CJ REMOVES HIMSELF FROM BENCH PRESIDING OVER SUJEEWA’S PETITION

March 25, 2013 

Chief Justice Mohan Peiris has removed himself from the bench presiding over the fundamental rights petition brought forward by UNP MP Sujeewa Senasinghe.

The petition was brought forward regarding the Central Bank of Sri Lanka purchasing bonds from Greece for the government which in turn caused losses of Rs. 3.5 billion.

The petition was put forward to the bench comprising Mohan Peiris, Nimal Gamini Amaratunga and Sathya Hettige today (March 25).

The attorney appearing for the petitioner pointed out that the Chief Justice was not suitable to preside over the case as he was at one point the Legal Advisor for the Central Bank.

The Chief Justice sustained the objection while he directed the petition to be brought up once again in front of a bench he would exclude himself from on June 25.

Law only for the masses?

iThough it is compulsory for motorcyclists to wear helmets, a police constable is seen riding on the pillion of a colleague’s motorcycle without a helmet on the Parliament Drive.  Pix by Kavinda Dammika

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Colombo University VC: A Reply To Prof. Hoole

By Savitri Goonesekere -March 25, 2013 

Savitri Goonesekere

Prof. R S Hoole has in a letter published on March 20, 2013 responded to a piece written by me.

Let me clarify certain issues he has raised. I have checked my facts. Dr.Hirimburegama who has applied for the Vice Chancellor’s post in the University of Colombo is a Lecturer Grade II of this university. I did not make the derogatory remarks that Prof. Hoole suggests I made in reference to Dr. Hirimburegama. I raised the issue whether he and the other Senior Lecturer Grade II applicant for the post satisfied the requirements outlined in the public advertisement extracts of which are given below.

The university system may recognise a lower grade than Senior Lecturer Grade II. However, we are all aware that the lowest tenure track post in the system is Senior Lecturer Grade II. Why or how Dr. Hirimburegama continues in this post I do not know. In any case the issue of what is the lower post in the university system below Senior Lecturer Grade II is hardly relevant when we are discussing applications for the highest post of Vice Chancellor in the university!

Let me also clarify that it is very obvious to any reader that I referred as “Professor” to Professor Kshanika Hirimburegama and not her husband Dr. Hirimburegama. It is therefore incorrect to state that I referred to him as professor anywhere in my article.

In regard to the personal and snide comments on my qualifications may I assure Prof. Hoole that every appointment and all awards that I have received have been on the basis of my academic and professional credentials. Prof. Hoole who contributed to the formulation of the UGC’s scheme of recruitment for professors in the state university system cannot be unaware that a PhD degree receives a very few points in the total marks required and in evaluation for appointment to the post of professor. Many law professors in the world including in universities such as Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and Sri Lanka have been appointed to this post on the basis of an excellent first degree, their scholarship and academic and professional achievements.

Prof. Hoole attributes personal motives to me for raising issues which I considered to be of concern to the university community, the higher education system and the public of Sri Lanka. I quote for his information the following extracts from the advertisement for the post of Vice Chancellor University of Colombo that appeared in the press. The advertisement came from the office of the Registrar University of Colombo dated 5th February 2013.

“The University of Colombo is the only metropolitan university in Sri Lanka and a rapidly developing pioneer educational institution … linked to the then Ceylon University College and the University of Ceylon. Regionally and internationally the University of Colombo is recognized as a highly reputed institution … The University of Colombo has a campus, 7 Faculties, 6 Institutes and a School, providing … programmes to a population of approximately 25,000 students in undergraduate, post graduate and extension progr4ammes.

The Vice Chancellor shall be … the principal executive officer and the principal academic officer. She/he is an ex officio member and the Chairperson of the Council and the Senate of the University… and the accounting officer of the university.

The Vice Chancellor shall be a person with a vision to carry forward the corporate goals of the University through her/his intellectual as well as managerial brilliance.”

The applicant/nominee is therefore expected to be a person of high academic calibre and integrity with a record of outstanding achievements with excellent communication skills along with an ability to stimulate diverse interests of the students and staff.”

