Islamophobia And The Sri Lankan Media
By Hameed Abdul Karim -October 14, 2014
Hameed Abdul Karim
In recent times there have been a string of articles in the Sri Lanka print media ranging from claims that terrorist groups like Al Qaeda are firmly entrenched in Sri Lanka to ISIL cells straining at the leash just to wreak havoc in the country at the drop of the hat. All they need is an order from their ‘caliph’. That’s the impression that has been created in the minds of ‘news’ consumers.
In a TV interview, not long ago, a BBS demagogue said he had seen Al Qaeda cadres training in the east of Sri Lanka with his ‘own eyes’. The military rejected this ‘eye witness account’ out of hand.
So what’s this all about?
The cheap and unsubstantiated anti Islam and anti Muslim propaganda is about fostering a fear psychosis among non-Muslims in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. It certainly seems like there is some agenda somewhere in the higher echelons of world powers to create fear and animosity against Muslims and Islam amongst non-Muslims all over the world and the savagery of terror groups like ISIL help the propagandists in no small measure. Any propagandist or spin doctor will tell you that hate follows fear and that’s when all hell breaks loose.
Two of the foreign spy agencies that are forever claiming Pakistan’s ISI is behind the training of ‘Islamic Terrorists’ in Sri Lanka are India’s RAW and IB. This issue even cropped up when President Mahinda Rajapaksa met with India’s Premier Narendra Modi, who is no stranger to conspiracy theories about Pakistani involvement in terrorism. He is also well known for orchestrating racial violence and is quite adept at rousing communal passions against Indian Muslims in his Hindutva rhetoric. It was he, and not any foreign agency, who orchestrated anti Muslim riots in his Gujarat that left nearly 2000 Muslims dead and thousands homeless. The objective was to hit at the Muslim economy. A copy book event took place in Aluthgama and Beruwala, though mercifully the BBS inspired mobs did not target human life to the extent that Modi did.Read More
