In the recent elections in Sri Lanka, Tamil-speaking Muslim areas were firmly in the opposition camp.

…the places in which Mr Rajapaksa lost, and his challenger General Sarath Fonseka won, are – barring a few districts in Colombo and the hills – entirely in the north and east – the areas where Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims are in the majority.

The Sinhalese nationalist general was an unlikely champion for minorities but had convinced them that he was more interested in finding them a political solution.