Northern Provincial Council doesn't exist states Department of Elections

MONDAY, 25 MARCH 2013 09:13

The Northern Provincial Council does not exist states the Department of Elections. The elections to the Northern Province cannot be held as the President has not constituted the Northern Provincial Council.

Elections Commissioner, Mahinda Deshapriya says elections to the Eastern Province were held as Eastern Provincial Council had been gazetted after the demerge of the Eastern Province from the Northern Province.

In an interview with 'The Hindu' Newspaper in India President Mahinda  Rajapakse had stated last year that elections for the Northern Province would be held in September  this year. The recently passed US backed resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHCR welcomed the government’s decision to hold elections in the Northern Province.

Jayalalitha calls for CHOGM boycott

2013-03-25 Joining her arch rival DMK on the Lankan Tamils issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday said that India should stay away from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo in November to mount pressure on Sri Lanka to ensure accountability under an international framework for its alleged war crimes. Earlier in the day, the DMK, which quitted the UPA coalition on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, had demanded that India should boycott the CHOGM. Jayalalithaa's letter to PM “...Any high level participation or engagement from the Indian side in the CHOGM will not only embolden the Sri Lankan regime but also incense public opinion and sentiment in Tamil Nadu on this every sensitive issue even further”, she said in a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. She cited reports that Canada was likely to boycott and the House of Commons Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.K. had also urged the British Prime Minister not to attend. Many important countries across the world, including two G-8 countries, propose to leverage the CHOGM and make substantial progress in human rights issue in Sri Lanka, she said. “As an emerging great power and an aspirant for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, India has a duty to ensure that the values of democracy and respect for human rights are upheld anywhere in the world and in particular in its neighbourhood”, the AIADMK chief said. As a leader in South Asia, India was uniquely positioned to exert the maximum influence on the Sri Lankans to accept an independent international mechanism to hold those who committed “genocide and war crimes” to account, she said. The proposed CHOGM was another “opportune occasion” for India to mount further pressure on Sri Lanka to ensure that accountability was established under an international framework for the “war crimes and genocide committed in the closing stages of the civil war and the ongoing gross human rights abuses,” she said. Observing that there was still time to consider an alternative venue to hold the event and India should ask for it, Ms. Jayalalithaa said, “If India takes this diplomatic initiative, there is likely to be broad based support amongst member countries of the Commonwealth.” Accusing India of voting in favour of a “diluted and weak” U.S. resolution against Sri Lanka and not moving any amendments at the UNHRC, she said, “There was widespread disappointment at this stand of the Government of India and a continuing sense of injustice in Tamil Nadu on this issue.” DMK's resolution “While Commonwealth Secretariat should not convene the meeting at Colombo, but if it happens, India should boycott the meeting in order to reflect the sentiments of Tamils worldover and to keep up the democratic spirits,” the DMK Executive Meeting said. Chaired by party chief M. Karunanidhi, the meeting was attended by senior party leaders, but his son M.K. Alagiri, who is sulking on not being consulted over the party’s pull out of UPA, skipped it. This is the first high level meeting of the party after it withdrew support to the UPA government last week charging that the Centre failed to bring amendments to the U.S.-sponsored resolution at the UNHRC against Sri Lanka for the alleged human rights violations during its crackdown on LTTE four years ago. When some countries had decided against attending the Commonwealth meeting, “India without any hesitation should announce its decision about boycott immediately,” the party said in a resolution. Defending its decision to snap ties with the UPA, DMK said it had provided stability to the Congress-led coalition from 2004 and solidly backed it in 2009. “Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) and DMK deserve credit for providing stability and preventing the collapse of the government” when the Centre faced several critical situations on issues like FDI in retail and to keep the communal forces at bay, the resolution said. Slamming the Centre on the Lankan Tamils issue, it said New Delhi continued to extend all assistance to Colombo terming it as a “friendly country” and insisted that India should bring a resolution on its own against Sri Lanka before the UNHRC. Referring to the attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, the DMK said despite its repeated pleas on the protection of fishermen, it seemed that the Centre has not taken any effective steps so far. “The Centre should not delay further and take strong action to protect Tamil Nadu fishermen,” the resolution said. The meeting passed as many as 16 resolutions. In a resolution, the meeting urged the Centre to take steps to complete the Sethu Samudram project by defeating the designs of communal forces, which were trying to stall it. The meeting also narrated the benefits that Tamil Nadu had received during DMK’s alliance with the UPA coalition at the Centre. (The Hindu)

