MPs recommend a government take-over of Sharia campus

A parliamentary watchdog has recommended that the Sri Lanka government should take control of the controversial Batticaloa Sharia campus under the emergency regulations prevailing in the country after the Easter Sunday attacks.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resource Development Professor Ashu Marasinghe presented the report to parliament on 21 June. Members of the committee unanimously recommended that government take over the Batticaloa Shariah campus and that campus buildings and resources should be given over to Eastern University, a state university located close to Batticaloa area.

The report includes 15 recommendations, including observations made by several government institutions.

The committee believes that the emergence of such education institutions of Sharia law, or fundamentalist teaching, are a threat to the national security of Sri Lanka and permission should not be given to such institutions to operate under any circumstances.

It has requested that a forensic audit be conducted through the National Audit Office with respect to all monetary transactions of the Batticaloa Shariah campus.

The members of parliament recommend that security be upgraded in the area, by strengthening the army camp located near the Sharia campus.

The committee launched an investigation into the campus amid growing Islamophobia and following protests that erupted at universities.

State university students launched a wave of protests, demanding that the government shut down the controversial campus, saying it would spread radical Islamic religious ideology.

Islamophobia has been growing in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels in the country by Islamic fundamentalists, which left more than 260 people dead and at least 500 injured. Following the attacks government suddenly closed all universities and later reopened them with heavy security measures in place.

Considering the security situation in the country, monies received by the institution, unlawful construction, and forcible acquisitions of crown lands found to be illegal, the committee unanimously recommended that the government acquire them under the emergency rule, as occurred with the North Colombo Medical College in 1989, and pursue legal action against all culprits.

North Colombo Medical College, which started in 1980, was Sri Lanka’s very first privately funded medical school, but it was nationalised in 1989 and became the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya.

In 2017 the controversial South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine or SAITM campus – the country’s first private medical campus – was abolished by the government after many months of protests against it. SAITM medical students were admitted to the state-run Kotelawala Defence University.

The Sri Lankan government imposed state of emergency regulations after the Easter Sunday attacks and on 27 June parliament further extended the regulations until 22 July.

Preparations already made

Former Western Province governor Azath Salley says that all the necessary documentation has been prepared for the government to take over the Batticaloa campus and the reason behind extending the state of emergency by another month was also to take over the campus.

Meanwhile MLAM Hizbullah, former chairman of the Batticaloa campus, says he rejects the committee’s report and will take further action after considering what steps cabinet ministers are taking.

He says he is hoping to continue the campus along with government under a state-private partnership.

“According to prevailing laws, government cannot take over the campus; government should discuss with me about this,” he said.

MLAM Hizbullah is the former Eastern Province governor who had to step down due to heavy criticism following the Easter Sunday attacks.

The controversial university started in 2013 as a university college and an agreement was signed between the Sri Lanka Hira Foundation and the then minister of youth affairs and vocational training Dullas Alahapperuma for it to cater to students who fail to gain entry to state universities.

At present, the construction of the institution has been carried out using modern technologies. The facilities were intended to include computer labs with modern technology, lecture halls, fully equipped student hostels, housing facilities for academic staff, solar power and a water facility from underground water and collectable water, and other construction that is in progress.

By the end of this year, the company stated, all the facilities would be granted for 10,000 students.

A star class hotel is also under construction in the Pasikuda area, to facilitate students who follow tourism-related subjects in their operative sessions and to offer part-time jobs for undergraduates.

Illegal monies

The committee says: “As all monies received to this institution [are] illegal as per afore given recommendations, unauthorised buildings have been erected on other lands.”

The report says the investigation into documents related to the institution suspected the main aim of the institution was to create Ulamas on Sharia law or Islam.

The report says documents related to this institution have aroused suspicion that the main aim of establishing this institution was to “create ideologists”, citing among other things the landscaping of the campus resembling Islamic and Arabic architectural styles and symbols.

However, Maheel Bandara Dehideniya, convener of the Inter University Students' Federation, says the government move is only an election gimmick.

“Though government says they will take over the campus, we are not sure about it; this is just a slogan for the election. If the president and prime minister want [to acquire] this campus, they can do it without taking time,” he told University World News.

He accused the government of trying to turn it into a privately run campus.

The committee reported that when Hizbullah testified before them, he had stated that the money had been given as a grant. But he failed to submit any document to the committee to prove such receipt. The committee further stated that at a later stage of the investigation, Hizbullah declared that the “money had been received as a loan”.

The committee investigations revealed that the education institution had not obtained any special permission from the Exchange Controller when securing a sum of LKR3.6 billion (US$20 million) as a loan from several Saudi donors as per prevailing exchange provisions. It observed that in obtaining the grant or loan, the education institution may possibly have violated the exchange rules of the country.

The committee recommended conducting a diplomatic-level investigation into the potential serious financial crimes with the support of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Sri Lanka through the Foreign Ministry, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Police Criminal Investigation Department.

The committee chairman and MP, Professor Marasinghe, said that the report was compiled after recording evidence from all the relevant parties.

The report was presented to the cabinet on 25 June and submitted to the attorney general’s department for further action. A parliamentary debate on the report will be held at a future date.