THE CITIZENS’ COMMISSION HAS MADE THE FOLLOWING RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Inquire into the status of the civilians who have been charged. Many seem to have been innocent bystanders and their families continue to be badly affected by their arrest/absence.

2. There was an urgent need to investigate what factual basis if any existed to support Muslims’ perceptions of discrimination at the institutional level in Mannar and other places to which they were returning.

3. The local administration needs to be sensitive to and prioritise finding solutions for the many such disputes over land and livelihoods that were emerging in areas to which northern Muslims were returning.

4. There was an urgent need for more sustained civil society engagement with the returning Muslim community and the Tamil communities in the North that were compelled to make adjust- ments due to Muslim return. The above case illustrates the urgency in Mannar. But this was sure to be the case in other areas to which Muslims were returning as well.

5. There was a need for greater information collection and reporting of the situation of the northern Muslim return. This information must be shared with concerned actors and stakeholders both in the North and outside.

6. There was an urgent necessity to establish a mechanism comprising civil society representatives, community elders, professionals and religious leaders who were able to intervene with relevant administrative officials to act to prevent potential conflicts and tensions and also offer recommendations to resolve civil disputes and other tensions amicably and without delay.