Students Movement In TN, Not A Movement Of Riffraff’s Or Fringe Groups: A Reply To Kusal

By Paul Newman -

Dr. Paul Newman

Students Movement In Tamilnadu And India Against Sri Lanka – Not a movement of Riffraff’s or Fringe Groups

Last week my friend Pon.Chandran wrote an article in Colombo Telegraph titled, ‘Will the IC respond to the Just Voices of the Tamil Students’, in response an esteemed Sinhala friend wrote an article in CT covering a whole lot of issues connected with the Tamil struggle, in the beginning of the article he was referring to the students protests in Tamilnadu and called them as ‘riffraff’s’ and people belonging to ‘fringe groups’. It is sad that the few Sinhala ‘alternate thinker’ missed the point and called these continuing protests as those whipped by emotions. My friend also questions the IQ of the student community by questioning whether these youngsters know anything about the Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. It is here I felt as a person involved with the students movement I should respond.

It is a well known fact that these students have time and again reiterated that they do not want to support any political parties, if only my Sinhala friends had the luxury of watching the Tamil television channels they would have been proud of the responsible students community which articulates so well their demands.

These students are frustrated more with the Indian government than Mahinda Rajapakse. They know for sure the way the Indian government had helped the Sri Lankans defeat the LTTE and carry out the massacre at Mullivaikal.  For that they need not know ‘Tamil politics of Sri Lanka’, for they never spoke or articulated about the Sri Lankan Tamil politics.

Talking about the origin of the ‘anti-Sri Lankan protests’, I have been involved along with a host of other human rights activists from Tamilnadu and Karnataka including the likes of Pon Chandran, Kurinji, Prof.Ramu Manivannan,Dr.Bernard D’Samy, Prof.Saraswathi, Ms.Pandima Devi, Dr.V.Suresh, Prof.Nagaragere Ramesh, Dr.Ambrose Pinto, Lawyer Manohar, Prof. Babiah, Prof.M.G.Krishnan (the present Vice Chancellor of Karnataka State Open University), Prof.Hargopal of National Law School to name a few in conscientizing the students community on the issue in which India is deeply involved .

The All India Catholic University Federation, a well known student’s movement with over 100 units in Tamilnadu has been in the forefront in bringing to light the injustice suffered by the voiceless civilians during the course of the civil war. The world renowned Jesuit institutions have played a key role in highlighting this issue. The Jesuits on their part had the ‘Jesuit Task Force on Sri Lanka’, in which I was a consultant and we even brought out a booklet titled, ‘Sri Lanka – A humanitarian Catasrophy’, which was circulated in the more than 40 colleges they run across India.

The protests started inside the Loyola college campus with eight students, the institution is one of the top three colleges in India, it is an apolitical one. Among its alumni it boasts of names like former Indian President R.Venkataraman, finance minister P.Chidambaram and West Bengal Governor M.K.Narayanan, journalist N.Ram, key men who formulated Sri Lankan foreign policy at different times in India. The sister colleges of Loyola including the fames St. Joseph’s College Trichy and St.Xavier’s Palaymkottai were the first ones to start the protests as these institutions inculcate the ‘option for justice’ among its students.

The AICUF is not the only students movement which asked its members to join, even All India students Organisations including the Left-wing students organisations like Students Federation of India (SFI) and All India Students Federation (AISF), demanded, among other things, an ‘economic embargo’ against Sri Lanka for its ‘genocide’ in the last days of ‘Eelam War-1V’ in 2009. (Read here)

The movement is very well planned, designed and executed. It may have started by a mere eight students but today it is one of the most well organized non-violent struggles seen in the history of post-independent India. The students are so ariculate and well informed that they drew their own plan of action and worked out their set of demands. The demands put forward by them to the Government of India are:

