Crises in Sri Lanka come in deadly waves. After the immense loss of life and destruction in the tsunami disaster last December, the latest waves to pose a major threat have come in the form of religion-inspired violence and extremism.
The east of Sri Lanka, where all three major communities (the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese, the Tamils and the Muslims) live in near equal proportions, is the crucible of emerging unrest and violence.
Along with resettlement programs for those displaced by the tsunami, there are new problems among the Sinhalese and Muslim communities, which until recently lived in relative harmony. Some Sinhala Buddhist extremists have erected statues of the Buddha in hitherto predominantly Muslim settlements. While this is galling to Muslims, it makes for a good rallying call for extremist Muslim politicians to raise fears that the rights of Muslims are being threatened by the country's majority Sinhalese Buddhists Muslims fear the new Buddha statues as harbingers of future Sinhalese settlements in traditional Muslim villages. The militant Buddhist monk, Venerable Omalpe Sobhitha Thera, says the entirety of Sri Lanka has always been dedicated to the Buddha and challenges the right of Muslims or any others to protest about the erection of new Buddha statues anywhere.
PHOTO: EPA
Muslims in the east of the island increasingly fear that the Tamil Tigers, who drove them out of the north 20 years ago, will target them again, this time in the east. The Karuna faction, a breakaway group of the Tamil Tigers, operates in that part of the island and increased clashes between the Northern Tigers led by Velupillai Prabhakaran and the Eastern Karuna faction threaten Muslims caught in the crossfire between rival Tamil separatists.
Eastern Muslims also fear that a proposed post-tsunami mechanism of relief and reconstruction between the government and the Northern Tigers may even ignore Muslim aspirations. This has spurred an increase in militancy among Muslim youth.
It is an open secret that Eastern Muslim youth undergo guerrilla military training in the jungles and that some describe themselves as Jihadists, supporting a Holy War to protect those areas in which they live. There are also allegations that young Sri Lankan Muslims are involved in arms smuggling and that they go abroad for secret military training.
Theological differences are also emerging between the adherents of Sufism and the majority Sunni population which has led to clashes between the two communities.
Into this volatile mix of Muslims fearing Buddhist expansionism, internecine clashes among the Muslim community and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, come the evangelical Christians. Since the devastating tidal wave at the end of last year there have been suggestions that a large number of Christian organizations, mainly funded from the US, are using the hardships of those who have suffered from the tsunami as a way of winning converts to their form of Christianity.
The government in Colombo has already taken note of extremist Buddhist demands and obtained Cabinet approval for a Bill to outlaw unethical conversion.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in