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Sri Lanka: Bodu Bala Sena On The Warpath

12 April 2014

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The Sunday Leader, 13 April 2014

BBS On The Warpath: Muslims Threaten To Boycott Parliament

By Waruni Karunarathne

The Bodu Bala Sena was at it again! This time they stormed a press conference and verbally abused a monk and a Muslim cleric over a resettlement issue and all this in front of the police officers who stood there doing nothing.

The press briefing was organized by the Jathika Bala Sena to inform what they said over the alleged resettlement of Muslims in the Wilpattu National Park were misgivings.

The Bodu Bala Sena had accused Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen of illegally resettling the Muslims families in the land within the park.

Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary, the Venerable Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thero was at the centre of the whole “drama†.

Gnanasara Thero and a group of people prevented the press conference led by the Venerable Watarekke Vijitha Thero from taking place and verbally abused the Buddhist monk when he was about to brief the media at the Nippon Hotel.

Gnanasara verbally abused the monk at the press conference venue and when the Muslim Cleric attempted to intervene he was also verbally abused.

The BBS said that a Buddhist has no right to speak on behalf of Muslims and threatened to disrobe the Venerable Watarekke Vijitha Thero in front of the media.

“Shut up,†the Venerable Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thero kept shouting at the Muslim cleric and others who attempted to express their views.

Once the BBS members and supporters left the venue the police escorted the Venerable Watarekke Vijitha Thero out of the venue.

Loss of democracy

Minister Bathiudeen told The Sunday Leader that it is an indication of a loss of democracy in the country.

“Any person in a democratic country should be able to express their opinions and hold press conference or create a dialogue. We condemn the act of sabotage and damage done to the democracy of the country,†he said.

He disapproved of the way the monk abused and threatened members of the Jathika Bala Sena including several monks and Muslim religious leaders who attended the press briefing.

The Minister said that it was also unacceptable the manner that the police watched the abusive conduct of the BBS members and how they failed to intervene.

“Bodu Bala Sena has taken laws into their hand and claims them to be the unofficial police publicly but no action has been taken to stop their violent interferences. Therefore they act freely with no respect for police or other religious leaders,†he added.

He reminded that the Sri Lankan community has suffered a 30 years of war including Muslims and stressed religious and ethnic extremists are a danger to the country as they constantly break peace and unity among the communities.

According to him, there has been a proposal that Muslim parliamentarians boycott sittings until the government addresses the issue. However, he added that no decision has been taken on the matter.

General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Hassan Ali said that in order to address the issue all the parliamentarians and Muslim NGOs must come together to indentify the problem at hand.

Accordingly, he said they could prepare a memorandum and submit it to the President with a timeframe to implement the suggested steps. He added that whenever there was an incident of violence against the Muslims, the leaders of the Muslim political parties had brought it up and have had discussions several times with the President and other officials.

Sheer Disappointment

“Therefore, even after giving a memorandum if the government fails to address the issue, I suggested that the Muslim Parliamentarians boycott the parliament just to get the attention of the government,†he said.

He assured that they do not wish to topple the government, but they only expect to grab the attention of the government to solve the issue.

The chairman of the Muslim Media Forum and the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka N.M. Ameen added that they were highly disappointed about the conduct of the BBS Secretary and his attempt to sabotage the media briefing which is a violation of democracy. He added, “Addressing other monks and Muslim religious leaders with an abusive language is not tolerable especially for a monk.â€

He added that he was sure that the majority of the Buddhist community would also not appreciate or accept such behaviours and use of language. According to him, they have been working with Sinhala Buddhist community and Buddhist religious leaders closely in many occasions and they feared that incidents like this might damage mutual understanding and respect for one another.

“Resettling Muslim in the North is vital as they have being in refugee camps for over 24 years. Our community in North suffered due to the war and had to find refugee in the South when the LTTE vacated all the Muslims from the North,†he said.

According to him the Muslim community had to suffer in the hands of the LTTE as the Muslims always respected the unity of the country. He further added that they had not forgotten the help lent by the people in the South when the Muslims in the North fled those areas ,and therefore he believed that the Sinhala Buddhist majority will do justice to stop extremists from carrying out violence against the Muslim community. “Right now, our court is the people of the country and we hope that they will do justice.â€

Unofficial police

Meanwhile the leader of the Muslim Tamil National Alliance (MTNA) Azath Salley reiterated that the incident at the Nippon hotel was a clear sign of the death of freedom and democracy in Sri Lanka.

“Freedom to speak and express is being violated. The BBS is claiming to be the unofficial police while the police stand in silence when the extremist Buddhist groups are acting violently. If anybody from a minority claimed to be the unofficial police, they would be arrested and locked up,†he said.

He added that they expect to bring the whole Muslim community together to discuss such abusive conduct and violent acts against Muslims by extremist groups and proceed with action very soon. He emphasized, “enough is enough.â€

Chairman of the Islamic Solidarity Front Riyyaz Sally told The Sunday Leader that incidents like this would reflect badly on the government and further damage their reputation especially at a time when the UN Human Rights Council has passed a resolution on the country and the international community is on full alert.

He added, however, that if the Muslim parliamentarians take a decision to boycott the parliament, it might take the attention of the government and put more pressure on them to take tangible measures to address the issue.

P.S.

The above article from Th Sunday Leader is reproduced here for educational and non commercial use