Grand statements vs reconciliation How the country became the massive messed-up political collage that has to be politically deconstructed for reconciliation

A week ago, after Sinhala Buddhist mobs rioted in Ampara, a dumb group of four Muslim youths played into the hands of Sinhala Buddhist mobs creating mayhem in Digana, Kandy. While in Ampara law enforcement was slow and hesitant, in Digana the Government had to get its act together before the whole district caught fire and with UNHRC sessions still on in Geneva.

2018-03-09

This violent Sinhala Buddhist extremism is not questioned in terms of much-touted ‘reconciliation’ by the leaders of this Unity Government.

A week ago while Ampara and Digana were still melting, ‘reconciliation’ under this Government was questioned on Twitter by someone handling the account @garikaalan, who tweeted on the ‘Office for National Unity and Reconciliation’ (ONUR) funded omnibus film “Her, Him and the Other” titled Thundenek in Sinhala.

This three-part film was directed by three of the most reputed of Sri Lanka’s present day Sinhala film directors, Prasanna Vithanage, Asoka Handagama and Vimukthi Jayasundera.

The tweet questioned the inability of ONUR in finding a Tamil film director for their funded project and said,

“One of the female characters-a Tamil mother of missing person portrayed as ‘finding’ her son in a Sinhalese soldier. So much cliché. Not reconciliation, propaganda!”

The three short films themed on post-war Sri Lankan issues and strung together into a single film, perhaps is very creative and arty, seriously insightful and may be worth the time watching it.
That does not necessarily mean it could in anyway contribute to Reconciliation.

The tweet by @garikaalan thus begs an answer to the question, ‘What is reconciliation in a society that remains bloodied, mutilated and polarized after almost three decades of a militarised ethnic conflict?’

What was not possible when the Sinhala South was at times in “war fatigue” cannot be achieved now with Sinhala South prides itself for 
eliminating LTTE  

‘Reconciliation’ is a popular word in present-day Colombo politics, touted by Government and NGO leaders in numerous platforms and in their statements made more for international attention.
Literally ‘reconciliation’ according to the Cambridge English Dictionary means “the process of making two opposite beliefs, ideas or situations agree” and also “making and accepting apologies”.
Over decades, there are “two opposite beliefs and ideas” that came to be gradually embedded in Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil societies; the Sinhala Buddhists believe this country belongs to them and all others, Tamils and Muslims included, can live accepting Sinhala Buddhist dominance, on the other hand, the Tamils believe they too have an equal right to the history of this country, no less than the Sinhalese.

That eventually led to the near three-decade militarised ethnic conflict concluded in 2009 May. The conclusion of the military conflict did not bring about any ‘agreement’ in ‘making and accepting apologies’ for what was done in creating ‘opposite and conflicting beliefs’ that led to the brutally militarised conflict brought to a conclusion with equal brutality.

After a long brutalised armed conflict, ‘reconciliation’ in present-day Sri Lanka looks like a broken egg that for sure cannot be patched up again.

Yet, broken societies can be mended without scars that would scare new generations into new conflicts. All it needs is a political leadership with a will. A will to undo what was done in the past to de-polarise society that still remains heavily polarised and is being continuously polarised every day.
Depolarising certainly is no easy task with Sinhala Buddhist politics dominating the South for Sinhala Buddhist votes. Sinhala Buddhist dominance remains with a psyche that is deeply pegged to the two main political slogans, “Unitary State and Buddhism as the State religion”. The dichotomy that is played out thereafter is on accusing Tamil Separatism of conspiring to divide this only Sinhala Buddhist country in the world map.

Developing and nurturing this Sinhala Buddhist dominance was and is a political campaign.
It sprouted even before independence in 1948, grew in stature with Sinhala political leadership that to date is being directly and indirectly patronised by mainstream political parties at every level in daily life.

From Sinhala leaders visiting and taking advice from the Chief Prelates of Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters to local leaders using their local temple for politics.

In short, the two main political parties in the South and in the unity Government have never seriously and organisationally discussed reconciliation

From political leaders promising a Unitary State, a privileged status for Buddhism in the Constitution and also patronising ‘war heroes’ to local leaders taking all that a step and a half further, giving them an anti-Tamil flavour.

Backed up by mainstream media from Colombo, the Sinhala media contribution certainly cements the social psyche of Sinhala Buddhist supremacy.

Meanwhile, national education for generations, has been adding its own weight in producing the next generation for Sinhala Buddhist dominance.

This is a massive messed up political collage that has to be politically deconstructed for reconciliation to break into reality in the Sinhala South.

In the absence of mainstream political leadership taking up that challenge, over three decades of Colombo based NGO activism with trillions of dollars pumped into peacebuilding, conflict transformation and management, educating journalists on secular and inclusive journalism, creating awareness on and promoting power-sharing and federalism have all failed and miserably too.
With funds that came without much effort, with “employee activists” who were only responsible to the “project” and not to society, NGO activism could not provide the political leadership necessary in challenging Sinhala Buddhist politics.

What was not possible when the Sinhala South was at times in “war fatigue” cannot be achieved now with “tested and failed NGO activism” when the Sinhala South prides itself for eliminating one of the most ruthless and powerful “terrorist” organisations in the world.

Sinhala Buddhist politics cannot now be challenged by NGOs including ONUR when they are accused in the South “as proxies of international conspirators trying to divide the country” and therefore remain tarnished and insulted.

In short, NGOs are no substitutes for much needed political leadership in countering Sinhala Buddhist racism.

This country cannot afford to slip into a “Myanmar syndrome” with political leaders playing Suu Kyi with reconciliation.

