Weliweriya! People Speak Out »

By Raisa Wickrematunge- Sunday, August 11, 2013

The photograph of a grieving mother as she looks on her young son lying in a coffin has been imprinted in everyone’s memory- the terrible aftermath of what people are already calling ‘Black Thursday’ when the military opened fire on protesters in Weliweriya, killing at least three people. As the island watched the events unfold in horror, The Sunday Leader turned to civil society, lawyers and politicians from the area to hear what they had to say on the tragedy.

Nizam Kariyapper,-General Secretary, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress

We are all concerned about this incident. Why was the army called in, when there have been so many similar incidents? The army getting involved in such situations is not good.

Weliweriya! People Speak Out » by nelvely

Not the first, and won’t be the last…

Sunday, 11 Aug 2013

“The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?” ― George Orwell,

Not the first, and won’t be the last… by nelvely

India retaliates, but no casualties

Ceasefire violated yet again
Fires 7,000 rounds of ammunition

by S Venkat Narayan-August 10, 2013, 12:00 pm 
Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, August 10: Even as there is heightened tension on the India-Pakistan border over the killing of five Indian soldiers last Tuesday, Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire yet again by firing 7,000 rounds of heavy ammunition and mortar shells for seven hours at Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

India Retaliates, But No Casualties by nelvely

Iranian political prisoners' plea to Barack Obama: the full letter

Exclusive: More than 50 prominent political prisoners reach out to US president, asking him to seize 'last chance' for detente

Hasan Rouhani said his election as president was a vote for change and vowed to pursue constructive interaction with the west. Photograph: Mohammad Berno/AP

Thursday 8 August 2013 

Mr President!

We, the undersigned current and former political prisoners in Iran, are writing this letter to bring to your attention the devastating effects of crippling economic sanctions and the intensified efforts to diplomatically isolate Iran in the international community. These efforts are adversely affecting the lives of Iranian people and have resulted in severe constraints in the political life of our country. This letter reflects the serious concerns of the Iranian public about the bleak future that continued conflict between Iran and the United States of America could lead to. We share these concerns.

The conflict over Iran's nuclear program has, in recent years, developed into a perilous contest with the United States and more generally with the West. This conflict has undermined trust and intensified animosity between the two parties.

The conflict has resulted in imposing unprecedented 'crippling' sanctions whose main victims are the Iranian people that have to live under the unbearable pressure of crippling inflation and shortages of basic needs for a decent life. The sad thing is that there seems to be little hope of resolving this conflict.

In the recent presidential election in Iran (14 June 2013), a politician was elected whose campaign promised were moderation and rational decision making in foreign and domestic policies. This administration has promised to pursue constructive engagement in international relations and intends to convey a message of positive change and mutual respect.  Full Story>>>

The Real Game Will Start After The Elections: Wigneswaran’s Pentathlon

By Kumar David -August 11, 2013 |

Prof Kumar David

The pentathlon consists of five tasks and though the challenges facing the prospective TNA Administration and Chief Minister (CM) designate C. V. Wigneswaran (CV) resemble a decathlon, I will limit this study to the first five in priority.

(a)    Shielding the NP Administration from wilful and/or contingent obstruction by the Centre, the Governor, and a military which has been aggressively interfering in civilian life.

(b)   Demilitarising the North, ensuring safety and security on the streets, especially for Tamil women; ending the de facto status of these areas as if occupied by an alien force.

(c)    Ensuring that swathes of land seized by the military are returned and resettlement is smooth; dealing with the tragedy of war widows and orphans.

(d)   Building an energetic, able and efficient administration for economic activities and day to day management. Recruiting talented people for this endeavour.

(e)    Working within the discipline of a party – notwithstanding the TNA is an alliance. CV has no experience of party dynamics and discipline; he needs to learn fast.

English educated Tamils are euphoric about the TNA’s choice of candidate. They are enamoured of CV’s credentials in respect of (d); that is if he is allowed to get on with the job. This is a big IF and I will return to it, but he is a cut above the pygmies strutting as Chief Ministers in other provinces. He is decent, intelligent, educated and capable of running a showpiece administration in contrast to the pigsties that pass for provincial administrations elsewhere. But my concern, my IF caveat, remains.

