The Dambulla mosque fracas engineered by the militant elements of Sri Lankan Buddhists, the reaction to it by local Muslim politicians and Muslim religious leaders, the former threatening to withdraw their inconsequential support to the government while the latter urging Muslim masses to pray to Allah to restore the status quo, and the conflicting messages from the nation’s prime minister …
Read More »Dambulla Incident
Dambulla incident not just a Muslim issue – By Dr. Jehan Perera
Dispute The dispute over the presence of a Muslim mosque on Buddhist temple land in Dambulla points Muslims protest in front of the Davatagaha mosque in Colombo to an underlying tension in Sri Lanka’s multi religious society that is capable of being exploited by extremist forces. It is reassuring that the violence that suddenly manifested itself over the location of …
Read More »Dambulla: A hard won peace put to the test By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
This year the celebration of Vesak takes place against the backdrop of an incident, the memory of which must surely cloud the tranquility of this sacred day for many Buddhists. In Dambulla two weeks ago an unruly mob led by Buddhist monks stormed a mosque, yelled abuse and prevented the Muslim devotees gathered there from conducting their prayers. This …
Read More »Wake up call from Dambulla to Sinhalese and Muslims alike By Latheef Farook
To mainstream Sinhalese; Save the Sinhalese and the country from chauvinists. To Muslim politicians and theologians; Don’t sell the community. You are under watch. Muslim community’s overall response to vandalism at the Dambulla mosque by a mob led by Ven Inamaluwa Sumangala Thero on Friday 20 April 2012 has been “calm and dignified”. In one voice their message to the …
Read More »The State and Religion in South Asia By Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
Secularism implies the relationship between Religion and Politics, more specifically between Religion and the State. The concept of secularism has drawn its sources from the philosophy that Humans can order their lives and their societies without recourse to transcendant or supra natural powers, and hence they could also organize and manage the State and its government , without direct connections …
Read More »Dambulla controversy Written by The Nation
The protest by the laymen and Budhhist monks in Dambulla over an alleged illegal erection of a mosque in Buddhist Sacred Area became the talk of the town previous weeks. While, the Ven. Inamaluwe Sumangala Thera says the lands were belong to the temple, the authorities from the mosque claim they also have the ownership for the land. However, …
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