Local Issues

NEW YORK: The government is downplaying and protecting the groups who spread hatred and violence against minorities, particularly Muslims in Sri Lanka, the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay told a UN Human Rights assembly.   In her statement at the 24th United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva, Pillay said that she was “alarmed” at the recent …

Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s statement on what he described as the “emergence of Muslim extremism” has shocked and dismayed the island’s besieged and helpless Muslim community. Addressing a defense seminar at Galadari Hotel on Tuesday 3 September Mr.Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that the country was faced with an uphill task of tackling Sinhala hardliners as well as Muslim extremists. He added that …

Sri Lanka’s Muslims are at an unprecedented and ominous crossroads. The community there is faced with an existential threat at the hands of an increasingly militant Buddhist minority, while the nation’s Muslim parliamentarians appear to be more powerless and mute than at any time since 1947. This impotence is startling because the current parliament holds the largest number of Muslim …

A mistake once committed is rarely repeated by a rational entity.  However such is not the case with the government of Sri Lanka.  It is becoming increasingly obvious that following the 30-year war with the Tamil minority, the Sri Lankan rulers have not learned their lesson. Today, they are busily spreading the seeds of discord against another minority; the island’s …

Latest step in the build up to commemorate anniversary of 1915 Sinhala Muslim Riots with July 83 type attacks on Muslims? By Latheef Farook The timely settlement of the dispute over the mosque at the Swarna Chaithiya Mawatha   averted a potentially disastrous conflict which had all the ingredients to turn the area into a killing field. This could have even …

War battered Sri Lanka could ill afford   Organized attacks on Muslims which began almost two years ago continue unabated while the government remains indifferent, impatient Muslims thinking of turning to streets to highlight their grievance and Muslims worldwide closely monitoring developments here.   Growing feeling within the Muslim community is that though these attacks look isolated, but they are …