Sri Lanka’s Anti-Muslim Campaign
http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/sri-lankas-anti-muslim-campaig...
Sri Lanka’s Anti-Muslim Campaign Fuels Discord
March 22, 2013 | Filed under: Colombo Telegraph,Opinion | Posted by: COLOMBO_TELEGRAPH
By Munza Mushtaq -
Munza Mushtaq
Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community is coming under intense pressure from a hard-line Buddhist monk organization allegedly linked to certain powerful individuals in the President Mahinda Rajapaksa-led administration.
The Buddhist Power Force, more commonly known as the “Bodu Bala Sena” (BBS) in the native Sinhala language has lashed out at the country’s second-largest minority, which makes up 9.2% of the population, demanding an outright ban on several Muslim practices including the traditional dress code of women and halal dietary guidelines.
Just days after pressuring the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), the apex religious body of Islamic Theologians in Sri Lanka into withdrawing the halal certification provided to companies in the country, the BBS is now targeting the traditional Muslim garb including the abaya (long black cloak), niqab (face cover) and hijab (head cover).
Addressing a news conference in Colombo, the group’s general secretary, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, said the Muslim attire was creating all kinds of social and security issues.
“We will fight until this attire is banned from this country, so that there is no chance to unofficially enforce the Islamic Sharia Law in Sri Lanka, which is a Buddhist nation,” he said.
In the days since the announcement of the anti-Muslim campaign, several Muslim women have complained of harassment from unidentified men. On March 15, four young Muslim women dressed in the black cloak and head cover were dragged by their dress across the road by several men at the main Railway Station in Colombo. Several passers-by came to the rescue of the four women by chasing the men, who eventually fled.
“A Muslim woman who had been walking down a road in an afternoon was spat at by a man, who used foul language and asked her to leave Sri Lanka and go back to some Arab country,” an acquaintance of the victim who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Asia Times Online.
BBS, which identifies itself as an organization that opposes what it defines as Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism, intensified its campaign against Muslims in February demanding the abrogation of the halal process.
The BBS alleged that the fee charged by the ACJU to provide the certification was collected to fund Islamic extremism in the country. The group also went to the extent of accusing the Islamic theologian body established in the country in 1924 of funding Islamic militant organizations such as al-Qaeda.
The BBS has failed to provide any substantial proof to their claims; that hasn’t stopped their continuing rhetoric. The allegation over halal certification has been flatly denied by the ACJH, which has stressed that only a nominal fee is charged for the certification process to cover operating costs such as logistics and human resources.
As an effort to maintain harmony in the country, the ACJU last week announced that it has decided to stop issuing the ”halal” logo to all companies, stating that the certification will only be provided free of charge for products catering to the export market as and when requested by the manufacturers.
“We are making a sacrifice because we value the centuries of peace that have existed between our communities,” ACJU president Ash Sheikh Rizwe Mufthi told a news conference in Colombo convened to announce the halting of the halal certification process.
The BBS has expressed displeasure over ACJU’s decision to continue to provide halal certification for the export market and is demanding the scrapping of the entire process. The halting of the certification has created difficulties for entire Muslim community, who now face a loss of confidence in whether their food is in accordance with their religious principles.
Terming the halal process “Islam extremism”, an executive committee member of BBS, Dilantha Vithanage has claimed that Muslims are systematically taking over the country with extremist habits and has called on the Buddhist community, which counts for 74.9% of the country’s population, to boycott all Muslim establishments including shops and restaurants, on grounds that contributing to their income will increase Islamic extremism.
Small independent groups with alleged links to the Bodu Bala Sena have threatened to throw rotten eggs on Buddhist women who defy these orders and shop at Muslim-owned shopping centers. Anti-Muslim campaigns have also sprung up on social media sites such as Facebook.
Meanwhile, the BBS has set their sights on a historic rock cave mosque in Kuragala, 135 kilometers east of the capital, Colombo. The mosque’s existence dates back to the 10th century. Gnanasara claims that it should be removed because it is situated in a vast Buddhist monastery complex.
