Turn Your Twitter Words To Action – NPC Tells Rajapaksa
TJune 16, 2014
“We draw attention to President Mahinda Rajapaksa‘s statement that his government will not permit anyone to take the law into their own hands. But it is necessary to back words with actions and if anyone is not following the President’s commitment then such person or persons should be dealt with.” says the National Peace Council.
Issuing a statement on ongoing Sri Lanka’s growing unrest, the NPC said today; “We hope the truth behind the incident will be made public and the perpetrators of violence and destruction will not go free to continue with their rampage elsewhere.”
We publish below the statement in full;
The mob attack on Muslim owned shops and homes in Aluthgamaand Beruwela signifies a significant escalation in anti Muslim activities that have been taking place over the past two years. It is reported that at least 2 persons have died and more than 30 injured in clashes. Previous such incidents were on individual targets, including mosques and shops. In most of those previous incidents the responses by the police and security forces was slow or ineffective with the miscreants going free, which created a climate of impunity for the attackers. Read More
‘Aluthgama’ Needs To Be Arrested Forthwith
By Malinda Seneviratne -June 15, 2014
Malinda Seneviratne
The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) holds a rally following an ‘incident’. A second, more violent incident follows. That’s an easy line to draw, i.e. from BBS to violence. It holds. The language, the whipping up of emotions, creation and/or exacerbation of apprehensions regarding another community do not add up to prthagjanas reverting to the foundational tenets, especially wisdom and compassion, or the inhabiting of the sathara brahma viharana (compassion, kindness, equanimity and rejoicing in another’s joys) but produce a quick slide to besieged mentality, persecution mania and the adaptation of ‘attack is the best form of defence’ thinking.
What are the ‘facts’ that we have here? There’s the ‘incident’ where it is claimed that a Muslim person had hit a bikkhu. Claiming is easy and this side of arahathood anyone, bikkhus included, can transgress precepts, including the fourth, the commitment not to utter falsehood). Not only are things lost in narration, lots get added on too in the process. A disagreement becomes dispute, dispute becomes argument, argument raises voices, raised voices lead to in-your-face closeness, proximity tends to contact, contact is read as aggressive touch, touch is blow, and blow is assault. What happens between two human beings is then an altercation between two persons from two communities, religious communities, that is. Read More