Will the NP-PC elections be held? It was an international dagger at his jugular, not wisdom nor statesmanship that forced Rajapakse’s hand. Will he manufacture a pretext, perhaps engineer a vicarious legal challenge that an obedient court will uphold, to call off elections? The threat, though never absent, is receding as Indian and international opprobrium will be unbearable. On the other hand, if Sinhala extremism challenges Rajapakse on the streets, does he have the balls to resist? That too I doubt, so the matter is not closed, but I will resist temptation to digress from the pentathlon.

The great challenge                           Read More

Just as we are United in our Grief Over Weliweriya we Must be United in our Struggle against Tyranny-Sumanthiran MP

By M. A. Sumanthiran MP

‘I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent’. – Mahatma Gandhi-10 August 2013,

Grief is the inevitable consequence of violence. The tragic and inexcusable events of Weliweriya have left its residents with unimaginable grief.

Just as We Are United in Our Grief Over Weliweriya We Must Be United in Our Struggle Against Tyranny-Sumant... by nelvely

Entire Ex-Co of BASL to appear on behalf of CJ 43 THURSDAY, 08 AUGUST 2013  The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) at a special meeting today decided that the entire Executive Committee would appear before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court to defend Chief Justice 43, Shirani Bandaranayake who is accused of non- declaration of assets. At a special Executive Committee meeting yesterday (which had been summoned to discuss the incidents that occurred in Weliweriya on August 4),  the BASL had strongly condemned the action filed by the Commission to Investigate into Allegation of Bribery or Corruption over the bank accounts maintained by Mrs. Bandaranayake. “We have decided that all the Executive Committee Members of BASL will defend CJ Bandaranayake when she appears before Court on September 16,” BASL President, Upul Jayasuriya told Daily Mirror. The Executive Committee of the BASL comprises 30 members. CJ Bandaranayake faces charges relating to the alleged non-declaration of assets; and Colombo Magistrate Court issued notice on her in this regard on July 29. She was noticed relating to the non-declaration of assets in the annual declaration that every elected and public official is bound to submit. (Susitha R. Fernando)

How “Mavai” Senathirajah Gained the Upper Hand in Selecting TNA Candidates for Northern Provincial Poll.

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj-10 August 2013, 

C.V. Wigneswaran

‘Mavai’ Senathirajah
History was in the making as nominations closed on August 1st for the first ever election to Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council scheduled for September 21st.The predominantly Tamil Northern Province comprising five administrative districts will have a Provincial Council of Thirty –Eight members.

Of the administrative districts Jaffna and Kilinochchi will form the Jaffna electoral district while Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaitheevu together would be the Wanni electoral district. Of the thirty eight councillors thirty six of will be directly elected and two appointed as Bonus seats to the party winning the most number of seats in the Jaffna and Wanni electoral districts.

How “Mavai” Senathirajah Gained the Upper Hand in Selecting TNA Candidates for Northern Provincial Poll. by nelvely

UPFA politico, goons grab 100 acres from estate

By Lalith Chaminda and SK Kaluarachchi-August 9, 2013, 12:00 pm 

A UPFA Pradeshiya Sabha member and his cronies have recently grabbed around 100 acres from an estate belonging to Elpitiya Plantations at Habarakada, Thawalama.

The PS member and his supporters are now occupying it, according to a complaint lodged with the Hiniduma police by the firm.

The PS member is a former Deputy Chairman of the Thawalama Pradeshiya Sabha.

The land which originally belonged to the State Plantations Corporation was later handed over to the Elpitiya Plantations Ltd in 2004.

The estate has been called the Habarakada Plantations since then. It has 654 acres including uncultivated land encompassing about 300 acres.

The complaint made by Superintendent of the estate Anuruddha Ranasinghe also said that the politico and his cronies had felled valuable trees on the estate for timber.

When contacted for comment, Thawalama Divisional Secretary W. S. Satyananda said: "I was told that the PS member and his companions have forcefully occupied a section the estate. Then I asked the relevant officials to make a complaint to the police. Forcible occupation of state land could not be permitted. The government will take legal action against those who grabbed the land."

Erasing Tamil nation prioritized over political justice

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 August 2013, 08:55 GMT]
“If India opens dialogue with moderate groups, extremists will be isolated and India can influence diaspora people for solution within a united Sri Lanka," said V. Suryanarayan of the New Delhi think tank, cited by The Times of India on Friday. In July, writing in The New Indian Express, the same person said “In order to allay Sinhalese apprehensions, iron-clad guarantees should be provided that devolution to provinces should not lead to demand for separation.” The explicit and unashamed priority in the heart of the academic and the Mumbai-New Delhi-Chennai-based media corporates in India, is to only negate at any cost the possibility of Eezham Tamils getting independence than delivering even paltry political justice, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island. 