1. We strongly condemn the US-draft resolution. Do not pass it at UNHRC
2. What took place in Ilangkai [Sri Lanka] is not merely war crimes or violations of human rights, but planned genocide
3. International investigation and referendum are the only solutions for the Tamils. Government of India should propose a resolution to bring in international investigation and to conduct a referendum on independent Tamil Eelam.
4. A proposal should be made to remove the Deputy High Commission of the Sinhala chauvinistic State from the Tamil soil [Tamil Nadu]. India should severe all diplomatic relations with Ilangkai [Sri Lanka].
5. Government of India, accepting the request of the Tamil Nadu State Government, should implement economic sanctions on Ilangkai [Sri Lanka].
6. On behalf of the Tamil Nadu State Government, a foreign relations department should be created to assure the security of global Tamils.
7. No Asian country should be a member in the [international] investigation committee.
8. Killing Tamil Nadu fishermen should be stopped immediately.
9. If the Government of India is not finding solution to the question of Eezham Tamils, we will not pay any taxes from Tamil Nadu. We, students, will actively engage in this campaign.

The ever anti-Tamil English media in India too for a change did a decent reporting on the students protest. They highlighted the student protests at the elite Indian Institute of Technology Madras (Chennai) and Bombay(Mumbai). A few illustrations are given below to demonstrate that these students’ protests were not in isolation, these were mass movements.

IIT-M students join anti-Lanka protests

IIT-B students protest Lankan war crimes

It is believed to be the largest ever students’ upsurge for the Tamil cause from seemingly apolitical campuses like IIT and Loyola. It is also touted as the second largest mass protest of students after anti-Hindi agitation (Read here)

With students of professional colleges and universities too joining what is turning out be a massive upsurge of students against alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka,the Tamil Nadu government on Monday moved quickly to shut down 525 engineering colleges affiliated to Anna University indefinitely (Read here )

Even as late as yesterday, 3 days after the passing of the resolution, IIT Madras students renewed their protests (Read here)

It was not just the students who came to the streets, the software enginers at Tidel park left their work to show solidarity with the students,lawyers, the auto drivers unions and lorry drivers unions called for a strike, Tamil Nadu Film Directors Association and the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council, Koyambedu wholesale market traders selling fruits and vegetables shut down their business.

The career minded software engineers who are accused of having no social concern made a point that they too were with those demanding justice, on the 20^th of march more than 4,000 of them formed a human chain at Tidel Park.(Read here )

One must not undermine the intelligence of the students in this age of technology, we must also note that there are 110 Sri Lankan Tamil refugee camps spread across the state of Tamilnadu. There are more than 100,000 Tamil refugees living here for more than two decades, is there anyone who has assured them that things are conducive for them to return?  The Sri Lankan navy has killed nearly 550 Tamil fishermen which never went unnoticed by these students. They turned out to protest not in tens or hundreds as imagined by ‘expert analysts’ sitting in television studious of New Delhi or other parts of the world. They came in hundreds of thousands. It was not just in Tamilnadu, the protests were witnessed in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai as well as New Delhi.

This new generation of students did not mind sacrificing their classes though exams are around the corner. All that the student protesters are asking for is justice to their Tamil brethren in Sri Lanka, if seeking justice is wrong, yes they are wrong! If they are wrong, even my Sinhala friends who are content with a regime change are also wrong!

There is not a single incident of violence reported against this students protest. I salute these brave hearts for they are accomplishing what I could not accomplish during my student days.

Inter-Religious Integration in Sri Lanka—Inclusion not Intrusion

Inter-Religious Integration in Sri Lanka—Inclusion not Intrusion

Bishop Duleep de Chickera-25 Mar, 2013

Bishop Duleep de Chickera-25 Mar, 2013-Image courtesy Maliban Biscuit

Over the past months Sri Lankans have been educated on two Arabic words: halal and haram (that which is permissible and not permissible). Unfortunately the circumstances of learning have been an unprecedented antagonism towards the Muslim community much deeper than the halal issue. This trend must be addressed without delay by the government and all religions before it spirals into a much wider conflict, which the country can ill afford.

The government’s responsibility is to do what all governments are mandated to do: ensure the prompt implementation of law and order without fear or favour to any. This should include steps to curb the provocation of religious animosity and ensure the security and dignity of the Muslim community; an intrinsic part of the nation from well before the Ninth Century.

