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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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Monday, April 30, 2012
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Sri Lanka Muslims call for protection
Sri Lankan Muslims take part
in …
Sri Lanka's main Muslim
party called on the government on Monday to protect religious minorities after protests by
Buddhist monks demanding that a 60-year-old mosque be relocated.
The Sri Lanka Muslim
Congress (SLMC), which is a member of the ruling coalition, said it
opposed shifting the mosque in Dambulla, 150 kilometres (93 miles) north
of Colombo, saying this would be "disastrous"
for the country.
The monks argued that the mosque was inside
temple land and should be demolished while the Muslims maintain that they have
been offering prayers there since the mid 1940s.
The government said in a statement last week
that it had offered three alternate locations for the mosque and had also agreed
to finance a new building, an offer firmly rejected by the SLMC.
"We will not agree to any compromise of taking
land elsewhere," SLMC leader and Justice Minister Rauf
Hakeem told reporters in Colombo. "We are very, very firm on that."
He said "extremist forces" were trying to
create religious tensions in a country emerging from nearly four decades of
ethnic strife which has cost an estimated 100,000 lives.
"A strong government must protect
the weaker minorities," Hakeem said. "We appeal to the government to ensure that
they do not allow xenophobic forces to hold the country hostage."
More than two-thirds of the Indian Ocean
island's 20-million population are Buddhists while 7.5 percent are
Muslims.
- Sri Lankan Muslims take part in …
Sri Lanka's main Muslim
party called on the government on Monday to protect religious minorities after protests by
Buddhist monks demanding that a 60-year-old mosque be relocated.
The Sri Lanka Muslim
Congress (SLMC), which is a member of the ruling coalition, said it
opposed shifting the mosque in Dambulla, 150 kilometres (93 miles) north
of Colombo, saying this would be "disastrous"
for the country.
The monks argued that the mosque was inside
temple land and should be demolished while the Muslims maintain that they have
been offering prayers there since the mid 1940s.
The government said in a statement last week
that it had offered three alternate locations for the mosque and had also agreed
to finance a new building, an offer firmly rejected by the SLMC.
"We will not agree to any compromise of taking
land elsewhere," SLMC leader and Justice Minister Rauf
Hakeem told reporters in Colombo. "We are very, very firm on that."
He said "extremist forces" were trying to
create religious tensions in a country emerging from nearly four decades of
ethnic strife which has cost an estimated 100,000 lives.
"A strong government must protect
the weaker minorities," Hakeem said. "We appeal to the government to ensure that
they do not allow xenophobic forces to hold the country hostage."
More than two-thirds of the Indian Ocean
island's 20-million population are Buddhists while 7.5 percent are
Muslims.