Erasing Tamil Nation Prioritized Over Political Justice by nelvely

Sri Lanka: Investigate ‘Clean Water’ Protest Deaths

Independent Inquiry Needed, Not Government Spin-AUGUST 9, 2013

(New York) – The Sri Lankan government should stop issuing misleading information and promptly create an independent and transparent inquiry into the deaths of protesters at Weliweriya on August 1, 2013, Human Rights Watch said today. At least three people were killed and several injured after security forces fired live ammunition at protesters who were demanding access to clean drinking water.

According to news reports, soldiers fired on local residents and Buddhist monks who were demonstrating for clean water on the Colombo-Kandy Road in Weliweriya, Gampaha district, about 25 kilometers from Colombo. The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa claims that the soldiers reacted in self-defense against protesters who hurled rocks and petrol bombs and shot at them. The unclear circumstances leading to the deaths and injuries, as well as government statements exonerating the solders involved, highlight the need for an independent inquiry.

“It’s undisputed that security forces killed three protesters, but the Sri Lankan government’s kneejerk reaction is to deny possible wrongdoing,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director. “Instead of promoting the military’s version of events, the government should order an independent investigation and prosecute anyone who violated the law.”

It is not clear why soldiers were deployed so soon without giving the police and local authorities a chance to handle what had been a peaceful protest. Video footage shows soldiers with military assault weapons approaching the protesters. The protesters begin running from the scene, some throwing sticks and other objects, before the soldiers appear to fire first in the air and then at the protesters.

Some protesters sought safety in a local church, whose exterior walls were at some point struck by bullets. Church officials and eyewitnesses told journalists that armed soldiers entered the church and physically and verbally abused people hiding inside. Church staff were warned against supporting the protesters, with one nun being held at gunpoint, and journalists had their cameras broken. After the incident, journalists reported being threatened by military personnel against reporting.

The government’s immediate response to the shootings was to defend the army’s actions. Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the army was deployed at police request, promised an investigation, but warned that, “There are elements resentful of the popularity of the armed forces and President Rajapaksa. We are mindful of their strategy.” Earlier, insisting that the troops fired in self-defense, Nimal Siripala de Silva, the Leader of the House, said investigators would look into whether there were “external forces or parties, behind that incident, instigating people against the security forces personnel” – which in Sri Lanka carries the connotation that a militant group was involved.

The Ministry of Defense posted an article on its website making similar assertions and claiming that video footage of shooters in uniform were demonstrators, not soldiers. The article, “Attempting a Sri Lanka Spring Through a Civil Coup d’Etat,” says: “Let us also not forget that while the accusing finger points at the army there are also plenty of army deserters who continue to possess military fatigue…. So there is no ruling out of such individuals also being used.”

In the face of mounting public pressure, on August 3 the army announced a commission of inquiry to look into the protests. The National Human Rights Commission also announced an inquiry. Neither of these institutions are in a position to conduct impartial investigations that would be viewed as credible. The army commission is headed by Jagath Dias, a former general whose 57 Division was implicated in war crimes during the final year of Sri Lanka’s 26-year-long armed conflict. The National Human Rights Commission’s independence has in recent years been severely curtailed by the government.

Human Rights Watch called on the government to ensure that security forces responding to protests abide by the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. The principles provide that security forces, including military personnel, shall “apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms,” and that “whenever the lawful use of force and firearms is unavoidable,” law enforcement officials use force in proportion to the seriousness of the offense and the legitimate objective to be achieved, and minimize damage and injury. The intentional lethal use of firearms is only permitted when “strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”

“The authorities’ decision to send soldiers armed with assault rifles to secure a demonstration is deeply worrisome,” Ganguly said. “The government needs to rethink its whole approach to ensure that people can peacefully and safely protest.”

Army Chief warns his troops

SATURDAY, 10 AUGUST 2013

Addressing the Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) troops, Army Commander Daya Ratnayake has warned he would not tolerate any behavior that goes beyond their legitimate duties.

The Commander also underlined the importance of maintaining strict discipline all time.

