The ‘Post War Sinhala Buddhist’ & Selective Truth Telling

By Hafeel Farisz –November 22, 2016

Hafeel Farisz

The recent fire at the Fashion Bug store in Pepiliyana has given rise to new questions. For anyone who has been following the ‘post war Sinhala Buddhist’ phenomenon, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Although conclusions are yet to be reached, and investigations into the cause of the fire are yet to be conducted- the voice of the company speaking to the media that night was telling. “We have suffered in the past, there is reason to believe that there was foul play. There was nothing to indicate an electric short”, was what he said.

The last time the store caught fire, in May 2013, there was no suspicion. It came under attack. The catalyst that was used to further the narrative of course was a personal dispute. A narrative the media and the government played on. I remember visiting the place in order to report the incident. Upon inquiry Sinhalese neighbors who lived around the area, kept telling me how the crowd had gathered at the Temple nearby. That while the mob had organized themselves and started walking towards the store, the Temple Bell was rung. The Temple Bell (Gantaraya) was rung initially to gather the crowd there too. These were all edited out of the narrative. Truth sometimes is selective. Criminal Proceedings were not instituted, and the owner of the store was pressurized to come to a settlement, which he did. He had no option but to, he was to recall later.

When the Anti-Muslim riots broke out in mid June 2014, the then government and the media played the same role. The selective truth narrator. To this day, not a single person has been held responsible for a riots which doused an entire village in flames. No one has been held responsible for the torching of the No Limit store in Panadura. There were 5 deaths. Every source including the officers of the Special Task Force (STF) who were on duty that evening, when the rally was conducted told me how the riots were in fact ‘organized’. It was no sudden reaction as was made to believe. The intelligence officers on the ground were aware of the plan. The foot soldiers of the STF had also joined the mob and played an integral part of the in the ensuing carnage. None of them made it to the official narration. The media played dumb. The reason given- the assault of a Buddhist monk in the town- was a lie. The government knew it was. It never happened. The Minister of External Affairs G.L Peiris told me that it was a lie they played on. So did the Attorney General at the time. In an interview conducted by me in the immediate aftermath of the riots, the then Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was caught lying, multiple times. The intelligence officers on the ground and the Police knew no such ‘assault’ took place. But a narrative was fed and was eagerly bought too. The Post War Sinhala Buddhist believed it. Rejoiced in it and blamed the attacked. The media, oh well, how could we forget the role it played. Malinda Senevirathne remained the only editor who was willing to publish the truth, which he did. But it fell on deaf ears.

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