JAFFNA

MUSLIM
ASSOCIATION
NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 2
2016/2017

INSIDE:
COMMUNITY PROJECTS / CHARITY
APPEALS/INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
 Who are we?
Jaffna Muslim Association
is a registered, UK-based
JMA MEMBERS
non-profit charity organisation Leicester
that aims to help all people Brother Mussamil and Brother
across Sri Lanka. Jainoos.
Our organisation was
founded in 2002 and our East Ham
initial aim was to re-unite the Brother Rameez, Brother
Jaffna Muslim community Sarjun, Brother Jairose,
following the forcible Brother Ajmal, Brother Imran
expulsion of Muslims from and Brother Sawjeer.
Jaffna in October 1990 during
the Sri Lankan Civil War. Luton
Majority of our donations go Brother Riyas and Brother
towards helping widows, Jawsad.
orphans, the ill and disabled,
people in need of financial Harrow
help, as well as community Brother Shameez.
establishments, such as
masjids and schools in need Milton Keynes
of further funding. Brother Gias.
JMA also runs emergency
disaster appeals, sponsorship Slough
projects, a Janazah project, Brother Faleel, Brother
annual Fitra and Qurbani Rawzan and Brother
appeals, as well as UK-based Janoofar.
community gatherings.
Insha'allah we hope to see
you support us!
Wassalaam,
JMA PRESIDENT
M.M. GIAS
Sports update - 24/07/2016
Yarl Muslim sports team vs Kiringadeniya
football team in Mawanella.

Yarl Muslim sports team won 5-4.

Good effort from everyone involved!
 August 2016 Update
Jazakallah Khair to everyone who attended the friendly football matches on Sunday
14th August in Jaffna!
FINAL SCORE:
Jaffna Muslim over 40 vs Jaffna United 0 -3
Jaffna Muslim A team vs Mailankadu team 2 -1
Congratulations to the winners!
Ultimately our end goal is to support the local community and try to develop Jaffna
Muslim talent. By raising awareness of our community and its potential, we hope to
make people feel connected to our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka and become
more inclined to donate to projects such as medical assistance or helping vulnerable
people like widows and orphans. We'd also like to encourage the youth and help
them in the future, so brothers and sisters from across the earth, please lend us
your support. It's very important that our community has its voice heard and has
representation in all fields.
Following the football friendly, the players distributed bicycles sponsored by JMA to
children in Jaffna. Jazakallah khair to the football players (over 40s), local helpers
(Brothers Nifahir, Osman, Fawzul Haq and others), guests (Brothers JDM Niyas,
Topaz Nasrun, SC leader Ameen), JMA members (Brothers Faleel, Riyas and
Jainoos ) and programme organisers (Brothers Jasrin and Kais).
Insha'allah, we hope to do more things like this in the future.

Other projects in August:

JMA visited Kaithady Elderly home in Shanti Nilayam to distribute wheelchairs.
It was established in 1954 and our charity was the first Muslim organisation to visit it.
It is comprised of around 300 Hindu and Christian people and the management
would not mind bayaans/Islamic programmes happening in the home.
For three meals a day it costs 150 rupees per person. They are receiving
government help but are in need of extra necessities such as bedding. If you are
specifically interested in helping the elderly, please contact your local JMA member.

JMA built bathroom facilities for sisters at Al Madharasathul Bushrah in Thillaiyadi,

Puttalam. Jazakallah khair to all the sponsors for this project.
August 2016: Photos
August 2016: Photos
 INTERNATIONAL
OUTREACH - 05/09/2016
Members of the JMA UK team visited France for three days to meet with our
French Jaffna Muslim Brothers. We were very pleased to meet you all. We
hope that we were able to strengthen our ties with the international community
and increase support for JMA.

Jazakallah Khair to everyone for being so hospitable towards us and pledging

to donate to us. We cannot fully express how grateful we are towards
everyone for providing accommodation, meals and arranging the hall for us.
We sincerely appreciate the fact that you chose to dedicate your time towards
our organisation. It is good to see so many hardworking brothers in the
community. May Allah (SWT) bless you for your kindness. Further thanks to all
JMA members and volunteers for giving up their time and money to help build
a stronger connection with our community overseas.

We also managed to contact brothers in Norway and Switzerland to discuss

upcoming JMA projects, thank you for your time. We would be pleased to work
with you in the future. We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank brothers
from Qatar, Kuwait and Belgium etc. who have been donating towards us as
well.

Insha'Allah, we hope to see more international involvement in our projects. We

hope that this will be the start of many more opportunities for our brothers
abroad to work with JMA.

These meetings were a good reminder of the fact that even though our
community has been split across several different nations; we are still one
people that will unite for the sake of charity.

May Allah (SWT) help our community stay together on the straight path.
PHOTOS
 Qurbani 2016
JMA has completed Qurbani distribution in Sri Lanka. We distributed a total of
70 shares in Malwana, Negombo, Vavuniya (Arabanahar), Thillaiyadi,
Puttalam town, Nachikuda, Killinochchi & Wattakachchi.