Lt. Gen Ratnayake made this comment when he visited the SLLI Regimental Headquarters, Panagoda on Friday.

No Fire Zone - Trailer from Zoe Sale on Vimeo.

Fight For Clean Water Turns Deadly: Army Fires On Weliweriya Demonstrators

Basil seeks pardon from public

By  J.T. de Silva-Saturday, 10 Aug 2013 Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa, called for forgiveness from the public over the attack on the people’s protest in Ratupaswala, Weliweriya demanding clean drinking water.  He expressed his whole-hearted regret of the loss of life and property in this incident. He reiterated it is unfortunate several media personnel had to face such grave inconveniences, while engaged in their legitimate functions. He remarked the people do not condone such actions of the Security Forces and emphasized that he neither approves nor gets involved in any manner of disturbance as he strongly abhors them, and wished to dissociate him from such incidents.Making a special statement to our sister newspaper Mawbima, the minister said some elements who were involved in the protest wanted to create an embarrassing situation to take advantage. He said, he himself was not involved in the incident in any way. Minister Rajapaksa reminded the people that he would close the factory without any hesitation, if it was found to have violated conditions of their agreement. Residents of Ratupaswala allege chemical effluents from a rubber gloves manufacturing factory has seeped into the groundwater tablet spoiling the water. People affected by it protested converging on Colombo-Kandy Road blocking traffic. In the ensuing security operation for dispersal of the crowd, three persons died and over 40 others sustained injuries needing hospitalization.

A Bit Embarrassed, To Say The Least! By Emil van der Poorten -August 11, 2013  Emil van der Poorten The horrendous butchering of Nihal Perera, the manager of Noori Estate in Deraniyagala, has even left the major apologists of the current regime at a loss for words with which to distance those who look after their well-being from the direct results of a reign of terror without precedent.  Anyone simply trying to fulfill the obligations of management of resources honestly and without recourse to take-the-law-into-our-own-hands conduct with the aid of thugs and murderers is, obviously, at great risk of paying the ultimate price. This killing has even shaken up the English-speaking middle class of Sri Lanka which has been only too willing to forgive the disappearance of the rule of law because their exercise paths have been paved and they are able to indulge their weight-reduction needs in greater comfort.  However, given the fact that future performance can be most accurately predicted by viewing previous history the killers will walk free after a “respectable” period of time has elapsed and with or without a show trial.  After all one has the example of the other high profile murder of Khuram Shaikh and the gang-rape of his Russian girl friend who was packed off home direct from what used to be the Apollo Hospital, without the investigative procedures usual in such circumstances and whose offer to waive anonymity traditional in such circumstances and return to give a deposition to the Sri Lankan authorities has not been accepted up to date. As someone who once Chaired a district in the Planters Association of Ceylon (PA) and was, as well, a member of the Ceylon Planters’ Society (CPS) at a time that I was engaged in that profession, I think I am able to bring some perspective to something like Nihal Perera’s murder despite the passage of time (and the efforts of government apologists to shut me up!)                        Read More

NCP: 20 pc of students can’t read and write

August 9, 2013, 12:00 pm 

By Dasun Edirisinghe and Prasanna Silva, Dimbulagala Corr.

Around 20 percent of children from Grade Six to Eleven in the North Central Province could neither read nor write their mother tongue properly, Provincial Education Minister Peshala Jayaratne said yesterday.

He told The Island that a survey conducted with the help of school teachers during the first six months of the current year had revealed the shocking truth.

Minister Jayaratne said that there were 786 schools including 10 under the purview of the government in the Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura Districts and every class had seven to ten backward students.

The minister said that according to the survey the trend had taken a turn for the worse during the past few years.

"We have identified the lack of qualified teachers as the main reason for children’s poor performance and poor primary education in the province," the Minister said, adding that most schools were dependent on teaching assistants.

Minister Jayaratne said that there were about 16,000 teachers in the province and a programme had been launched to train those who needed training at Colleges of Education.

At present 1,000 teachers were being trained at Colleges of Education, he said.

About 47 percent candidates who sat the GCE O/L examination had passed in 2012 and that figure was partly attributable to the good performance of students in urban areas of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, Minister Jayaratne said.

Minister Jayaratne said that his ministry had already started extra classes to teach mother tongue from 9.00 am to 4.00pm for 16,000 students who would sit the GCE (Ordinary Level) examination in December.

