A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, May 27, 2017
CONCERTED EFFORT NEEDED TO PROTECT MUSLIMS FROM VIOLENCE
National Peace Council.
An alarming number of attacks against Muslim religious places of worship
and businesses are being reported countrywide causing economic ruin to
many people, hurting their religious sentiment and bringing them dismay
and leaving the entire community in fear of life and security. The
worsening trend has been going on for several years and has a pattern of
repeating after a short lull. It has intensified since April this year
with over 20 attacks or attempted attacks being reported from different
parts of the country in the past two months. So far no one has been
arrested by the police for these crimes. Also, the government has so far
failed to take steps to arrest this trend which has been acknowledged
by the Minister of Law and Order in Parliament. This is an escalation of
the longer-term trend that included the torching of a section of a town
in the South of Sri Lanka (Aluthgama) in 2014 in which Muslims live in
large numbers.
In most parts of the country the Muslim community lives in a scattered
matter which makes them especially vulnerable to all kinds of violence
against them and other minority communities living in a similar
situation. The failure of the police to protect people who are being
subjected to attack and violence is abdication of the government’s duty
to protect all citizens equally. The rise in verbal and physical
violence has been accompanied by public statements that Sri Lanka is a
Sinhalese and Buddhist country with the implication that ethnic and
religious minorities have a lesser place. In one widely publicized
instance a Buddhist monk even went to the office of the Minister of
National Coexistence, Dialogue and Official Languages and challenged him
to a verbal duel on that basis. This is a subversion of a universal and
peaceful religion in which there are no chosen people by birth that is
being misinterpreted to suit the needs of a group of politically
motivated people.
At the elections in 2015 the ethnic and religious minorities
overwhelmingly voted for the government parties which promised to
protect them from the violence, lawlessness and impunity to which they
had been subjected in the past. The Sri Lankan people need to keep in
mind the lessons from the past in which the failure to protect
minorities from discrimination became a cause for three decades of war.
We have seen that when problems are not resolved and are permitted to go
on unchecked that they escalate with time. They can lead to
catastrophic outcomes in the future – a situation Sri Lanka can ill
afford.
The government has to pay attention to the growing anti-Muslim
sentiments among segments of majority community and the use of violent
means to take their message and action to the ground. This situation
needs to be investigated and the root causes need to be addressed
through meaningful short-term and long term actions. Countering false
propaganda will need to be a central part of the government and civil
society agendas. Further, the general public and civil society
organizations need to be made aware of the recent negative development
from the perspective of rebuilding our country after long years of war
and suffering.
The National Peace Council notes that in the past the police took action
under the Incitement to Disaffection Act without waiting for permission
from the political authority. The police need to take action under the
law to exercise the powers given to them to nip such actions in the bud
and maintain law and order under the powers given to them in the
Criminal Procedure Code, the criminal law and the Police Ordinance. The
National Peace Council calls on the government to ensure that all state
institutions act in concert to protect and uphold human rights and also
insist that the police to uphold the law and put an end to impunity. The
Independent Commissions established under the 19th Amendment to
strengthen the Rule of Law and good governance could play an effective
role at this time in monitoring the performance of the police and in
giving them the necessary encouragement.