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
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, June 3, 2017
Diplomats in Sri Lanka urge government action against anti-Muslim attacks
Diplomats on Thursday condemned violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka
and urged the government to uphold minority rights and freedom of
religion.
More than 20 attacks on Muslims have been recorded since April 17,
including arson at Muslim-owned businesses and petrol-bomb attacks on
mosques.
Muslims have blamed the attacks on Body Bala Sena (BBS) or the "Buddhist
Power Force", an organization that says the spread of Islam is a threat
to Buddhism as the dominant religion. It denies any involvement.
"It is important that the rule of law be applied against those
perpetrators and it's important that minority rights and freedom of
religion are upheld," one of the diplomats, Canadian high commissioner
Shelley Whiting, told reporters.
President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe
have ordered police to uphold the law, but the violence against Muslims
has not ended.
Muslims comprise around 9 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 21 million. Buddhists make up about 70 percent of the population.
Buddhist groups accuse some Muslim organizations of radicalizing the
community and forcibly converting people to Islam. Muslim leaders have
denied the claim.
Tung-Lai Margue, ambassador of the European Union, said he hoped the police would make arrests in the coming days.
Australian High Commissioner Bryce Hutchesson said acts of hate had been directed "unacceptably at the Muslim community".
"To my knowledge, this kind of collective public diplomatic intervention
is unprecedented in Sri Lanka," Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka project director
at the International Crisis Group, said on Twitter.
In 2014, three Muslims were killed in riots stirred up by hardline
Buddhist groups. President Sirisena was elected the following year after
a campaign in which he promised to solve the issues faced by ethnic
minority Tamils and Muslims.
Churches also have faced similar attacks in the past.
The government ended a full-blown 26-year civil war by defeating Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Andrew Bolton; Editing by Andrew Bolton)