The minister said they would also start langua

Be Ready For More Weliweriyas: Ruthless Regime, Incompetent Government

By Rajan Philips -August 11, 2013 |

Rajan Philips

Weliweriya exposed the ruthlessness of the Rajapaksa regime and the incompetence of the Sri Lankan government.  Weliweriya was the first to experience and expose this double whammy, but it won’t be the last.  The regime is shocked, but it is not sorry.  The Teflon President has expressed nothing except the painted smile.  The apologists, commissioned and freelance, have invented evidence of provocation from the protesters that in turn provoked the apparently endangered soldiers to open fire in self-defence.  One resourcefully creative commentator has suggested that the army did what it had to do to end the traffic stoppage on the Colombo-Kandy road caused by the wild protest! Wow!!

The usual critics have lambasted the regime’s usual heavy handedness.  Even friendly critics have spoken the politically unfriendly: the family, rather the brothers have let the President down; the war has been brought from the north to the south; and the regime has seriously undermined its professed innocence over war crimes allegations.  The UNP, which should seriously think of changing its name to “United International Party”, has gone out on a limb and called for an “international investigation.”  What are they smoking in Sri Kotha nowadays?

Taking on the UNP is Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary (DS), who, apart from being in charge of defence, is also very ‘defensive’.  He has trained his guns on the UNP, reportedly “irate … that the Opposition was working overtime to compare the Weliweriya incident with the final battle against the LTTE on the banks of the Nanthikadal in May 2009.” The DS apparently felt constrained to stress that there was no similarity between the two events, or between Weliweriya in 2013 and Mavil-Aru in 2006.  Who is turning water, not into wine, but into politics here?                                           Read More 

Vitro meat for the poor: Pie in the sky?

August 9, 2013, 8:23 pm 

If the cattle knew about man’s latest scientific feat, they would burst in jubilation, mooing and hoofing it. He is now capable of eating beef without killing bovines! The day may not be far off when there is no need at all for rearing animals for slaughter thanks to the invention of ‘test tube meat’.

In what is being flaunted as a baby step towards meeting the shortfall in global meat production, scientists have ‘grown’ burger in a lab. It has come to be aptly dubbed the ‘Googleburger’ in that the research project which cost USD 330,000 was funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. A team of scientists from Maastricht University, led by Prof. Mark Post, made meat in vitro.

The test tube meat is being described as a solution to hunger in the developing world, especially Africa. The cost of vitro burger is bound to come down drastically with the passage of time, making industrial scale production thereof economically viable, but the question is whether there aren’t better ways of feeding the hungry. We are living in a world where more than one billion people hit the sack on empty stomachs; about 25,000 people including 10,000 children die of hunger every day. Who is going to make Googleburger for all of them?

Some are already toying with the idea of ‘growing’ meat in their kitchens with stem cells from farm animals, nutrients, growth promoting chemicals etc. Such optimism looks somewhat misplaced. Anyone could make bread at home but everybody is still at the mercy of those who batch-bake bread and achieve economies of scale. Mushroom is easy to grow at a very low cost at home. Only spawns, sawdust or hey, a little water and a dark place are necessary for producing that miracle food. But, how many of us take the trouble of producing our own mushrooms? Similarly, as is the way with the industrialised food chain, lab meat production on an industrial scale is likely to be controlled by powerful cartels with prices determined according to their whims and fancies.

The stem cell or ‘human master cell’ research should be promoted as it offers solutions to many problems in the medical field and the lab meat project may help save the cattle and other animals from the butcher’s knife. It will also go a long way towards minimising environmental damage the meat industry causes. BBC tells us, quoting the Environmental Science and Technology Journal, that ‘the lab-grown beef uses 45% less energy than the average global representative figure for farming cattle … produces 96% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires 99% less land’. But, global hunger is a seemingly intractable problem which requires a multi-pronged approach; the need for developing agriculture couldn’t be overemphasised in tackling it.

As President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) Kanay Nwanze has told the Forum of Agricultural Research in Africa in Ghana, investment is really needed in small farms, not big science. The Guardian newspaper (UK) has recently quoted Nwanze as saying that for agriculture to yield the greatest returns, development efforts must focus on the smallholder farming sector. The world is fast moving towards an age of small things—micro credit, smallholder farming, nanotechnology etc. One is reminded of Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful.