Mainstream political leadership is the only answer in challenging Sinhala Buddhist supremacist ideology that obstructs and disrupts depolarising that is necessary for actual reconciliation.
Having wasted nine years after the military conflict was concluded, this country cannot wait for UNHRC Resolutions and international power brokers to settle our political conflict with their jargon.
The Sinhala South does not want to understand and protesters in Kepapulavu do not hear.

These decades old, locally made conflicts cannot be outsourced to outside agencies to find answers for us.

We need to create conceding and a conducive environment for serious dialogue across our ideologically polarised societies.

Having promised peace, unity and reconciliation in lieu of minority votes, the two main political partners in this Unity Government have a duty and responsibility, to be honest, and sincere in ‘walking the talk’.

They have to provide open and active political leadership for reconciliation to happen. They have to begin by bringing their own political parties to publicly resolve that they would work for reconciliation to have the Sinhala South on board.

They have to begin “the process of making two opposite beliefs, ideas or situations agree” and also “making and accepting apologies” for all that had gone wrong in the past, without blaming each other.
Reconciliation is not about leaders taking high moral ground making grand statements on “peace and unity”.

Right now, it is about President Sirisena from SLFP and PM Wickremesinghe from UNP getting their parliamentary groups to publicly adopt a resolution to the effect they would (i) Oppose Sinhala Buddhist extremism in every form and shade, (ii) Stand uncompromisingly for immediate release of all Tamil detainees without charges, (iii) Provide for social and economic life in North and East without security forces interfering in civil activities, (iv) Immediately take steps to release all private land presently occupied by security forces to legal owners,(v) Fast track the long delayed OMP work in co-operation with affected families agitating to know about their missing family members and (vi) Also work towards shared political power in an undivided country.

These two leaders in the Government should similarly get all their PC Members and their newly elected LG members to adopt similar resolutions in provinces and districts.

No political leadership can honestly and seriously talk about peace, unity and reconciliation unless their political parties at every level first agree and consent to an actual programme on reconciliation.
It is only if the whole party dialogues and decides on a reconciliation programme the leadership can launch a live, ground level campaign for reconciliation and counter Sinhala Buddhist extremism in the South. It is only then that international interference in local politics can also be effectively countered.
To date, no political leader in the South has got his political party (no woman leading a political now) to agree for a reconciliation process.

They have not discussed in their own party, in Executive Committees and Central Committees as to how reconciliation can be achieved in this mutilated and polarised society.

In short, the two main political parties in the South and in the unity Government have never seriously and organisationally discussed reconciliation and power sharing in their own party branches, affiliated organisations and in their annual conferences.

That says everything for failed reconciliation in the past nine years. It would remain so until the two political party leaders honour their pledge for reconciliation and power-sharing by getting their own political parties to accept and consent to the basic demands of the war-affected people in the North-East.

Reconciliation is not rhetoric on platforms without party structures agreeing and them wooing Sinhala votes. That duplicity will not be the answer for the people. That duplicity leads to irresponsibility in politically leading the country on much needed, much-delayed reconciliation.

Sri Lanka’s culture of impunity leads to violence

‘As Sri Lanka stands in its own shadow, it should reflect on the harm that impunity has caused the island and its many peoples. If we are to learn from history, and avoid repeating past wrongs, those who have routinely violated the rights of others must be held accountable,’ writes Gary Anandasangaree.


By GARY ANANDASANGAREE-Opinion-Wed., March 7, 2018

A Sri Lankan man rides his bicycle past a burnt vehicle a day after anti-Muslim riots erupted in Kandy. Sri Lanka on March 5 declared a nationwide state of emergency to quell anti-Muslim riots that have killed at least two people and damaged dozens of mosques and homes.  (STR / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Two Muslim men have been killed, stores and mosques have been set on fire and innocent Muslim men, women and children have been subject to violence in recent days by Singhalese mobs in the Kandy region of Sri Lanka. The government has imposed a 10-day state of emergency and the international community has strongly condemned these violent and racist acts.

This pattern of violence is not unfamiliar in Sri Lanka. In fact, the Singhalese majority has carried out anti-Tamil pogroms in 1958, 1977 and 1983. Intermittent violence against Tamils, Muslims and other minorities has also taken place over the country’s troubled history.

The anti-Tamil pogrom, also known as “Black July,” started on the night of July 23, 1983. Armed mobs, having been provided with list of Tamil voters by the Sri Lankan government, killed over 3,000 Tamils and burned down Tamil-owned homes and businesses in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. This incident caused the mass exodus of Tamils from the island to countries like Canada, and sparked the start of a 26-year-old war that ended in May 2009.

The war ended with serious allegations of violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law. In 2015, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed towards the end of the war. The Sri Lankan armed forces are alleged to have engaged in sexual violence, summary executions and enforced disappearances.

The common thread for all these violent acts is a culture of impunity that has persisted on the island from the time Sri Lanka gained independence 70 years ago. Sri Lanka has been unable to hold accountable the perpetrators of these riots or the war that ended in 2009. Despite its continued commitments to embrace a process of accountability with the involvement of foreign and commonwealth judges, prosecutors, and investigators, there has been a lack of substantive movement towards accountability in the past nine years.

The government continues to shield its armed forces from any form of accountability. In fact, some senior commanders who served during the end of the war in 2009, and who have been alleged to have violated international law, have been rewarded with plum appointments to diplomatic missions, where they enjoy diplomatic immunity against prosecution.

Ironically, the most recent mob attacks on Muslims are taking place as the United Nations Human Rights Council meets to discuss Sri Lanka’s human rights record and its commitment to implementing accountability and reconciliation mechanisms on the island. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, this week highlighted Sri Lanka’s lack of movement to end impunity and requested member states to explore applying the principle of universal jurisdiction to prosecute Sri Lanka’s war criminals.