Jazakallah khair to everyone who contributed towards our appeal and to the
brothers who collected contributions and distributed the shares in Sri Lanka.
We really appreciate your generosity, may Allah (SWT) reward you all.
JMA at the United Nations
Office in Geneva
JMA UK collaborated with French Jaffna Muslims to
represent our community in Geneva, Switzerland.
Our aims were:
- To improve the current situation for the displaced
Muslims of the Northern Province.
- To make sure that Jaffna Muslim voices are heard
by the international community.
We would like to thank the Jaffna Muslims of France,
Norway, Switzerland and the UK for their hard work in
making this event happen. Jazakallah khair for giving
up your time for this event, we really appreciate your
kind support and efforts.
 Report of the event
On Tuesday 27th September 2016, our team of Jaffna Muslims went to
the Palais des Nations as a part of a United Nations event for 'Women
and Children Rights in Conflict Zones' (33rd session of the Human
Rights Council).

Delegates and journalists from different countries attended this event in

order to hear about the plight of the Muslims of the Northern Province in
the Sri Lankan Civil War. There was a special focus on the issues that
the Muslims of Jaffna faced before and after the war. The chair of the
event (Syed Faiz Naqshbandi Esqr. attorney at Law and Consultant,
International and Human Rights Law) began the event by discussing
the importance of human rights and how significant diplomacy is in
resolving the problems created by conflict. He mentioned that the
Muslims of the Northern Province need greater support to help them
move on after the war.

Ms. Nuzla (Graduate, France) introduced JMC international (which had

formed a few days prior to the event) to the delegates, members of the
panel, journalists and members of the floor, explaining its purpose and
outlining what our intentions were and what we hoped to achieve for the
Jaffna Muslim community.

Mr. Muise Wahabdeen (General Secretary of European Centre for Sri

Lankan Community, France) brought up issues faced generally by
Muslims in Sri Lanka, this included: the problems that various groups
have created for Muslims and how we must tackle them, as well as the
fact that Muslims in Sri Lanka are in need of more solutions. He also re-
enforced the idea of the importance of human rights and the fact that
we must do everything to uphold them for minority communities.
Mr. Anees Rauf (Chief Consultant, Agency for Urban Development and
Environment, Norway) initially provided a lot of significant background
information about the conflict. This included: the fact that there was a
good relationship between Tamils and Muslims before the civil war, the
fact that the Tamils did unfortunately suffer during the war and an
overview of what happened to the Muslims of the Northern Province
and how they were treated. He also went on to talk about the problems
hindering the resettlement process for Muslims, the factors behind the
problems and how they can be resolved.

Our JMA representative (BA English, United Kingdom) discussed the

plight of the Muslims of Jaffna. Her speech included: the manner in
which 21,000 Muslims were expelled from Jaffna in October 1990 and
how they suffered during this expulsion, the impact of the war upon the
community, what Jaffna meant to our community, the conditions of the
refugee camps and the problems we face in the post-war resettlement
process.

Our team specifically appealed to the Sri Lankan Government and the
United Nations for unity to be promoted between all ethnic minorities in
Sri Lanka, more recognition of Muslim suffering before and after the Sri
Lankan Civil War, greater development of the Muslim area of Jaffna
and for improvements to be made to the process of resettling displaced
Northern Muslims back into their former homes.
 The chair and other members of the panel agreed that more durable
solutions were needed for the Muslims of Jaffna and that there was a
failure in the post-war peace process which the Sri Lankan Government
must address and act upon.

Following this event, a meeting was held where we discussed the

'Women and Children Rights in Conflict Zones' session and planned on
how to move forward and work together from this point onwards. After
this, a bundle of documents with the full details of the content discussed
by the panel was given to the United Nations by our team.

We firmly believe that this event has enabled us to begin to bring about
the process of finding meaningful solutions for the Muslims of the
Northern province (and more specifically, Jaffna) and that it has opened
up discussion about the problems that our community face.
Insha'allah, we hope that the UN and the Sri Lankan Government will
address and act upon what we have brought up so that our community
finally gets the help and recognition that it needs. Please make dua'a
for the most beneficial and durable solutions to be provided for our
community - as a team, we have done our best to voice the concerns of
Sri Lankan Muslims and the outcome of this event rests solely with
Allah (SWT), the most merciful and the most kind.
Event commemorating the expulsion of
Muslims from Jaffna - 30/10/2016
Jazakallah khair to everyone who came to our event commemorating the
expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna, it was nice to spend time together as a
community and reflect upon our past. We really appreciate the hard work
that everyone put in to making the event an informative and fun evening.

The speeches at the event were given by Brother Riyas, Brother

Shameez, Brother Rajhi, Brother Gias (president) and Brother Ash Sheik
Shafeek (Leicester) on a variety of topics such as the eviction of Muslims
in Jaffna, the lessons learnt from expulsion and the importance of
community work. Jazakallah khair for bringing these thought provoking
issues to the forefront.

