In the wee hours on Thursday 2 May 2013, prominent Muslim politician
Azath Salley, former Deputy Mayor of Colombo Municipality and leader of the newly formed National Unity Alliance, was arrested from his daughter’s Kolonnawa house. He is now being held at the CID headquarters in Fort on a three month detention order.
Salley, taken into custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, was accused of inciting people aimed at causing damage to ethnic and religious harmony, in the guise of agitating against the government.
Salley’s family members stated that STF and CID officers had surrounded his daughter’s residence at about 5.30 a.m. and Salley had surrendered to the CID at 7.45 a.m. He was then taken to CID Headquarters in Fort. His family was with him at the time of his arrest.
His arrest drew swift and widespread condemnation demanding his release.
Salley had been an outspoken critic of vicious hate Muslim campaign, for no valid reason, unleashed by the Jathika Hela Urumaya,
Bodu Bala Sena and
Sinhala Ravaya combine inciting Sinhalese against Muslims threatening the very stability of the country which has just emerged after a 30 year destructive ethnic war.
The question asked by Muslims in one voice is why the leaders of JHU-BBS-SR combine who in public incite Sinhalese against Muslims were not arrested during their almost two year campaign.
Muslims suspect that these racists elements were Israeli trained and Norway funded mercenaries serving the Jewish controlled America’s global campaign against Islam and Muslims to implement their global military designs. Their honeymoon with their newfound friend, Israel, is not a secret .The binding factor is their common hatred towards Muslims.
This very well planned and carefully executed hate Muslim campaign striking at the very existence of the Muslim community began in the aftermath of the military defeat of
LTTE in May 2009 when they started using websites and the media to demonize Islam and Muslims.
Muslims believe that they were not interested in promoting Buddhism or Sinhala culture but, implementing their Zionist- American masters’ agenda, all out to whip up an extremely dangerous hate campaign poisoning the Sinhalese minds against Muslims. They began portraying the island’s Muslim community as a threat to Sinhalese, Buddhism, Sinhalese culture and the country as a whole. Some of the articles in these websites resembled Sinhala translations of such campaign undertaken by Jewish sponsored websites.
Representations made to authorities to ban these websites proved futile.
Under this hate Muslim campaign a mob led by Buddhist monks attacked, on 14 June 2011 around 11 pm, more than four centuries old shrine of Sheikh Sikkandar Waliullah at Anuradhapura under the watchful eyes of the police.
This was followed by the attack on
Dambulla Khairiya Juma Masjd on Friday 20 April 2012 by a mob led by the chief Buddhist priest of Dambulla Temple Ven Inamaluwa Sumangala Thero. This was the first time in the history of Sri Lankan that mobs entered and vandalized a mosque and prevented Friday prayers.
Instead of bringing perpetrators to book they were rewarded when Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne ordered to demolish the 65 year old Dambulla mosque and build a mosque in another place. This order which shocked the Muslims struck at the very root of religious freedom.
Since then there were numerous attacks on mosques in different parts of the country.
Intensifying their hooliganism they began poisoning the minds of Sinhalese against Muslims. For example BBS Secretary Ven.
Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara called on Sinhalese in public meetings in Kandy, Maharagama and other places to boycott Muslims, not to patronize Muslim owned shops, not to have any business dealings with Muslims, not to buy or sell lands to Muslims. He also asked the Sinhalese to get ready to celebrate Wesak at Kuragala (Daftar Jailini) 15 miles off Balangoda, which has been regarded as a holy place and visited by Muslim for centuries.
They stooped to such low to sell their lies to deceive the Sinhalese that one monk even told blatant lie about Islam and Holy Quran when he told that Muslims spit three times before giving food or drink to a non Muslims. Since then lies, deception, hooliganism and blackmail became integral part of their campaign.
This is what the Jews did since the early days of Islam and the Zionist Jews had been doing during the past century and half. They are now here in Sri Lanka.
In the midst teasing and attacking Muslim men and women began to spread causing religious tension all over the country.
Sinhalese who went shopping at Muslim shops were attacked with rotten eggs. A Muslim owned textile establishment, Fashion Bug, was attacked by a group including Buddhist monks in the presence of the police.
In their drive to provoke the Muslims they carried placards showing a pig with Allah’s name on it and a dog on Holy Ka’ba, Islam’s holiest place. Fortunately for the country these shameful crimes which harm the peaceful mainstream Sinhalese community’s image failed to draw the attention of Muslims worldwide and thus help avert a calamity which Sri Lanka could ill afford.
In this highly charged hostile and tense environment a three wheel driver spat at a Muslim woman wearing hijab in Kotahena, niece of very senior government politician. There were numerous incidents of attack on Muslim women wearing the customary clothes all over the country.
Then came reports of a Sinhalese doctor harassing Muslim women at Nagoda and another doctor trying to sterilize a Muslim woman at a hospital where she was admitted to deliver her third baby. A principal of a leading girl’s school in Colombo, named after a late prime minister, has told a Muslim woman, an old girl of the same school and a lawyer from a very respectable family in Colombo, not to enter the school premises wearing shalwar kameez-one of the most decent dresses for women in the world.
If this is the kind of racism in the seat of learning what could one expect from students produced by this school?
Muslim Students of a Buddhist school in Panadura were instructed by the Principal to go down on their knees and worship their class teachers when they enter and leave the school.
Two Muslim payment hawkers were attacked by monks who came in a three wheeler at Embilipitiya. Police refused to record their complaints which were accepted only after JVP took up the matter.
Then there appeared provocative posters, showing a person carrying in a fit of rage to kill, in Mahiyangana stating” remove the mosque or we will do it”.
Throughout this crisis Muslims maintained remarkable restrain as they realized that this is the work of few mercenaries serving their foreign and local masters and nothing to do with the mainstream Sinhalese who genuinely follow the teachings of Buddha.
The irony is that none of the perpetrators of these crimes against Muslims were arrested
Helpless Muslims living scattered all over the island in fear spend sleepless nights. The beleaguered Muslims await justice while the mob remains free.
Under the circumstance it was Azath Salley who responded to hate Muslim campaign and exposed the injustice suffered by the beleaguered Muslims.
He was arrested and now being held under detention.
By Norman Palihawadane-May 5, 2013
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