The democratic coup that displaced the authoritarian regime of Mahinda Rajapakse in 2015 provided a glimmer of hope that Sri Lanka could strive towards attaining peace. These hopes were quickly dashed as the new president reiterated his support for the military personnel and Sri Lanka’s “war heroes” by pledging impunity against alleged war criminals, reaffirming the skepticism of victims in being able to seek truth and justice.

As Sri Lanka stands in its own shadow, it should reflect on the harm that impunity has caused the island and its many peoples. If we are to learn from history, and avoid repeating past wrongs, those who have routinely violated the rights of others must be held accountable. Failing to hold those accountable for their actions, and inactions, that lead to harm and loss, fails humanity as a whole.

We should pray that the recent incidents on the island do not lead to an escalation of tension and a return to an environment of hostility. In order to reduce the chances of this pattern of violence repeating itself, we must ensure that these recent perpetrators of violence are swiftly dealt with through the justice system, along with genuinely addressing past violations.

Gary Anandasangaree is the Member of Parliament for Scarborough-Rouge Park and is currently attending the 37th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Towards A Non-Racist Future

By Mahendran Thiruvarangan –MARCH 8, 2018

Mahendran Thiruvarangan

M. Jaffer, an Ettankattai resident was despairing. “The main junction is going up in flames. At the same time, the authorities are folding their arms and watching,” he complained.

Jaffer says that about 20 minutes after the shops were set ablaze, a few Muslim boys from the area had flung stones at the attackers in retaliation. “At that time we heard the Army personnel telling their colleagues,‘they are beating our people; bring your weapons and come here,’” the Ettankattai resident related.

“Until then they just watched and waited. Is this our Government? Is this our justice system?” “You know what happened to the Tamils in 1983? That is what is happening to us today,” another frustrated resident of Ettankattai told reporters just yards away from where the fire was raging.

Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism embedded in the structures of the Sri Lanka state and embraced by a significant cross-section of the Sinhala-Buddhist polity in the island has raised its gory head once more. We will never be able to understand the foundations of the violence that the Muslims are facing today in Sri Lanka nor put an end to anti-minority violence in the long run without unpacking the social, psychological, economic and institutional dimensions of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, even if one views the assault on the Sinhala-Buddhist truck driver, who later succumbed to his injuries, by three Muslim men in Kandy as the immediate background to the current ethnic tensions in the Central Province.

Those instigating and supporting the violence try to scare the majority community that the Muslims are trying to make Sinhalese infertile by mixing sterilization pills in the food served at Muslim eateries with a view to causing a decline in the population of the Sinhalese in the country. Some others blame the Muslims for being a thriving economic force in the country. Others just want a country without Muslims. The Sinhala nationalist discourse of anti-Muslim hatred is based on myths, lies and crude homogenizations about the economic strength of the Muslim community and a cultural desire to eliminate and eject the ‘Other’ from the nation-state.

As a country that has witnessed massacres targeting the minority communities for many decades, a thirty-year-long civil war centering on the national question in the North-East and inter-ethnic conflicts over land and other natural resources, employment, educational opportunities and access to state power, the Sri Lankan state should have already taken strong measures to win the confidence of the numerically smaller ethnic and religious groups by re-configuring itself as an inclusive body, in contrast to the current state structure that constitutionally offers foremost place to Buddhism, the faith that has the largest following in the island. The government in power, which claimed to pursue a reconciliation agenda to heal the wounds caused by the war, should have also created at the grassroots in the South and the war-affected North-East, not in Colombo’s plush hotels, spaces that nourish dialogue between communities that fear and mistrust one another at present. The state alone cannot be blamed for the terror that Muslims are facing today because our social organizations, religious institutions and trade unions could not situate their actions and activisms beyond the narrow cultural boundaries they have drawn for themselves and their constituencies. What we have been confronted by the past few days is a socio-institutional paralysis for which the state and non-state forces are collectively responsible.

The minority communities and everybody who yearns for a state that respects religious pluralism and cultural diversity have every reason to reject and rebel against the current Sri Lankan state as it has unambiguously and constitutionally ceased to be a common body that the people can relate to regardless of their identities. But in Sri Lanka, several powerful social and political groups representing the minorities, including the Archbishop of Colombo and mainstream Tamil and Muslim political parties, were willing to leave the constitutional privilege given to Buddhism untouched during debates on the new constitution. Despite the conciliatory positions taken by minority groups, Sinhala chauvinists continue to frame the religious minorities in the country as a threat to their existence as a nation. The institutional support Buddhism enjoys is undoubtedly one of the cardinal factors that boost the chauvinistic mobs to advance their violent political projects without fear, hesitation or shame and discourage the law-enforcing authorities from acting against the perpetrators of the violence without fear of reprisals.

The ineffectiveness of the government in taking stringent action against those who participated in the recent violence and their cheerleaders online and offline and its failure to bring to book those who were involved in the violence that hit the country in the past, the silence of a large segment of Sinhala-Buddhist civil society and its religious and social leaders who have not publicly condemned the mobs including the Buddhist monks who took part in the violence, the reluctance on the part of the mainstream media in the South to foreground in their analyses of the violence the destructive link between the ideology of the state and the actions of the mobs and the slowness on the part of the law enforcing bodies to curb the violence are all manifestations of nothing but overt and latent forms Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism that is both social and institutional.

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10 arrested including the masterminds who unleashed violence via social media ; in all 71 arrested ; 2 dead and 45 shops damaged !

(Lanka-e-News - 08.March.2018, 11.00PM) 10 suspects including Vidhana Pathiranage Amith Jeewan Weerasinghe and Surendra Suraweera the two   masterminds   behind the stoking of racial hatred and communalism via the social media and were responsible for the conflicts in Kandy were arrested ,revealed police media spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera.
                   