The government is yet to come out openly and condemn the victimization of the Muslim community, and even Muslim ministers in the government are quiet despite the continuous harassment of their community. Sri Lankan police chief N K Illangakoon has said that he will ensure the safety, security and equality of everyone, no matter to which race or religion they belong. However, there have been various instances where the police have failed to act on complaints lodged by Muslims against repeated forms of harassment and intimidation.
Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a brother of the president, has publicly associated himself with the BBS despite mounting criticism against the group. The BBS is also strongly backed by the Jathika Hela Urumaya, a partner of the ruling coalition.
Analysts expressed concern on grounds that just months before Sri Lanka celebrates its fourth anniversary since ending the quarter-century long bloody war with the Tamil Tigers, the country is showing signs of yet another ethnic conflict. Addressing a mass rally in Kandy, some 100 kilometers from Colombo, BBS’s executive committee member Dilantha Vithanage vowed to continue his organization’s “struggle” on behalf of the Buddhist community.
Meanwhile, veteran left-wing Sri Lankan politician Vasudeva Nanayakkara has expressed concerns over the increased activities of the BBS, warning that their activities can lead to riots in the country. The Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a body comprising of over 57 member countries, this week wrote to the Sri Lankan government expressing its concerns over the escalating ethnic tensions in the island.
*Munza Mushtaq is a journalist based in Colombo and a former news editor of two English newspapers in Sri Lanka. A version of this article id first appeared in Asia Times Online.
Yes I said to kick out the BUDHIST from the Muslim countries and replace them with MUSLIMS from the same countries at list they will be safe.
And it is the peaceful why to push or force their government to find the solution, how to avoid this kind of genocides for their Muslim citizen. Because if not the ISLAM jihadist will find the way to destroy this kind of countries with all in (BUDIST, CHRISTIANS,JUIFS,Women,Children ,etc….) At that time you my say they are terrorists ,but you give them the occasion to do so .
Regarding our friend who is augmenting that other religions are not free in Muslims countries he is wrong, I saw many Hindu and Other putting some religion staff on their hands, feed etc…. does some one ask them why ? No one.
So if you want to get respected, respect others or you will destroy yourself by your hands and words and you will know that when it is too late to repair the damage caused.
Either to go look for a job or secure a food to their families they are writing “No HALAL “ , and Against الله سبحانه .
I feel so sorry for them because they did not know that ALAH create them, they thought they are created by monkeys or the IDOLS that other human like them have created by their hands.
How stupid and ignorant they are.
Why would an atheist be so concern about coptic and shias
"I hope you share the same concern for the Coptic Christians in Egypt or the Baha'is in Iran or the Shias in Pakistan or the Christians in Indonesia who are harassed and discriminated against by the larger Muslim populations"
Well I most certainly do! (I hope you must know at least this much about me by now)
In fact I actually had tears in my eyes watching the youtube clip of a Lankan Buddhist monk being attacked in India recently. My own cousins are Buddhists. We grew up under the same roof, and even a majority of my classmates were Buddhists, hence I know enough about Buddhism to say that certainly not all Buddhists are haters and racist. Those inflicting the discrimination are certainly deplorable beings as are all those extremist proclaiming themselves to be Muslims!
"Be happy in your faith and leave others to live their life as they choose"
Is anybody forcing to believe their faith?
That's what i'm looking at, guys your comments an arguments are true and accurate, but it all went over this topic!!!
Furious
I do Surprised..
I agree with your sentiments. However, the post is about Sri Lanka, so why not keep to that instead of going off at a tangent ..
"Be happy in your faith and leave others to live their life as they choose"
Well said.. Let us hope that it becomes so.
Suprised, as long as there are borders and passports we have to deal with it. So let's have the opinion about the present..
I do agree with your last sentance
"Be happy with your faith and leave others to live their life as they choose"
My point is also the same..peace.
