear riots, they fear arbitrary arrests and they fear the political changes that may bring about an anti-Muslim regime to power.
Hobbesian State
The influential 17th century political philosopher Thomas Hobbes claimed that fear is a central condition of modern social existence, and that people live in constant fear of their neighbours, neighbouring communities and countries. Fear thus became the rationale for the modern state as an entity with tremendous power. In other words, fear of your neighbour attacking you to take your things or the fear of an invading army plundering your community, legitimised ideas of the modern state. Furthermore, the modern state is conceptualised as the entity needed to guarantee our security both from external enemies such as foreign states as well as from our neighbours. The point I want to make is not that fear is a natural condition, rather, the emergence of the modern concept of the state depended on articulating the condition of fear.
Thus whether fear is justified or not, fear has been used to explain the relationship of citizens to their state. At certain moments in history, when levels of fear rise, it is instrumentally used by the state. This is the case with the current state of Emergency in the country, including the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Indeed, public fear becomes the justification for deeper forms of surveillance like phone tapping and intrusive check points. Such laws and surveillance may be first used to go after perpetrators of acts of terror, but in time can be used to curtail resistance to oppression and even dissent.
Overcoming isolation
The fear eclipsing the Muslim communities are also related to isolation. Even during the decades of the civil war in the North and East, there were bridges between the Tamil and Sinhala communities in the form of the left movement and the Christian churches, which included members from both communities. In the case of the Muslim communities, and even though there is considerable diversity within them, social movements and institutions creating strong bonds with other communities have been limited.
A first step towards addressing the fear of the Muslim community is the need for dialogue both within the Muslim communities as well as between different ethnic and religious communities. It is through such dialogue that bridges can be built. And here, forums in universities, inter-faith dialogues, discussions in schools, activist initiatives etc. can slowly begin to challenge the climate of fear.
"A first step towards addressing the fear of the Muslim community is the need for dialogue both within the Muslim communities as well as between different ethnic and religious communities"
Some may argue that the solution to the current crisis of the fear of terror attacks as well as the predicament of the Muslims lies with strengthening the secular liberal democratic state. I see the modern state, of which the secular liberal democratic state is one avatar, as an entity that increasingly encroaches into the lives of people through its policies, laws, surveillance, repression and more generally, state power. And modern state power, often seeks to atomise individuals away from their communities, isolate communities from other communities and curtail the ability of communities to collectively address social problems.
The aftermath of the Easter attacks, and the challenges before us cannot be addressed by security measures and for that matter the state alone. The challenges are social and political requiring the progressive participation of the people. And there are increasing signs of chauvinist forces attempting to capitalise on the fear for their narrow backward agendas. Unless the people and communities step up to build stronger relations, we are looking at not just the continuation of a climate of fear, but also the dangers of polarisation, bigotry and violence.