Addressing a press briefing today , Gunasekera said , 71 suspects have been arrested so far , and four others who acted in breach of the curfew order yesterday were also among them  

So far , 45 shops and properties have been damaged , and four places of religious worship including temples and mosques were also damaged , based on reports he further stated.

Following the explosion of a  hand grenade yesterday , 11 persons were injured , and two others died due to the violence , he elaborated. 

Gunasekera also requested to pass information about those who are engaging in  violence by phoning the number 0711 261 261 .

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by     (2018-03-08 17:58:24)

Sri Lanka 'on the brink' amid fresh anti-Muslim violence

Mob attacks in Kandy are targeted and well planned, witnesses say, as fears grow over threats to Sri Lanka's stability.

by Zaheena Rasheed & Irfan Cader-08.March.2018

Ambatenna, Sri Lanka - The Sinhalese Buddhist mob came by the hundreds, screaming at the top of their lungs and carrying sticks, stones and petrol bombs, as they descended on the hill town of Ambatenna in central Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

Some two dozen policemen and soldiers watched helplessly, according to residents, as the mob vandalised and set fire to Muslim homes and businesses in the town's Welekada area.

"We were so scared," Fathima Zameer told Al Jazeera, clutching her three-week-old infant as she recounted the violence that swept through her neighbourhood that morning.

"We have nowhere to go. They broke all the windows in my house. Our whole house is burnt."

The mob, which witnesses said was between 200 and 500-strong, overran Welekada defying a curfew and a state of emergency imposed by President Maithiripala Sirisena a day earlier to quell anti-Muslim riots that began in the highland district of Kandy over the weekend.

In Welekada, rioters vandalised at least 15 houses belonging to Sri Lanka's Muslim minority and a mosque, residents told Al Jazeera. Four of the buildings and several vehicles were also torched.

The attacks have raised fears of a return to conflict and instability in Sri Lanka, less than a decade after the South Asian island nation ended a bloody civil war with Tamil separatists.

The latest bout of communal violence began on Sunday when a man from the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority died after being beaten by a group of Muslim men over a traffic accident in the town of Teledeniya in Kandy, an area famous for its tea plantations and Buddhist religious sites.

The next day, hundreds of Sinhala Buddhists, mostly outsiders, according to officials and residents, poured into Kandy and attacked and torched dozens of Muslim businesses, houses and mosques. The body of a 23-year-old Muslim man was found in a burned building, and the government, fearing more violence, imposed a state of emergency on Tuesday. It also deployed the army and extended a police curfew in the region.

The violence, however, continued. Overnight on Wednesday "several incidents" were reported in four towns, said Ruwan Gunasekara, a police spokesman.

Three police officers were injured during clashes in Menikhinna, he said. Later in the day, Ambatenna was attacked and a Sinhalese man was killed there after a hand grenade he was carrying exploded.

Gunasekara said security forces have arrested about 35 people since the riots began.

The government has also suspended internet services in the area and blocked access to Facebook and other social messaging applications including Whatsapp and Viber in an attempt to halt incendiary rumours.

'We don't feel safe'

Shukry Cassim, whose four-bedroom house was vandalised in Welekada, said he was "petrified".
"We don't feel safe. All our children are traumatised. We don't know where to go, or who to trust," the 27-year-old accountant told Al Jazeera, standing in front of the burned hulk of his car in his garage.

"We don't know why this is happening. The mob is not from our area. We don't know them," he said.

"But they couldn't have done this without the support of people from our area because they have targeted the Muslim houses, and excluded the non-Muslim houses."

Cassim, however, said the violence was instigated by "a few people".

Relations between Muslims and Buddhists in the Kandy district have been historically harmonious, he said, adding: "We share food during religious festivals, we play together and buy goods from each other's shops."

Analysts say tensions flared up between the two communities because of the rise of Buddhist nationalist groups following the end of the country's three-decade war. These groups include the monk-led Bodu Bala Sena, which has links to Buddhist hardline groups in Myanmar.

They are widely perceived to have the support of former President Mahinda Rajapakse, and accuse the Muslims, who make up 10 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million population, of forcing people to convert to Islam and of destroying sacred Buddhist sites. Prior to the Kandy riots, at least three other major incidents of anti-Muslim violence have been reported in the past year.

"Sri Lanka is on the brink," said Alan Keenan, a researcher at the International Crisis Group.
"These attacks are organised, well-planned," he said. "And there is good reason to believe they are partly designed to provoke a Muslim response, which would then justify more violence against Muslims."

The Muslim community has "been admirably restrained" so far, he said. But if the minority retaliates by attacking the Sinhalese community, "other Sinhalese will then feel threatened and participate in a way they haven't yet".

Police inaction

Keenan also said he was concerned by the inability of the army and the police to control the riots.

"The reason for this is unclear - whether they [the security forces] have been badly deployed, or deployed in inadequate numbers. What worries me is the hypothesis that some significant degree of the police and military are sympathetic to the rioters, which would not be surprising," he said, referring to reports of state collusion in clashes that broke out between Muslims and Buddhists in 2014 which left four dead and many injured.

A third factor may be that security forces are "cautious" to act, Keenan said, because of the Sirisena coalition government's humiliating defeat to Rajapakse's party in local council elections in February.
Sirisena ousted Rajapakse, who is accused of authoritarianism, corruption and human rights abuses, in 2015 after campaigning on a platform of national reconciliation and constitutional reform.

However, the coalition that brought the president to power was in tatters ahead of the February vote.
Rajapakse's party win "emboldened" Sinhala Buddhist hardline groups and "more crucially, police and other state officials are now more likely to hedge their bets," said Keenan.

"They [the police] may not be sure if they should go after the rioters. Because they are known to have the sympathy, if not the active support of Rajapakse and his people.

"If Rajapakse and his people are going to be running the government soon, which is possible, a police officer wouldn't want to be known as the courageous guy who did his duty and stopped the violence."