That this has not happened is worrying since the government is more than capable of restoring order. It consequently suggests that there is an anticipation of political gain in the campaign against Muslims. If this is the case— and the weight of the foremost authority appointed to protect all is seemingly behind a divisive sectarian force—an afflicted minority has every right to feel betrayed. In this state of vulnerability they have an equal right to expect goodwill and solidarity from their neighbours of other religions in particular.

That this too has not been substantially demonstrated is an equally disturbing feature of today’s multi-religious society. More than anything else, it points to the failure of moderates of all religions, including Islam, to fulfil certain essential obligations that feed inter-religious integration.

These obligations are:

1. That moderates of all religions should sustain mutual relationships of friendship and trust in times of tension as well as in harmony.
2. That moderates should together discern how best the adherents of any one religion are to be free to live by their core teachings and practices, integrate with other religions whose freedom to live by their own teachings and practices is to be recognised and upheld and find a dignified way forward when these interests run into conflict.
3. That moderates should welcome the distinct presence of the other, gather the liberating resources that their respective religions offer and strive together to eliminate humankinds’ common life threatening enemies such as poverty, greed, violence, abuse, discrimination and so on. (We have done this with ease in the areas of food, dress and music. But it has to spread to include moral values and spiritual insights that impact on the socio-political quality of life as well).
4. That moderates should sustain a restraining dialogue with those within their own camps whose categorical views and behaviour are likely to hurt the religious sensitivities of others.
5. And that moderates should engage in self-scrutiny; keep an ear to the ground and an ever vigilant eye on any provocative or offensive message that the practice and behaviour of their respective communities may convey to others, no matter how sincere the intention may be.

It is precisely a disinterest and bankruptcy in the potential of these obligations that has polarised, paralysed and prevented the religions from anticipating the emergence of the current anti-Muslim campaign and arresting its escalation.

A conversation in the Bible between Jesus and a group of people addresses this type of stalemate. Jesus is informed of an act of political violence in which Pilate has massacred 30 persons from Galilee (the socially cosmopolitan and politically restless region in Palestine). He immediately vindicates those massacred leaving his listeners to guess who then was guilty, refers to another incident of violence to indicate a trend in sectarian violence and promptly calls his listeners, who imagined they were neutral and safe, to “repent” lest they also “perish”. (Luke 13.1-5)

The point is clear. None remains neutral when sectarian violence becomes a trend. All inevitably get sucked in as victims or violators whether active or passive. So all, including those who think they are neutral are to repent. They are to stop, take note of happenings, look within, examine their inner motives in relation to the highest values of their religion or ideology and re-emerge with a reconciliatory stance.

At the height of the anti-conversion tensions towards the middle of the previous decade, the Congress of Religions refused to remain neutral. As it engaged in intense reflection on the issue, the complex task at hand became clearer. This was to recognise the crisis, take responsibility for the insensitive behaviour of some within its respective religions, honour the teachings of its respective religions, safeguard the democratic freedom of choice and stay together through it all. The reconciliatory outcome was a proposal for a national inter-religious council as an alternative to legislation, with authority to address inter-religious tensions and much more, build inter-religious goodwill and trust.

On hindsight one wonders whether if this proposal had been implemented by the then government, the current anti-Muslim campaign would not have been sensed and dealt with in its early stages; at the table and not on the streets.

At a recent inter-religious conversation, a participant turned to the others and invited a critique of his own religious community in order that it may engage in self-correction. This type of question usually says more than is asked and has a lesson for all. Each is privileged to learn from the other about one’s own religious behaviour. But this can only happen when sufficient goodwill and trust has been built and the religious ‘other’ is invited with respect from the periphery into the middle of the discourse.

Living with integrity with other religions is never a betrayal of one’s own; rather it exposes the superfluous and sometimes harmful beliefs and practices that have accumulated within our respective religions over the years. From here the courage to discard these excesses ironically draws us back to the core of our own legitimate beliefs and practices and motivates us to welcome, live with and work with the ‘other’.

When this happens, the distinction between a world religion and a cult is clarified and the course of history also influenced by religious sensibility. If not, all religion, not just the ‘other one’, deserves to be judged by a world which will simply look elsewhere for light and life.

BBS insists Lanka not multiracial

March 24, 2013

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) says Sri Lanka is not a multiracial or multi-religious country but a Sinhala Budhist country.