Everyone at JMA would also like to say a huge thank you to the children
who were involved in the event! Children from Slough, East ham, Luton
and Harrow performed speeches, songs and plays on the subject of the
forcible expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna. The performances were
touching and hilarious in equal measure, we admire the effort that you
put in to make the event memorable. We are all very proud of you, it's
wonderful to see so much talent from the younger members of the
community. Jazakallah Khair to all parents for spending time making the
costumes and encouraging your children - it is important that the young
people in our community understand our history.

And as always, Jazakallah Khair to everyone who helped us run the

event (all JMA members, the catering team, the sponsors and the
volunteers). We always appreciate your kind support and value the effort
that you put in to help us.

We sincerely hope that everyone enjoyed the event and left feeling closer
as a community. May Allah (SWT) keep our Jaffna Muslim community
unified, may Allah (SWT) look after and guide our children and may Allah
(SWT) help our charity do the best service possible for our community.
Photos
Photos
improving sports opportunities for the community
Brothers Jawsad (JMA member, Luton), Gias (JMA president) and Fazil
(Luton) met Mr. H.M.M. Haris, who is a member of Parliament in Sri
Lanka for sports, to discuss the lack of sporting facilities for our
community in Sri Lanka.

JMA has been trying to improve sporting opportunities for the Jaffna
Muslim community for quite some time now. This is because we believe
that developing sporting talent and holding sports events will strengthen
our community. Encouraging people to achieve things and push
themselves in sporting activity helps us to re-build the sense of
community spirit that was lost in the Sri Lankan Civil War. JMA works
very closely with Jaffna Muslim Sports Club (which is based in Puttalam)
and the Osmaniya College in Jaffna. For the Jaffna Muslim Sports club,
we have organised football tournaments between small teams and have
provided the sports club with football kits. What we would like to do in the
future is to continue supporting them and to encourage youth talent in the
community. The Jaffna Muslim Sports Club serve as good role models for
young people and we would like our children to learn new skills and
develop a sense of sportsmanship, as these skills are transferable and
will help them in all aspects of life.

We feel as if our community would really benefit from receiving

government help to develop sporting talent and therefore went about
trying to raise awareness of the lack of sporting facilities available.
We also discussed the issues that our community face, re-settlement as
well as our recent Black October event. Insha'allah, we hope that after
this initial meeting, we will be able to take things further and improve the
facilities available to our community.
Photos - 04/11/2016
 OUR APPEALS

FITRA QURBANI ZAKAT

DISASTER RELIEF CHILDREN WOMEN

SUSTAINABLE MEDICAL SUPPORT SUPPORTING

LIVELIHOODS LOCAL
COMMUNITIES
WHY SUPPORT JMA?
Since 2002, JMA has been dedicated to bettering the lives of our
brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka. We have a strong team in the UK and
in Sri Lanka that respond very quickly to any sort of emergency situation.
JMA's strength lies in the very community that support it - your kindness
will help us to become stronger.
 ROHINGYA MUSLIMS APPEAL
JMA has collected 1355 for Crisis Aid's Rohingya
Muslims appeal. Jazakallah khair to everyone who
went out of their way to contribute towards this worthy
cause. And further thanks to brothers Jawsad and
Riyas for organising this appeal. May Allah (SWT)
bless and reward you all. Inshallah, we hope to work
closely with charities like this in the future.
 FAQ
Why are you called 'Jaffna Muslim Association'?
We are called Jaffna Muslim Association because this organisation was originally
created to unite the Jaffna people, which makes the name an important part of our
history as a charity. JMA mainly helps Muslims in the Northern areas of Sri Lanka but
that does not mean that we turn away Muslims from other areas who need help, nor
does it mean that we turn away people from other backgrounds who are in need.
Furthermore, there is no organisation that is specifically targeted towards the Jaffna
community, hence why we feel it is important to retain this name.

Why do you photograph your projects?

We photograph our projects solely to encourage people to donate, to show the
community where their money is going and to document our progress as a charity.

What does 'non-profit' and 'NGO' mean?

The fact that our charity is 'non-profit' means that all of our members work voluntarily
and are not paid. JMA is an NGO (non-governmental organisation) as we do not have
any political motives and remain neutral regardless of what happens in the political
sphere.
 Jazakallah Khair for your support!
Contact details:

E-mail: jmauk@ymail.com
Telephone: 07878974044

Further information:
Registered Charity Number:
1143032

Website:
www.jaffnamuslimuk.org

Facebook: 'Jaffna Muslim

Association UK'

Where to donate:
Bank: Lloyds bank
Branch: Kentish Town
Acc: 00980043
Sort Code: 30-94-66

Note: When donating, please

use a reference so that we can
donate your money to the
correct place.

For example:
REF: Zakat

2017, written and designed by Thilsana Gias