Government in jeopardy

If the clashes continued, said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based think-tank, the future of Sirisena's government could be in jeopardy.

"Some say [the riots are instigated] to show that this government is incompetent and incapable," he said. "Others say this is to create instability, which will expedite yet another regime change."

Urging Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremasinghe to "act fast, quickly and decisively", Saravanamuttu said security forces must arrest perpetrators of the violence.

"It should be communicated to the country at large that we are a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country and we intend to stay so. And that is our strength," he said.

The conflict could also affect Sri Lanka's post-war economic recovery, he warned.

"If we continue with emergencies and blocking social media, tourists are not going to come and investors are going to start thinking twice," he said.

Back in Welekade, Zameer said she was "hurt" and "heartbroken" by the violence.

"We want safety and security. We don't want anyone to face this," she said.

Cassim echoed her sentiments: "I have tasted the bitterness of war. And I want peace.

Irfan Cader reported from Ambatenna. Zaheena Rasheed reported and wrote from Doha.

The fires are on douse them!

2018-03-09

“Teldeniya Burning!” – that’s how one commentator puts it. Conclusions are being drawn, inferences are being made, and all the while the nation has been numbed. What we do know until now, beyond a doubt, is that the race card has been pulled up. Again. This time around, though, it’s not just a riot or a case of a few extremists pulling up that card. It’s to do with an entire region going up. In flames. True, the assailants have been identified and justice has, to the best of the ability of its purveyors, been meted out. But Teldeniya is still burning, and irrationalism is still up and around and about.

This is not the first time that a race riot has cropped up in Sri Lanka and it will not be the last either. One of the most inscrutable facts about living in a “multicultural country” is that rifts between various sects is an inevitability we must be vigilant about. It’s much worse in other countries – they have had their own share of July ‘83s and Aluthgamas on a scale that considerably dwarfs our own harrowing encounters with pogroms and riots – and much, much worse in countries which try to artificially conceal those rifts. The fissures that result from all these need an outlet. They find it eventually, sometimes through the smallest ripple on the surface. It’s that outlet we need to protect, from the kind of irrationality which greeted Teldeniya earlier this week. If we aren’t vigilant enough, it can overwhelm the entire country.

But we already know this. We’ve been told about this by our politicians, our clergymen (even the extremists), and pretty much everyone else. In that sense I think it’s apt to point out what a friend of mine posted on Facebook recently:

“We’re all Sri Lankan”: a load of recycled crap coming from elite-nationalism, from liberal Anglophiles for whom the concept of a multi-ethnic nation was handed over by the British. “We’re all human”: a load of recycled crap coming from old, failed humanism, which can only respond with slogans in face of violence, which can only reify majority-minority relations. Where should we turn to for a more radical humanism?

This is not the first time that a race riot has cropped up in Sri Lanka and it will not be the last either. One of the most inscrutable facts about living in a “multicultural country” is that rifts between various sects is an inevitability we must be vigilant about

 The post is spot on, all the way, for two reasons: it repudiates the traditionalist liberalism which so often greets an Aluthgama or a Teldeniya, and it calls for a larger humanity that is not afraid of treading on radical territory. “Radical humanism”: is this what we need to prevent a race riot from cropping up again, then? The answer to that, I believe, can be found in the reasons for the discontent which keep on getting ignored by your typical liberal humanist.

In Sri Lanka, as in every other country, populism has tended to transform into chauvinism thanks to expedient politicians. This is not a golden rule, it’s an unfortunate fact that time and habit has turned into a golden rule. But the mistake committed by the typical liberal has been his confusion between addressing the concerns of the majority and repressing those concerns artificially. Both can be achieved through the law, but when the law is taken to repress, and not address, those concerns, they can turn out to be harmful in the long run, for both the (numerical and ethnic) majority and the minority.

The truth is that constitutional amendments, processes aimed at interethnic reconciliation, and tribunals whether domestic or foreign which purport to try out “war criminals”, cannot and will not affect the people of this country for whom economic issues are much, much more paramount. The truth is that these amendments and processes, while important, are regarded with suspicion by most if not many people for the simple reason that they tend to brush away the concerns of the grassroots. The grassroots, in other words, matters, and these processes often ignore them. In the long run, this is neither productive nor conducive to the outcomes they envision and try to achieve.

“We’re all Sri Lankan!” and “We’re all human!” are hence posters and slogans the meaning of which will be lost to a vast majority of the people until, and unless, they are communicated in a way that makes sense to the grassroots. The ordinary Sinhalese, Muslim, Tamil, and Burgher (not to mention other ethnicities and sects thereof) on the street are more concerned with finding their daily bread. Finding that daily bread is predicated on a legitimate assurance that the law recognises everyone as equal citizens, socially and economically. In the absence of a proper legal framework, the fight for survival over such matters takes on a chauvinist character, and in the absence of the economic backdrop to that legal framework, laws that try to ameliorate inter-racial rifts lose their legitimacy. It’s a circle that goes around both ways.

After all, what is history but a series of conflicts and lengthy wars that have been fought over land, and what is land but the ultimate reason for the fight for survival between races and sects? We need a humanism that makes a Teldeniya impossible, but we insist, by habit perhaps, on transforming that humanism into a series of candle vigils and silent protests near Lipton Circus and at Independence Square. Such humanism at best is cut off from the people and at worst caters to its own interests and outcome-preferences, which again tend to be cut off from the people. It’s an ivory tower humanism we are seeing here, and far from dousing the “flames of racism” (as the poets would deign to call them), they end up providing more fuel for the fire. Just like that.

