Racists Have Made Sri Lanka A Hell-Hole For The Minorities
Lukman Harees
In 2016, an astrologist named Sameera Chandrasiri from Helabimanewspaper in his column, in a crafty way predicted an impending Sinhala-Muslims conflict soon and attributed cattle slaughter during ‘Ramazan’time (??) as one of the possible causes/sparks. Leave aside the comical aspects of the prediction itself, this has come true not because of the cattle slaughter but as a result of racist mad cows/cattle and dogs who embarked on a well- orchestrated hate campaign based on a Sinhala Buddhist platform ever since independence which has now reached another new peak in the Post War era. With added venom, they set upon a community who always stood by the Sinhalese in sun or rain to protect the territorial integrity of their motherland- The Muslims of Sri Lanka. In July 2016, I quoted this funny astrologer and wrote an article to Colombo Telegraph titled ‘Another Sinhala-Muslim Conflict Brewing: Government Caught Napping!’ and explored the historical landscape of Post-Independence and Post-War Sri Lanka and argued that the government’s lack of political will and resoluteness is pushing Sri Lanka into a social volcano waiting to explode at any moment. This sadly came true and as a matter of fact, there was no need for an astrologer to predict this calamity, as any observer with a fine tuned common sense will and could have seen telling signs of this gathering storm.
Ethnic or religious clashes or conflagrations have not been anything novel or new to the Sri Lankan Dharma Dweepaya. In fact, modern Ceylon’s first ethno-religious riots targeted not Tamils but Muslims in 1915. Then, ever since Independence, there were many ethnic conflagrations mainly between Sinhalese and Tamils and many renown scholars I have been quoting in many of my articles such as KM De Silva, Neera Wickramasinghe, Amunugama, Tambiah and also Jayadeva Uyangoda have all highlighted that the rise and institutionalisation of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism in post-independent Sri Lanka bear much responsibility for today’s ethnic conflicts between the majority Sinhalese state and the minorities. In a classic case of ‘Labbata Thiyapu Atha Puhulatath’, upon the heels of the end of a protracted Sinhala Tamil ethnic conflict which aggravated with the now infamous 1983 pogrom against the Tamils, there came the well-orchestrated hate campaign against the next biggest minority –the Muslims, which culminated in the Aluthgama dubbed by many analysts as a mini-1983. Sinhalese Christians were targeted too.
Drawing parallels between 1983 riots and 2014 Aluthgama riots may not be fair, but few similarities can be identified. One such similarity being not just the inaction on the part of the then-governments to act decisively and firmly on time but also shameful attempts to brand the victims as perpetrators. Post-war period under MR was a time of immense pressure for the minorities. Tamils after difficult times under the ruthless Tigers were thrown into disarray and marginalized due to the arrogant ,supremacist and majoritarian polices adopted by MR. Many are still languishing in refugee camps while no plausible solutions were offered to sort out their genuine grievances. International community put Sri Lanka on the dock for the excesses committed by the Armed Forces during the last stages of the War. Muslims on the other hand went through hell when many hate groups with implicit State support, operated without fear or sanction throwing all decencies to the wind, while the silent majority watched helplessly. Muslim politicians were caught napping. Sri Lanka became once again, almost a pariah state in the eyes of the world.