Speaking at the Bodu Bala Sena convention in Panadura this evening, the venerable Medagoda Abayathissa thero urged the Sinhalese to protect the nation and not let other races or religions to take over.

The monk also urged Sinhalese families to have at least 5-6 children so that the Sinhalese  Buddhist population grows in order to protect the Sinhala race and Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, the venerable Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara thera said that the country should be ready to rally against Christian and Muslim extremist groups operating in the country.

He insisted that the Bodu Bala Sena does not have issues with Muslims and Tamils as a whole. However he said that Muslim women should not be allowed to wear the Niqab in Sri Lanka.

The venerable Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara thera also said that all stores should close on Poya Days, including Muslim stores, so that all Buddhist employees working in those organisations can go to the Temple instead of work.

“We have now become the police of this nation. We must help the police arrest people bringing down heroin in Sri Lanka,” he added.

He also said that the Ministry of Defence had given an assurance that the halal issue will be resolved.

However he warned that if the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) goes against its commitments to the Ministry of Defence and the Buddhist clergy then the Bodu Bala Sena will take appropriate action.

The venerable Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara thera also insisted that the Bodu Bala Sena has not done anything wrong to call for their arrest.

He also slammed Sri Lanka’s foreign service, particularly the appointment of a former Muslim Minister as the High Commissioner to Singapore.

The venerable Medagoda Abayathissa thero, meanwhile, discouraged Sinhalese families from watching the movie ‘Sri Sidhartha’ which is currently screening in Colombo and cinemas around the country.

The monk said that the movie gives the wrong impression about Buddhism and so the Bodu Bala Sena will take measures to ban the film.

The venerable Medagoda Abayathissa thero said that Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) were behind the funding of the movie.

Another monk speaking at the convention in Panadura said that a Bodu Bala Sena ringing tone on Mobitel phones, if downloaded, will be used to fund the Bodu Bala Sena organisation. (Colombo Gazette)

Report by Easwaran Rutnam

The hardline Buddhists targeting Sri Lanka's Muslims

After a series of attacks on mosques, wild rumours about animal slaughter and an attempt to outlaw the halal system of classification, the BBC's Charles Haviland investigates how Sri Lanka's Muslim minority is being targeted by hardline Buddhists.

Hardline monks and Buddhist groups are trying to outlaw halal certification-24 March 2013 

On a January morning a crowd of Buddhist monks storm a law college, yelling, chanting and even hitting one or two seemingly random people and pushing back the police. Furiously they shout that the exam results have been distorted to favour Muslims.

A few weeks later, apparently abetted by the police, monks attack a slaughterhouse in Dematagoda, Colombo, alleging that calves are being slaughtered inside (illegal in the capital) or the meat is improperly stored.

Both are incorrect, but the monks spread rumours that the facility is Muslim-owned as most of the truck drivers are Muslim.

Sri Lankan monks are now taking this so-called "direct action" every few days. It is part of a growing wave of anti-Muslim activities in Sri Lanka carried out by new hardline Buddhist groups - a trend that is making many people anxious, even fearful.

It comes four years after the army in this mainly Sinhalese Buddhist country defeated Tamil separatists.

Regular attacks

During Sri Lanka's bitter civil war war the Muslims - a small Tamil-speaking minority, about 9% of the population - kept a low profile, although many suffered violence.

Muslim leaders have shied away from any kind of confrontation with the state

Muslims are seen as having remained largely loyal to the state during the 26-year conflict. Indeed in 1990 they were expelled en masse from the north of Sri Lanka by Tamil rebels with just a few hours' notice.

But they now fear that ethnic majority hardliners are trying to target them.

At their recent rallies, the most prominent new hardline group, the Buddhist Strength Force (Bodu Bala Sena, BBS) have used coarse, derogatory language to describe Muslim imams and have told the Sinhalese majority not to rent property to Muslims.

At one meeting attracting thousands, the organisation's secretary, Gnanasara Thero, told each Buddhist present to become "an unofficial policeman against Muslim extremism" and said "so-called democrats" were destroying the Sinhala race.

Away from the rallies, I visited a temple in the suburb of Dehiwala as the early morning sun hit the majestic bo tree.