The ultimate target of these campaigners, most of whom sincerely envision a country free of chauvinism and racism, then, is not the elitist Anglophile or the indifferent universalist, but the ordinary member of the majority community: the Sinhalese farmer, teacher, civil servant, clergy, and of course businessman. They are part and parcel of the petty bourgeoisie, and it is they, and not the proletariat, who end up becoming the worst purveyors of chauvinism in this country. But they are precisely the demographic that is missed out, sometimes intentionally, often not, by the harbingers of peace.
And why? I don’t know. What I know, right now, is that for another Teldeniya to crop up, and enflame the country, all it takes is indifference and ignorance, by the humanists, the Anglophiles, the elitists, the intellectuals.

My friend has called for a radical humanism. Will we affirm, or will we deny?
UDAKDEV1@GMAIL.COM   

KANDY DIGANA – TELDENIYA RACIAL ATTACK AGAINST MUSLIMS- HDO FACT FINDING REPORT

08/03/2018

According to the recent Report of Amnesty International (AI) (2017/2018), Sri Lanka has been listed among countries unsafe for minorities, particularly for Muslims. In the report, Amnesty International notes that Sri Lanka saw a rise in Buddhist nationalist sentiment last year, including attacks against Christians and Muslims. It also should be noted that there were some incidents occurred against Tamil minorities in North–East and in the Up-country plantation areas. The report also says that in Sri Lanka, families attempting to arrange stones as memorials for loved ones lost during the 26-year internal conflict were stopped by security forces last year. Human rights defenders were also subject to surveillance and intimidation. Women human rights defenders in the north and east reported that interactions with the police were often degrading and sexualized.

What is the Issue in the Kandy District – Digana Area …?

M.G. Kumarasinghe, a Sinhala resident of Ambala, Medamahanuwara, Teldeniya, is alleged to have been accosted by a group of Muslim men who had followed his vehicle to Teldiniya
from Kumbukkandura and then assaulted. This was happed few days ago. Allegedly, M.G. Kumarasinghe had angered the group by not allowing them to overtake his vehicle. The victim M.G.Kumarasinghe, had been attacked by this group of Muslim Men last week in Teldeniya town succumbed to his injuries at the Kandy Teaching Hospital and he died, his funeral was taken place on 5th yesterday evening.

Further it was said that, the altercation had taken place allegedly when a group of Muslim men, had been angered due to the victim not allowing them to overtake his vehicle. Another version has the victim accidentally hitting the side mirror of the vehicle/Three Vehelar in which the assailants were travelling but had not stopped to sort the matter out. This was taken place in few days back. There is no evidence whatsoever that the assault was racially motivated. The assailants, all residents of Ambagahalanda, Digana were arrested by the police while a three-wheeler was also taken into custody.

Anti-Muslim Assaults In Digana –Teldeniya Areas: Kandy Under Curfew

This report is based on information collected from, a Fact Finding Mission of HDO visited today on 6th, to the area and met some Muslim social activists, leaders, Tamil social activists, a Human Rights activists and public also discussed the issue and interviewed over the phone/through telephone. (We visited during the Curfew Hours…).

According to the grass-root level sources, Ven. Buddhist monk Galagoda Gnanasara of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and Dan Priyasath who is the chief of ‘Savior of the Sinhalese’ also visited the area to pay last respects to the Kumarasinghe who succumbed to injuries sustained on 5th of March 2018. According to a politician, the controversial Batticaloa Sri Mangalaramaya monk Ven. Ampitiye Sumanaratna Thera was traveled to Teldeniya on Sunday and inciting the unrest. Sumanaratna Thera was also at the scene when mobs became unruly outside the Teldeniya Police Station.

During the funeral hours, number of youths and men arrived to Teldeniya, Digana areas ( it was said that around 2000 – 5000 ). After the funeral, the Police imposed a curfew from 3.00 p.m. until 6.00 a.m. within the Kandy Administrative District in the consequences of the violence that erupted in Digana and Teldeniya areas of Kandy district.

During our visit we identified that around 50 – 100 shops/houses (small and big) which are owned by Muslims were attacked and set on fire and number of Mosques were attacked by a group of thugs during the protesting death of Kumarasinghe, a 41 old father of two children in the area.

The Police used teargas and water cannons to disperse the angry mobs who clashed in Digana – Teldeniya and another group of people who laid siege to the Teldeniya Police station. It was said that the assailants were arrested by the police along with their three wheeler. It was reported that the people in Digana, Teldeniya, Udispattuwa and Medamahanuwara had started a Hartal in protest of the attack.

Number of persons resorted to violence has been arrested by the Teldeniya Police. Public transportation was also interrupted along the Digana – Teldeniya Road due to the clash. The injured persons were rushed to the Teldeniya hospital.

According to the Education Ministry that all schools within the Kandy Administrative District closed on 6th and 7th March, 2018.

During our mission, on 6th we observed that a funeral house of a Muslim youth took place in Digana and he was killed during the fire took place on 5th and the body was found on 6th morning.

We also observed that lots of police personnel, STF and Navey have been deployed in the area and Kandy District to control the situation. Most of the business centres, shops and markets were closed in the area. Very less vehicles and people are visible in the roads and towns.

The curfew has been continuing today 7th also. The situation seems to be worst in Kandy district. According to unofficial information, number of incidents have been continuing in the area.

Govt. grapples with communal chaos

President Maithripala Sirisena chairs high level security meeting in Kandy yesterday 

• Fresh wave of violence in Akurana and Katugastota
• President on a sudden visit to Kandy; Maha sanga, clergy from Islamic, Hindu and Christian faith, Ministers join Presidential discussion
• President stresses importance of taking maximum efforts by all religious leaders to createpeaceful environment
• Religious leaders say exaggeration of minor incidents through various social media platforms is one of the main reasons for the spread of this situation
• TRC blocks social media sites - Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber countrywide, internet blocked in Kandy
• Govt. admits lapses in initial response, curfew reinforced till today afternoon, schools closed indefinitely  
• MP and LG members behind attacks claims Rajitha 
• Seven arrested, three policemen injured in latest clashes

By Chathuri Dissanayake -Thursday, 8 March 2018

As flames engulfed more homes and shops in different parts of Kandy, President Maithripala Sirisena rushed to the hill capital yesterday to meet with religious leaders and Government officials, in a bid to quell the situation.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who was due to hold a meeting in Anuradhapura, rushed to Kandy when a fresh wave of attacks occurred in Akurana and Katugastota around noon yesterday (7 March).

