Myanmar monk stirs trouble in Lanka

Qadijah Irshad / 28 September 2014

The BBS confirmed that the Burmese monk, who was behind the 2013 Rohingya riots, would be addressing the summit on Sunday. 

Several Sri Lankan Muslims organisations and parliamentarians have expressed concern over the invitation of the Burmese monk Ashin Wirathu who has been dubbed the “Butcher of Burmese Muslims” to a Buddhist summit to be held in Colombo on Sunday.

Monk Wirathu, who arrived at the Bandaranayake International Airport in the early hours of Saturday, was received by a delegation of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).  Wirathu’s special reception was led by Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara, the BBS general secretary who has been responsible for inciting hate campaigns against Muslims during the past three years.

The BBS confirmed that the Burmese monk, who was behind the 2013 Rohingya riots, would be addressing the summit on Sunday.

“Monk Wirathu is our special guest and he will be addressing the conference,” BBS spokesman Dilantha Withanage told Khaleej Times.

The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa not to grant visa to the Burmese monk as his presence and speech at the conference on Sunday “may incite further violence against the Muslims.”

Muslim parliamentarians have also objected to the monk’s visit to Sri Lanka following a spate of anti-Muslim attacks initiated by Buddhist monks in the recent past.

“The arrival of monk Wirathu who instigated massacre of Rohingya Muslims has struck  fear in the Muslim community. Authorities should not have allowed it, particularly at a point when the Buddhists and the Muslims of this country are trying to reconcile,” said a statement issued by parliamentarian S. H. M. Harees. In June, an anti-Muslim hate campaign led by the BBS monk Gnanasara, destroyed an entire Muslim town in Aluthgama, where rioting Buddhist mobs killed nine people, injured 80 and left more than 10,000 homeless after burning down homes and businesses.

According to the BBS spokesman, the organisation will be presenting a policy framework for establishing a Sinhala Buddhist state during the Sunday’s summit, which is expected to have the participation of over 4,000 Buddhist monks.

The BBS, which is seen as an extremist Buddhist organisation even among most of the country’s 70 per cent Buddhists, has been calling for a Buddhist only state.

Announcing the conference on local television,  Gnanasara called the day of the summit a “decisive day” for Sri Lanka.

“September 28 is a decisive day for this country when the future of Sri Lanka will be decided ,” said the BBS monk who has been arrested for delivering hate speeches and inciting violence against Muslims.

“As the Sinhalese majority, as the rightful owners of this country, we too will demand for our pound of flesh on September 28,” he said.

qadijah@khaleejtimes.com

For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes, and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes