The state of emergency has been declared in Sri Lanka for the first time since the end of the country’s three-decade-long bloody ethnic war that began in 1983 when Sinhalese mobs attacked the minority Tamils around the island. The United Nations has condemned the violence and urged Colombo “to ensure that appropriate measures are swiftly taken to restore normalcy in affected areas”. Whatever is happening in Sri Lanka at this point in time is nothing but a grim reminder of the bloody events that took place in Sri Lanka during the Tamil insurgency. Unlike Tamils who constitute a little over 11 percent of Sri Lanka’s population and derive massive political and economic support from Tamil Nadu state of India, Muslims, the largest minority in Sri Lanka (14 percent of country’s population), however, are bereft of any support from inside or outside Sinhala-Buddhist dominated Sri Lanka. This minority is now the new victim of Sinhala-Buddhist excesses as a fresh wave of anti-Muslim attacks sweeps through the Buddhist holy city of Kandy and the surrounding hillside. According to some independent commentators, the attacks have drawn comparisons with the start of the country’s decades-long civil war in 1983.
As the fourth night of a military imposed curfew fell on Thursday, minority Muslims have been quoted as saying that they were apprehensive about the possibility of an escalation in violence following Friday prayers, with dozens of Muslim-owned houses, businesses and vehicles now burnt down. According to global media, fresh tensions erupted in riot-torn Kandy, the epicenter of violence, when Sinhalese mobs took to the streets, defying the curfew, on Wednesday night. A Buddhist man was killed in an explosion when a grenade he was carrying detonated prematurely. So far at least three people have died, including one Muslim youth who lost his life after being trapped in a house set on fire by mobs. The riots started on Monday after a 41-year-old Sinhalese man died following a clash between some youths in Digana village, five miles from Kandy. The incident, a personal scuffle, was stoked into racial riots by “outside elements”, say government ministers, and the Sinhalese community at large, according to global media reports. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara is said to have insisted the situation is under control. Victims and eyewitnesses have made allegations that the country’s elite Special Task Force (STF) and the army, called in to quell the riots on Monday, did not move to prevent the mobs from their rampage, looting, burning and pillaging of homes and businesses. In Welikada, five miles from Kandy, where several houses and shops were burnt down and the mosque attacked, victims say the STF did nothing to stop the violence.
It’s heartening to see President Maithripala Sirisena has met with religious leaders in Kandy, promising “stern action” on those responsible for the violence. It’s also heartening to see former Sri Lankan cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara has asked his countrymen “to say no to racism”. He has also said: “We have to make sure that in Sri Lanka anyone and everyone feels safe, loved and accepted regardless of ethnicity or religion”. Last but not least, Lakshman Kiriella, a Kandy district parliamentarian, has blamed “outsiders” for the present grim situation, terming the events a huge “conspiracy”. “We should be ashamed as a majority Buddhist nation to be persecuting innocent Muslims in this country,” he has reportedly told parliament. Moreover, police have said they are investigating whether 10 suspected ringleaders of a wave of attacks on Muslims by Sinhalese Buddhists had outside funding or foreign help. President Maithripala is therefore required to order an inquiry into the causes of violence with a view to unearthing the “conspiracy” possibly emanating from country’s neighbourhood.