Holding discussions with Mahanayake Theras of Malwattha and Asgiriya chapters, and Islamic Moulavies and other religious leaders, ministers, government officers, Sirisena urged for calm.

Meeting with Government officials and heads of security units deployed in the area, Sirisena gave instructions to take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the people in the area.

Struggling to contain the situation, Government re-imposed Police curfew in Kandy at 11am until 4pm today as incidents where mobs attacked places of worship, homes and businesses resurged when curfew was lifted in the morning yesterday. Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam also announced yesterday that schools in the Kandy District would remain closed indefinitely.

As rumours of attacks and messages inciting violence raged through new media networks, the Government took measures to block a number of social media sites and communication apps, in a bid to curtail the communal violence spreading across Kandy despite State of Emergency and Police curfew.

In the early morning, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) sent out instructions to all service providers to block access to internet and all other social media services for users in Kandy District. Later in the day, instructions were issued to block social media sites, and communications apps Whatsapp and Viber, for the entire country as a temporary measure.
While admitting that the move may cause difficulties to some, TRC Chairman and President’s Secretary Austin Fernando said it was a necessary measure to take in light of the current situation.

“I understand the limitations this may pose to a lot of people. Even I am affected, I also make calls through these apps, but right now this is a sacrifice that we will have to make for the country. We don’t want these messages inciting violence to go around,” he said, speaking at a press briefing held last evening at the Information Department.

Despite state of emergency and curfew, police and Army personnel deployed in the area were unable to disperse mobs gathered in Thennekubura and Manikhinna areas on Tuesday (6 March) night. Over 300 persons gathered and attacked shops and houses before the police and armed forces were able to get a handle in the situation.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara told Reuters there had been several disturbances throughout Tuesday night in the Kandy area, renowned for its tea plantations and scenic hilly beauty.

“The police arrested seven people. Three police officers were injured in the incidents,” he told Reuters. There was no information about how many civilians had been wounded, he added.

 Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne told a special press briefing yesterday: “The mob gathered in areas where the army was not deployed. The attacks were systematic and planned out. The area is large so it is difficult to contain.”

While over 600 army troops have now been deployed in the area to bring the situation under control, Admiral Wijegunaratne said that they are still maintaining use of minimum force to control the situation.

“This is communal violence, very different from a war situation. The groups that are causing violence are not armed. We are using minimum force to control the situation. The extremist elements are waiting for us to shoot and for loss of life,” noted Admiral Wijegunaratne.

Cabinet spokesperson Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne stated that investigations have revealed that political forces are behind the attacks.

“There is a particular group behind this. It is evident that they are working towards a political agenda. Arrests will be made in the future in this regard,” he said.

The Minister also said that the attacks are being carried out in a very organised and systematic manner with instructions being given from remote locations.

Responding to allegations that the situation has got out of hand, as the Government failed to take stern action against the first incident of communal violence in Aluthgama, Dr. Senaratne admitted that action on the matter has been slow. But investigations are still ongoing, he insisted.

Senaratne also admitted to lapses in law enforcement in both Ampara and Kandy incidents.  “We admit there is a delay in response. For instance, the Police was not able to take action in time as the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in the area was not available to give the orders to take action. The junior officers therefore were not able to respond in time without orders from higher ranks. The Ampara incident is also being investigated,” Senaratne told reporters. Investigations have revealed the involvement of a Member of Parliament and several other local level politicians in behind attacks, Senaratne said. Arrests would be made and names revealed soon, he claimed when pressed for details on alleged involvement.

“We will reveal soon. There is a MP and his secretary behind the Digana attacks. Two Local Government members who were recently elected, a district organiser and a Monk of the same political party are also involved in the attacks in Teldeniya,” he said.

However Police have not made fresh arrests since Sunday (4 March), despite escalating violence.

During his meeting with religious leaders in Kandy, President Sirisena discussed about the situation that has occurred suddenly and the leadership they can provide to bring it under control and to avoid spreading of the misunderstandings among people.

The religious leaders pointed out that that exaggeration of minor incidents through various social media platforms is one of the main reasons for the spread of this situation.

President Sirisena stressed the importance of communicating precise information to the public and instructed officers to inform the public about the true circumstances of the situation through religious leaders.

President Sirisena pointed out the importance of taking maximum efforts by all religious leaders to create an environment to prevent the recurrence of this kind of incidents in the society while building the peace and reconciliation among all the communities in the country.

The President instructed the Police and the Tri-Forces to take necessary steps to ensure the security of the people in the area and further stated to take every possible step to ensure peace in the relevant areas.

The President specially requested the religious leaders to, apart from the steps taking by the security forces to ensure the security of the people in the area, take the leadership in the process of building peace and harmony among the different communities in the respective areas.

The Maha Sangha including Most Ven. Niyangoda Sri Vijithasiri Anunayake MahaThero of Malwatta Chapter, Ven. Dibulkumbure Vimaladhamma AnunayakeThero, Most Ven. Wedaruwe Upali AnunayakaThero of the Asgiri Chapter, Ven. Narampanawe Ananda, Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thero, Ven.  Dr. Medagoda Abayathissa Thero, Ven. Prof. Iduragare Dhammanandha Thero, the Moulavies including the  Kandy Chief Moulavi Fazlur Rehman, Rev. Fr. Ivan Jayasundara ,the Parish Priest, St. Anthony’s Cathedral, Kandy, the trustee of the Shri Selva Vinayagar temple in Kandy,  Krishanmoorthy Govindasami, Ministers Ministers Rauff Hakeem, Faizer Mustapha, State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardane and MPs, Secretary to the President Austin Fernando, public servants and heads of security forces participated in this meeting.

