Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia Mayor denies Karunanayake’s assertion

Dehiwala – Mt Lavinia Mayor Dhanasiri Amarathunga, referring to our news report, headlined ‘Attempt to expel 23,000 Muslims from Dehiwala — UNP’, published yesterday, says that it is factually incorrect, misleading and may cause racial disunity between the Muslim and Sinhala communities.

"The fact is that, a few weeks ago a few persons organized a protest against illegal cattle slaughter at a place, in Dehiwala. When I was informed of this protest I informed the Defense  Secretary and the Police took ‘necessary action to give adequate protection to the place in question and any major incident was averted. Later it was found that there was no cattle slaughter at this place.

"On the instructions of the Defense Secretary, a discussion was held at the Dehiwala – Mt Lavinia Municipal Council auditorium, with the participation of all parties concerned. At this discussion Senior DIG Anura Senanayake, who participated as the representative of the Defense Secretary, stressed that no one will be permitted to take the law into their hands and cause racial disunity by attacking any place of religious worship or otherwise. At this discussion it was also decided that the Mosque should seek necessary approval from the authorities concerned in keeping with the law of the land.

"As of date, there is absolute peace and racial amity in the area and therefore news item of this nature is harmful and causes unnecessary suspicion between communities.

"Mr. Ravi Karunanayake is clearly trying to fish in troubled waters for cheap political gains as his party – the UNP always does."

 

 

The UNP yesterday questioned if the latest project of an extremist group in the government issuing ultimatums to religious institutions, including mosques and churches, to shut down, was to evict over 23,000 Muslims from Dehiwela.

 

Senior UNP MP, Ravi Karunanayake said that there were over 23,000 Muslims residing in Dehiwela and it had been their home for generations, but a constituent political party in the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, had gone berserk and was on a mission to close down places of religious worship that did not conform to its ideals and beliefs.

 

MP Karunanayake said that the extremist mob had on a Friday, which was a very holy day for Muslims, when a large number of devotees gather for the ‘Jummah’ sermon’ threatened the Dehiwela Mosque officials to stop conducting prayers, which was a clear message to the over 23,000 Muslims residing in the electorate to get out or face the consequences.

 

When verbal threats were ignored, the mob had returned three days later and thrown beef into the Mosque compound, in an obvious attempt to provoke the congregation into a violent conflict, the MP said, adding that incidents of this nature close on the heels of a Mosque in Dambulla being damaged, was a disturbing trend and would lead to communal and religious disturbances, which was the objective of the extremist elements.

 

With the end of the war, one would have expected the government to ensure peace, harmony and protection for all Sri Lankans, but repeated threats and attacks on religious institutions indicated that those who wielded power, wanted to create a crisis to cover up their failure to deliver on election promises and rampant corruption at the highest levels, MP Karunanayake said.