The presiding monk, Akmeemana Dayarathana, has founded another ultra-nationalist Buddhist group, Sinhala Echo. He says the Sinhalese have real grievances, that Muslims are trying to convert people, building too many mosques - even having too many children. In fact statistics show that both the Sinhalese and Muslim population percentages have grown slightly over three decades.

He says, without giving any evidence, that Muslims propagated a message that Sinhalese families should be small.

"Then they started to increase their own population," he says. "This is the only country for the Sinhalese."

He proceeds to give a unique take on geography and religion.

"Look around the world - Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and others, they were all Buddhist countries - but the Muslims destroyed the culture and then took over the country. We worry they're planning it here too."

A few days later his organisation stormed a house where they alleged Christian conversions were taking place and verbally abused the family inside, some of them - according to a local website - physically assaulting a woman.

Top-level support

Since last April, when monks led an attack on a mosque during Friday prayers in the town of Dambulla, there have been regular accounts of mosques being attacked or vandalised, for instance with graffiti or pictures of pigs. There have also been assaults on churches and Christian pastors but it is the Muslims who are the most concerned.

In the south of the country on 18 March, a mob of hundreds including monks surrounded a pastor's house, set fire to tyres outside and shouted abusively to those inside.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said monks are there to protect country, religion and race

"Muslims are worried all over the country," Mufti MIM Rizwe tells me. "Everybody is [in] fear."

He is president of the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), the main organisation of Muslim clerics, and meets me at a hotel where imams have come together for emergency discussions on the situation.

He defends the halal system of food classification, which the hardline monks are now trying to outlaw, and strongly denies that the community is fostering extremism as they claim. He rejects their accusation that Muslims have been destroying Buddhist holy sites.

"You can't show one incident that Muslims have reacted in this way," he says. "No single statue or any religious worship places have been targeted by Muslims, totally not. Muslims have never done this. We hope we are guiding our Muslims to be calm and respect every religion."

Days later his organisation appears on a platform with moderate Buddhist monks who have decided to distance themselves from the hardliners. The hardliners are withering in their description of the moderates, calling them "unethical and immoral".

It has become clear that the BBS has top-level support. At its ceremony to open a new training school, the guest of honour was the powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, brother of the president.

"It is the monks who protect our country, religion and race," he said in a speech.

"No one should doubt these clergy. We're here to give you encouragement."

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was reported to have told a BBS delegation in January not to promote "communal hatred", but the official communique was issued only in English, not in Sinhala.

It is also apparent that Muslim leaders have shied away from any kind of confrontation with the powerful monks or any supporters they may have in government on this issue, remaining largely conciliatory in their language and actions.

Mood of triumphalism

Civic society activists are concerned. Sanjana Hattotuwa, editor of a citizen media initiative, groundviews.org, showed me some of the anti-Muslim web pages that are fast growing in number.

Some civil society activists believe the dominant mood in the country is one of triumphalism

The main picture on a Sinhala Facebook page called "My Conscience", with more than 8,000 followers, shows a lion - symbol of the Sinhalese - devouring a wild boar depicted with a crescent and star on its forehead.

Mr Hattotuwa believes the dominant mood in the country is one of triumphalism, four years after the Tamil Tigers were beaten, and that this is encouraging victimisation of a new minority.

"The country is seen today as Sinhala Buddhist," he says. "Everybody else has a rightful place. If they articulate concerns that question the dominant narrative then they should be put into their place. So the end of the war ironically has given the space for new social fault lines to occur."

He rejects the concern voiced by some people that the socially conservative Muslim community is doing too little to integrate.

"Integration means a recognition that this country is comprised of many communities and each one of them has the right to live where they want, how they want."

Clearly not everyone in the government - which in any case contains Muslim ministers - is happy with the rise of the hardliners.

Some Sinhalese ministers have expressed unease and a prominent newly retired diplomat, Dayan Jayatilleka, calls the BBS an "ethno-religious fascist movement from the dark underside of Sinhala society".

Many Sri Lankans feel there are uncomfortable echoes of the 1983 pogroms, when Sinhala violence against Tamils precipitated the war.

But hardline Buddhist rallies and "direct action" stunts are happening all the time now. And their social and political influence is expanding.