Anti-Muslim Riots In Sri Lanka: The Riots Of The Other
By Malini Balamayuran –MARCH 14, 2018
Dr. Malini Balamayuran
The anti-Muslim conflagrations that shook the country last week began when Kumarasiri, a Sinhalese Buddhist, died after an attack of a group of Muslim men in Teldeniya, Kandy. Neither, the deployment of 7000 security services including police and army or the declaration of state of emergency had impeded the occurrence of communal disturbances in the outskirts of Kandy town. Consequent to the death of the Sinhalese man, the extremist group within the Sinhalese Buddhists commenced to exploit tension, attempting to instigate a new round of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Even today, a tense situation has forced all communities to live in fear and anxiety as there are possibilities of spreading violence to other parts of the country. This has now become the part and parcel of everyday life in Sri Lanka. The diverse sources reveal that this recurring trend, what is happening against the Muslim community, would foster harmonious co-existence almost impossible in near future.
Outlining the riots in Sri Lanka
The worst communal violence unleashed against Tamils in the past had deteriorated the civic relationship between Sinhalese and Tamils. At some point, one could argue that the violent attacks against Tamils by extreme Sinhalese had caused the more prolonged conflict in Sri Lanka. Still the country struggles to overcome the exacerbated ethnic divisions, suspicions and conflicts. Again, at present, the sense of Muslim-Sinhalese antagonism has become a very serious issue, putting an end to any hope of peace and harmony between Sinhalese and Muslims. It is imperative that the Muslim community had developed a healthy relationship with other ethnic communities particularly with Tamils until 1980s. However, since late 1980s, the Muslim community was also dragged into the conflict paving the way to the establishment of new relationships among them. This had led the Muslims to become more united than ever. At the same time, the fractious relationship between Tamils and Muslims, yet to be resolved, had made a strong sense of alliance between Sinhalese and Muslims in the past. However, soon after the end of military hostilities, the anti-Muslim sentiment has been instigated by the Pro-Sinhala Buddhists forcing Muslims to live with fear of conflict. How this has happened? Who caused this?
Islamophobia
The collective insecurity after the catastrophic events of 9/11 and the sporadic terrorist attacks carried out in countries like Norway, France and London have aggravated the Western governments to tighten the control over Islam and its extreme ideologies, presuming it as a danger and threat to the society. At present, it has become a global behaviour or action against Muslims and their extreme ideologies. Islamophobia is a fear of politics, advocating a frightening aspect of Islam and Muslims. The expression of fear, a key dimension of Islamophobia reflects Muslims as terrorists accentuating the anti-Muslim perceptions, attitudes and emotions against Islam. Many Western democratic countries have propagated a frightening picture of Muslims in the minds of people. The similar sentiments appear in the post-war Sri Lanka too.
The emergence of Ultra-nationalism
Prior to 2009, the extreme Sinhalese-Buddhist movements associated with some political parties had proclaimed that the peace is not an apt solution to the ethnic conflict, urging the government to engage in defensive warfare to respond the demand of separate state of the LTTE. However, immediately after the victory over LTTE, the Pro-Sinhala Buddhists recommenced to reformulate and redefine the Sri Lankan nation as to contemplate their passionate commitment to build entirely a Sinhalese-Buddhist nation leaving no rooms for whatsoever diversities in terms of recognition and respect of other ethnic or religious groups in post-war Sri Lanka. To make Sri Lanka more Buddhist nation, this new aggressive nationalism use Islamophobia to articulate Sinhalese-Buddhist national consciousness through instigating and exacerbating cross-cultural tensions between communities.
Since 2012, the Bodu Bala Sena or Buddhist Power Force (BBS), a hardline Sinhala- Buddhist organization has been constructing fear on Islam and Muslims. The aim of the BBS is to promote and protect the interests of Sinhalese-Buddhists rather than other communities in Sri Lanka. In the eyes of BBS, Muslims appears as the greatest threat to the Buddhist values, cultural identity and the way of life. Many occasions, the Bodu Bala Sena has inculpated the hegemony of Muslims in some sectors such as trade and business in Sri Lanka and reprehended the progress of Muslims in the economy as a threat to the spheres of social, economic, political and even cultural life of Sinhalese. In the context of Sri Lanka, the Muslims are not suspected in relation to the insecurity that relates the source of terrorism, as it is in the Western countries. However, the BBS has been highly criticizing the matters such as Muslim’s demand for halal services and increased mosques and Madrasas in Muslim and non- Muslim areas and inter-group violent conflicts among Muslims. Further, the hardline Sinhalese- Buddhists suspect the Islamic countries whether they are pumping a large amount of funds to promote radical Islam which could cater terrorism in Sri Lanka. It’s worth noting that the post-war regimes, somehow, allowed the pro-Sinhala Buddhist movements to get powerful. Till today, tackling the hate crime against the Muslim community for any post-war Sri Lankan government appears difficult although there are improvements seen in handling the current hate-crime against Muslims. It’s worthwhile to see how hardline Buddhists take a stand to control Muslims in Sri Lanka?
