Genocidal Sri Lanka shields terror against Tamil Muslims

The legal and police system of the Sri Lankan State was indirectly aiding the Sinhala extremist mob to incite violence against Muslims in Aluthgama and Durgah-nagar in Kalutura district, Muslim reporters from Kalutara told TamilNet on Tuesday. The shut-down of mobile communications and the curfew imposed by the Sri Lankan State also strengthened the hands of the Sinhala Buddhist extremist Bodu Bala Sena mobs that went amok on innocent Tamil-speaking Muslim villagers in Beruwala, Alutgama, Kotapitiya, Meeripenna and Adigarigoda. In the meantime, journalists, Muslim politicians and activists who rushed to Kalurara to witness the anti-Muslim violence were blocked at road barriers. Even those who attended the funeral of the three slain Muslim youth were also attacked Monday evening by a Sinhala extremist mob.

Meanwhile, speaking to TamilNet on Tuesday, Mr Asad Sally of the Islamic Solidarity Front said that the violence against Muslims spreads to several other parts of the island too. Today the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) is going to create a problem in Badulla and going to organise a meeting in Mavanella of Kegalle district, he said.

He had warned the government in advance about such a planned violence in Beruwela, Mr Sally, who was a former deputy Mayor of Colombo, told TamilNet.

Mr Sally had forewarned Colombo’s authorities on allowing the kind of rallies organized by the BBS at Aluthgama.

The Colombo government is therefore responsible for the violence, he said.

The government could have stopped the violence in 5 minutes had they really wanted to stop it, he said. “The curfew is only for the Muslims,” he said. This was a pre-planned and arranged affair of the government, Mr Sally accused.

Colombo wants to start another war with Muslims and Chritistans, he said.

The Muslims in the island are angry with their leaders who are collaborating with the government, he further said.

* * *

The Sinhala extremist BBS has been waging a systematic campaign against the Tamil-speaking Muslims in Beruwala for a long time.

The extremist organisation had called for a massive rally on 15th June.

As the arrangements were under way for the rally, a Buddhist monk and his driver traveling through Aluthgama on 13th June quarrelled with three Muslim youth around 2:00 p.m. The Buddhist monk was abusive to the Muslim youth for standing along the roadside. The Muslim youth also quarrelled with the monk and his driver for the insult. However, on his way back, the Buddhist monk filed a complaint with the Sri Lankan police that a Muslim mob had assaulted him. In turn, the SL police at Alutgama detained the three Muslim youth and the SL court remanded them for 14 days. At the same time, a rumour was spread by the extremist BBS to Sinhala mob that Muslims had attacked a monk at Durgah-nagar.

On 15th evening, after the mass gathering by the BBS at Alutgama, Sinhala Buddhist extremists were ordered to march towards Muslim villages.

The extremists were chanting slogans against Muslims. The mob, armed with guns, swords and petrol bombs, was throwing stones at a mosque on their way to Muslim settlement in Dargah-nakar. Muslim villagers also responded by attacking the BBS-led extremists.

While the attacks were taking place, the mobile communication remained cut in the entire area. Several houses were attacked by the mob.

At the same time another Sinahala extremist mob attacked the mosque at Adigarigoda on 15th June.

Three Muslim youth, who were defending the Sinhala mob from attacking the mosque were shot and killed as the British-trained counter-insurgency commandos of the Sri Lankan Police deployed in Kalutara were watching the unfolding violence against the Muslims.

Even on Monday, when the SL Police claimed that they had brought the situation under control, there were attacks on three houses of Muslims at Welippana in the surroundings of Beruwala, Alutgama and Durgah-nagar.

The Sri Lankan Police also imposed a curfew. While the Muslim men who had gathered at the mosques were unable to return to their families, the Sinhala mob entered the village attacking the families and the properties of the Muslims.

Journalists who went to report the violence were blocked and refused entry citing curfew and security concerns by the SL police.

The BBS has been recently involved in a hate campaign against Muslims, blaming them for ‘supporting Taliban’ with the intention of wooing a tacit support from the ruling sections of the BJP in the New Delhi.

* * *

The peoples of the Islamic Establishments that were supporting genocidal Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva should take a serious note on the Beruwala incident to understand the modus operandi of Sri Lankan State and its extremist Buddhism, local Muslim leaders told TamilNet.

Maldives, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Algeria had voted in support of the Sri Lankan State.

Particularly, the successive regimes of the Maldives have shielded the genocidal orientation of Sri Lanka from the people of the archipelago, so that a steadfast pro-Colombo policy could be continued to safeguard the interests of the ruling elite.

* * *

Beruwala is a major heritage centre of Tamil-speaking Muslims in the Southwest part of the island. The place has Durgahs (burial monuments) associated with Muslim mystics of early medieval times, for whom Durgahs are also found in the Coromandal and the Gulf of Mannaar coasts of Tamil Nadu.

The Durghas are dated to the times of Persian and Moraccan mystics.

The Tamil-Muslim heritage in the western part of the island is considerably associated with the medieval South Indian merchant guild called Agnchuva’n’naththaar and the Tamil-Muslims of Nagore, Kaayal-paddinam and Keezhak-karai of Tamil Nadu.

[Full Coverage]

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow TNN on Facebook and Twitter )

Published
Categorised as Headline, News