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
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Burma: Religious tensions simmer as madrassas shuttered
Buddhist ultranationalist monks
from the radical Ma Ba Tha group attend a meeting to celebrate their
anniversary with a nationwide conference in Yangon, Burma May 27, 2017.
19th June 2017
CHIT TIN, a 55-year-old Muslim man has prayed at the same madrassa in
eastern Yangon his whole adult life, most of it spent under a junta that
crushed opposition, ruined Burma’s economy and turned it into an
international pariah state.
But even as the father-of-four endured poverty and isolation, the Muslim
religious school, which doubles as a mosque, had remained a focal point
of his community – until a month ago, when Buddhist nationalists raided
it and forced authorities to shut it down on the grounds it did not
have a permit to operate as a place of worship.
When Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, started some three weeks ago,
hundreds of residents braved the monsoon rain to join prayers organised
in the street nearby. Local authorities banned the event and threatened
those attending with jail.
“I feel deeply sad, as if the sky has fallen down,” said Chit Tin, one
of the few Muslims from the neighbourhood who agreed to speak to Reuters. Most residents refused to discuss the restrictions, saying they feared repercussions.
One of the youth members of the community, Moe Zaw, now faces a fine or
six months in jail for not obtaining a permit to organise the prayers,
according to a notification he received from a court.
The closure of the religious school is among a series of incidents that
have stoked religious tensions in the country’s commercial capital in
recent weeks.
Although some of the Buddhist hardliners involved were arrested, human
rights monitors say the incident shows how Aung San Suu Kyi’s
14-month-old civilian administration is struggling to tackle
discrimination against Muslims.
Suu Kyi’s ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) did not
field any Muslim candidates in the historic 2015 election that elevated
it to power on pledges of modernizing the country and democratization.
Tensions between the two communities have simmered since scores were
killed and tens of thousands displaced in clashes between Buddhists and
Muslims accompanying the start of the country’s democratic transition in
2012 and 2013.
“Mosques and madrassas that have been forcibly shuttered should be
immediately re-opened, and religious believers should not be threatened
or criminally charged simply for exercising their fundamental right to
observe and practice their religion,” said Phil Robertson from watchdog
Human Rights Watch.
Local administrators refused repeated requests for comment. Burma‘s government spokesman was not available for comment, and two other government officials contacted by Reuters declined to comment.
NO REPLY
The madrassa, opened nearly half a century ago, typically attracted
around 1,000 people on Friday nights. Around 300 children between the
ages of five and 12 studied Islam there daily.
The two-storey building is now cordoned off by barbed wire and the gate is locked.
“The children were about to sit exams, so we feel it’s a big loss for
their education,” said Chit Tin, whose two 6-year-old grandchildren
started classes at the madrassa a year ago.
He now attends another mosque 20 minutes walk away, where the
congregation has swelled from 5,000 to 8,000 in recent weeks due to the
closure of his madrassa and another nearby that was also targeted by
Buddhist nationalists.
In the city of Meikhtila, 500 km (310 miles) north of Yangon in central Burma,
three private homes that have been used by about 150 people for prayers
since mosques in the city were destroyed in the 2013 violence were also
ordered to close down by local administrators.
The police has been patrolling the neighbourhood since last week,
checking whether the houses have stayed closed and whether the prayers
have ceased during Ramadan.
“Since the authorities don’t allow us to pray anymore, we requested them
to arrange a suitable place for us,” San Win Shein, an Islamic scholar
and a secretary of a local inter-faith group told Reuters by telephone.
“There is no reply until now.” – Reuters