Following the threats issued by Buddhist monks against a mosque in Dambulla on Friday that they would demolish it unless it relocated it from the area, which the monks considered as a holy Buddhist site, the SL Prime Minister DM Jayaratne on Sunday instructed the Muslims to relocate the mosque, triggering anger among the Muslim ministers and parliamentarians. The Buddhist monks, who are engaged in setting up new Buddhist viharas and Sinhala colonies in the country of Eezham Tamils, have carefully timed their action against the Muslims in Dambulla, especially after successfully wooing the votes of Muslim countries either to back Sri Lanka or to abstain from voting in the recent Human Rights Council session in Geneva.
The religious leaders among the Muslims are now appealing the countries with overwhelming Muslims to condemn the decision of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister.
Almost all the incumbent Muslim member countries in the UN Human Rights Council, stood with Sri Lanka when the voting took place in Geneva on the resolution proposed by the USA, which demanded the implementation of the LLRC.
Bangladesh, Maldives, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Kuwait, Qatar voted against the US-proposed LLRC-based resolution while Malaysia, Senegal, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Burkina Faso and Djibouti abstained, fovouring Sri Lanka.
Also in September last year, a group of Buddhist monks in Anuradhapura went amok on a Muslim shrine and destroyed it claiming that the Muslims were trying to make it into a Mosque and that the said mosque was situated in a holy Buddhist site.
In the meantime, a Muslim deputy minister from Kaaththaankudi in Batticaloa district, has been allegedly engaged in destructive activities with the intention of causing disharmony among the Tamil speaking people of the district.
On Thursday, the letters on the welcome board, which read ‘Batticaloa Urban Council welcomes you‘ in Tamil and located at the border between Batticaloa city and Kaaththaankudi town on Batticaloa – Kalmunai Road, were painted with dark ink, hiding the Tamil letters. The incident has taken place at a spot 150 meters from Kaaththaankudi Police Station.
The same board was earlier destroyed on 23 September 2011 by some Muslims, who claimed that the Tamil greeting term “Va’nakkam” was a “haram” for Muslims.
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