You Keep diverts the topic, TS , this conversations about the "Anti Islam Campaign in Srialanka" but your comments related to something else!
You are wrong...Islam does not tell all that about war on Non-muslims...Islam means peace...Look at the topic...it talks about ANTI-MUSLIM campaign...It seems you are just trying to divert the topic...Surprisingly an atheist is interested in this topic and would like to know what will he gain out of it..Ofcourse to spit hatredness...This is the sign of a satan
That's the real point i wanted to prove Learner,,, but as per TS comments it seems he is okay with those campaigns.
Surprised, why do you want to divert the topic? Any country has to treat all their citiizens equally and give protection to their rights as long as they don't violate the country's rules & regulations. That is the point here.
Abuses in GCC for asian expats & illtreatment in US/Europe for Muslim visitors is an entirely differnt subject. The expats in GCC can surely return to our mother land and the Muslim can avoid visiting US/Europe if they want to.
But where do the citizens of a country go if they won't get justice from their country's goverment?
This is the issue being raised by the Muslims/Tamils in SL, I believe.
Why do you bang your head on this ignorant unsurprised person
No one want to see the ummah happy..But still islam will keep rising and such kind of hatredness for muslims will have no affect on the rising.
The security checks only!!! they never told us to remove head scarves or abaya!!!!
TS, understand this we all against human rights violation, but just read this post once again, it's "Anti Muslims Campaign" ...
There are no Anti religious campaign in GCC!!! got it?
Is any regulation in srilanka that that women has to remove there head scarf and abaya???
If any srilankans out there please let us know, so we can avoid visiting there with our women with abaya!
Yes exactly minaisi ,,, Okay, TS, lets Have a view, We all knew the rules and regulations in saudi and other GCC , so why we need to choose that?
Shafy88 u are right. The Srilankans in GCC are not citizens of the GCC, but the oppressed muslims in Srilanka are their citizens.
Is there any Qatari Bhudist here???
Yeah surprised, but who are those works in saudi, there just workers not saudi citizens, but in srilanka those womens are citizens of the country.
Agree with frez, we never seen some peoples wearing t-shirt printed as 'NO BHUDISM' or els 'NO BHUDHIST' , but as i we saw so far in lanka, they are clearly going against Muslims, just see those pictures above, is that what bhudist gets in GCC?
Who said budhist facing discrimination in GCC? i never seen such kind of things here, lot of nationalities use to live here in GCC, some local issues are here, but such kind of violations not ever occur in GCC!
Every nationalities have to leave the country once they finished the job,,, the point is different in Zab's comment
It seems there are no peace in srilanka , but why this president address's his country as a peace nation while religious racism occurs against Muslims and other minor population???
In the view lankan president collect lot of donations from arab muslim nations, it's billions of dollars in numeric, meanwhile he is silent on against Anti Islam process's , is he a leader of the country or else biggest racist of the country?
If you do not like as! Why are you coming to work in our countries and get a better life that you will never get either in your home or dreams? Go back to your monkeys and stones .
In my opinion the best way to deal with these governments who are insulting ISLAM is to send them back their BUDIST who are working in all the MUSLIMS countries and give job offers to MUSLIMS of the same country.
We are in the 2013 and you still believe in monkeys, stones, sun, cow……………… So I’m not surprised by your act. MONKEYS SLAVES
It’s all about Politics, nothing will work out
its sad to say that Arab countries don't see the human right violations in sri lanka,, even for the UN resultant against human right in SL most of the Arab countries supported sri lankan with blind eyes.
It appears vested parties are out there striving ardently to destroy the peace and unity among the people of SL. Kudos to the all those out there who are working against these warmongers and doing all they can to dispel of the racism and apprehensions.
It's happening all over the world, even in arab world, we have seen until now they banging Muslims only,
Now that turn to srilanka !!! They might calling to Hamas or Al quaeeda!!!