Grandpass And The Tolerance Of Religious Intolerance
Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
At a recent press briefing the new Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya reportedly warned of attempts by the Tamil diaspora to tarnish the country’s image ahead of several important events — the impending visit of Human Rights chief Navi Pillay, the upcoming Northern PC elections, the UNHRC session and CHOGM.
In view of recent developments, however, it’s hard not to conclude that the Tamil diaspora (and for that matter the NGOs, the Opposition, the human rights crowd and all the usual suspects) won’t have to work very hard at their usual pastime of tarnishing Sri Lanka’s reputation. Perhaps they can all take a rest, seeing that the Government of Sri Lanka is doing such a good job of it itself.
The tensions whipped up at the Grandpass mosque over the last weekend have thankfully been defused peacefully, through a rational discussion among community leaders, members of the clergy and political representatives. The old mosque that had been marked for demolition was restored to the Muslim community for their religious activities.
The removal of the bo-tree that was obstructing any expansion the mosque began with the blessings of the Buddhist clergy in the area. They even went so far as to invite the Muslims to use the temple’s ‘dharma salaawa’ in case they ran short of space to conduct their prayers. This generous gesture of the monks is symbolic of the reserve of goodwill at the people-to-people level that enables communities to live together for generations, in central Colombo as in other parts of this multi-ethnic, multi-religious country.
As far as the ‘country’s image’ was concerned, the damage was already done. The agency reports, the TV news flashes, the online videoclips of CCTV footage showing a stone-throwing Buddhist mob attacking a mosque in Sri Lanka had circled the globe. Where did that mob come from? Who led them? Why were they not apprehended, in spite of the police having been at the site? Were they politically affiliated, and politically protected? What has happened to the country’s law enforcement apparatus, that such acts of impunity take place unchecked, with such monotonous regularity? If the GoSL is not responsible for this state of affairs, then who is?