Tensions in Sri Lanka: Please don’t let our motherland to weep again

No point of blaming and shaming, which normally all can do. What is important is for each one of us to take our life into account based on our individual responsibility as a human being and a citizen of this country

by Nilantha Ilangamuwa writing from Kandy-Mar 8, 2018

Mar 8, 2018

(March 8, 2018, Kandy, Sri Lanka Guardian) The volcano of racial extremism has erupted. Yet again, it has started burning the soul of the nation while making it possible for horrendous danger of pulling the country back into its darkness. The ugly beast is ripping us off. It is the moment for the ruling alliance to govern the country wisely rather than making decisions based on emotions and political motivations.

The tragedy which caused the riot is now known to the public. Solving such grave issues is lying nowhere but our in our readiness to listen as if the pain is ours and taking proper action within effective time by understanding the ground realities. Banning social media and shaming the country’s reputation internationally will achieve nothing but it will certainly escalate the crisis.

There is one small but unbreakable and touching statement given by the wife of the victim whose husband was beaten to death by an undisciplined group of men.

“There is no point in fighting and claiming more precious lives of the people and making more widows like me. My husband was so innocent and everyone in the village adored him,” Thilaka Pushpakumari, the wife of late-H.G. Kumarasinghe, told the media. This is how the majority of Sinhalese as well as other communities are thinking and acting. Majority of the people quite well understand the depth of the problems arisen out of tragedies.

“Working as a driver, he looked after me, his mother, our disabled son and the daughter. We have become so helpless now. We have no future now. Honestly, we don’t have much hopes and confidence that the Government will support us,” she said.

It is time to prove to the Government and those who have the power to manipulate the politics in the country that they have the wisdom to understand the bottom of this painful statement and take every possible action to eliminate the racial seeds. She has clearly stated that she does not have much hope and confidence that the Government will address their grievances and sorrows.

This is the issue. This is an issue which can fuel the racial elements among the public. Solve her problem and prove to the public that we are capable of solving the issues, internally. Then apply the same constructive approach to those who were victimised after the main incident.

What was the lesson in the recent history we learned? One single incident can drive a nation on the wrong path and destroy in no time what we as a respectable nation earned over generations. When emotions drive the steps to be taken without allowing authority and other responsible authorities to access and fulfil their duty, then those who are manipulating the incident will win and the country will be further destroyed.

We have the bloody lesson from the past; we as the nation hammered internationally after allowing small groups of “beasts” who destroyed the unity and dignity of people on many occasions.

Please don’t again! Don’t let anyone pull our motherland into a bloodbath. Don’t immerse our younger generation into the pool of fear. Don’t let anyone take away the all good hopes for us to become the nation of prosperity.

Don’t let our nation to weep again. We have cried enough and wetted the earth out of our tears enough.

We have learned enough bitter lessons out of fear, out of terror, out of misunderstandings, out of misguidance, out of fake propaganda against the country, out of all sorts of what is commonly named as inhuman activities. Hundreds of thousands of skulls buried out of nightmares in last few decades in the country are still weeping their tears for the remaining. We are still paying the price for that.

What Sri Lanka needs today is for leaders to take individual responsibilities followed by collective action to block every possible way which could create disunity and dissension.

So let’s be together. Let’s listen to each other. Sympathy is not the solution, but taking necessary action to make life better for all is the need of the moment. Banning communications is not the solution, but pathetic move to hide the symptoms without proper treatment, which suppression would lead to the problem erupting again and again.

No point of blaming and shaming, which normally all can do. What is important is for each one of us to take our life into account based on our individual responsibility as a human being and a citizen of this country; And take precautions and proactive decisions to strengthen ourselves so none can distort the reputation of our nation. Then none can destroy the quality of our humanity. Then our nation will prevail as a Sovereign entity.

Featured image: Placard holding by a Buddhist Monk with a Mulism in Sri Lanka, reads  Sinhala, Tamil, Muslims — We are Human

Lohan Ratwatte behind communal violence ! Remove IGP ; make Fonseka law and order minister and hand over task to army commander !!

(Lanka-e-News - 08.March.2018, 11.45AM)   It is an M.P. of the opposition Lohan Ratwatte who had transported murderers and marauders from the South in lorries to attack the Muslims as well as commit arson exploiting the murder  of a lorry driver in Teldeniya , Kandy  , the police have identified . These marauders and plunderers  have got ready for this mayhem and murder  two days before the violence was unleashed.

Based on reports reaching Lanka e news, the IGP was warned that the Police intelligence division of the area could create issues , yet the IGP had not taken adequate measures to avert the  impending dangers.

The Prime Minister too yesterday announced in Parliament the  police did not take adequate action to avert these conflicts.

The seniors who are genuinely concerned about the  country’s security are of the view , the present IGP who is forcing those of other religions too to practice meditation , and taking crazy steps to make the Police a Sinhala Buddhist force is kindling these conflicts on the sly to the detriment of the country. It is therefore their carefully considered opinion that in  the best interests of the nation , the present IGP shall be removed immediately , and  a new IGP be appointed, and the law and order ministry shall be entrusted to Sarath  Fonseka  forthwith . In addition, if the situation is  to be brought under control ,  the services of army commander Mahesh Senanayake who steers clear of racism shall be enlisted. 

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by     (2018-03-08 07:04:54)