Most African countries, the Ifad chief tells us, used to export food in the 1960s and 1970s as they allocated 20 percent of their national budgets to agriculture and their universities were top-notch research stations at that time. He has struck a responsive chord with the right thinking people across the globe by blaming the World’s Bank’s structural adjustment programmes for under investment in agriculture and the attendant drop in food production. Sri Lankan policymakers, too, should take serious note of the Ifad President’s observations and avoid the blunders that ruined Africa’s agricultural sector. Agricultural development and industrialisation should go hand in hand and care should be taken to avoid a grand pratfall between two stools. The government’s wisdom of slashing the fertiliser subsidy which helped achieve self-sufficiency in rice stands questioned.

The test tube meat, though it is said to differ, to some extent, from ‘the real McCoy’ in texture, flavour and colour, will help the meat industry overcome ethical, economic, environmental and health issues which trouble it at present. But, whether its much-touted potential to dull the hunger pangs of the global poor could be realised is in doubt.

Anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka must be addressed by Sri Lankans

Nick Hart-Aug 10, 2013


When the bloody 26-year war against the Tamil Tigers ended four years ago, most Sri Lankans breathed a sigh of relief and looked forward to a new era of peace and prosperity. Little did they know that "peace" would usher in another conflict potentially far more damaging to the economic and social fabric.


There have been Muslims in this multi-cultural Buddhist island state off the southern tip of India since Arab traders brought their religion more than 1,000 years ago. Over the centuries they achieved positions of authority and influence, established Islam as a mainstream religion, and now represent about 10 per cent of the population.

But centuries of amicable coexistence are threatened by a new breed of increasingly violent, xenophobic, ultra-nationalist and anti-Muslim Buddhist monks headed by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS or Buddhist Strength Force).

In February, the group's general secretary, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, said: "This is a government created by Sinhala Buddhists and it must remain Sinhala Buddhist. This is a Sinhala country, Sinhala government. Democratic and pluralistic values are killing the Sinhala race." He urged every Buddhist to become "an unofficial policeman against Muslim extremism".

Since then, violent rhetoric has led to physical attacks on mosques, social gatherings and Muslim businesses, particularly those associated with halal meat certification, which the BBS wants to see banned in Sri Lanka.

This culminated in the storming of a meat-inspection facility run by Colombo Municipal Council.

Matters have been inflamed by claims that the BBS has high-level government support, and came to a head with the impounding by customs officials of Time magazine's July issue because of its cover story on Myanmar, "The Face of Buddhist Terror".

This was reported by Groundviews, an influential Sri Lankan "journalism for citizens" website: "Equally well-documented, particularly post-war, are Sri Lanka's own fascist Buddhist monks - their open violence and promotion of hate, their blatant lies, the complete impunity they enjoy, their heinous statements, the ready audience the president affords them no matter what they do and say, and the all-powerful Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa's close association with one of the most rabid groups, the Bodu Bala Sena."

The "post-war" allusion has particular resonance, since many believe that the celebration that followed the defeat of Tamil separatists created a climate for the BBS to incite hatred against other minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians.

A source who asked to remain anonymous because of potential repercussions said many fear that if the government does not forcibly curtail the BBS's anti-Muslim hatemongering it could result in deep social divisions and derail post-war reconstruction.

Sri Lanka relies heavily on foreign "investment" in the form of grant aid and development loans, particularly from China and Japan, much of it geared towards strengthening the tourism industry, which suffered badly because of the Tamil conflict.

Deterring wealthy foreign visitors, particularly Muslims from oil-rich Middle East states, which the government is actively courting, would very much suit the BBS agenda and strengthen its hand in any future "peace" negotiations, the source said.

But far worse, and not entirely unthinkable, he said, would be a scenario in which fellow Muslims in India, Pakistan and elsewhere felt obligated to come to the aid of their embattled brethren, which could dangerously escalate an already volatile situation.

Hhe played down suggestions that senior government figures are deliberately stoking tensions by supporting the BBS. He said: "It's not in the government's interests to do anything that might spark another civil conflict. There is too much at stake. But politics is politics. This is a Buddhist state, and the majority of its citizens are Buddhists. The government is between a rock and a hard place, damned if it acts against the BBS and damned if it doesn't."

* Nick Hart

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/anti-muslim-sentiment-in-sri-lanka-must-be-addressed-by-sri-lankans#ixzz2bauFwvUI
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