Networking for
Rights cautiously welcomes President Mahinda Rajapakse’s recent statement
that his government will not tolerate racism and religious intolerance.
According to a report in The Hindu
newspaper of March 31 this statement had been made by him at a religious gathering in Werehena. He had added “This is a democratic country with
non-Buddhists having equal rights and freedoms. While we safeguard the rights of
Buddhists, it is the responsibility of the Buddhists to be exemplary and protect
the rights of others.”
While it is admirable that the
country’s President has expressed these sentiments in public and recognizes
equal rights for all, NfR hopes that these expressions do not suffer the same
fate as several other statements of the President relating to the rights of
people, which remain mere words and had never been put into practice in
a sincere manner.
Over the years several political
leaders have made grandiose statements about the rights of all communities
living in Sri
Lanka and have spoken of the need for
tolerance of those from other communities and following other religions.
Such statements had been made whenever tensions arose between
different communities or religious groups. However, by and large successive
governments of Sri
Lanka are known to turn a blind eye to most of
the incidents caused by the intolerant behaviour of some of the citizen of the
country.
The recent escalation of tension
between the Sinhalese and Muslim communities caused by anti-Muslim sentiments
roused by extremist Buddhist organisations like the Budu Bala Sena in one such
example. Except for the summoning the Bodu Bala Sena a few months ago and
advising them to refrain from such actions (which, interestingly was only
tweeted in English) and making a statement similar to the one quoted above, the
President had largely remained silent on the rising anti-Muslim rhetoric which
was spear headed by the BBS and reached a climax with the attack on the stores
of the business establishment called Fashion Bug in Pepiliyana.
Though the media carried many
photographs and videos of the incident showing clearly identifiable images of
the perpetrators, no serious action was taken against them. Three Buddhist
monks were eventually formally arrested along with a few others visible in the
videos and produced before the Magistrate. But the Magistrate had to
admonish discharge the suspects as the complainant had indicated that he did
not want to pursue with the case as there is said to have been an out of court
settlement. However the upshot of this incident is that the BBS and its
followers have now got emboldened and are likely to continue with their
undesirable activities with impunity.
The NfR hopes that the statement made
by the President was not just made to appease the Muslim business owners and
the Organization of Islamic Countries, following the attack on the business
establishment referred to and on other Muslims. There have been several acts of
harassment of Muslim men and women during the several months. These
activities have continued without any action being taken against the
perpetrators
There have also been several reports of
Christian pastors and places of worship being attacked recently n with hardly
any action being taken against those responsible.
The need of the hour is for concrete
action that would stem the spread of religious and communal intolerance.
Instances of violent acts and hate speech must be addressed through stringent
legislation that would deter such behaviour. Out of court settlements will
not help to end hate speech which leads to violence between communities. The
propagation of racial and religious disharmony would only assist those in power
and corrupt to accumulate more of the same and distract Sri Lankans from the
economic burden of their everyday living.
NfR also believes that there must be a
cohesive discourse on the issues that have brought about this situation. Does
the banning of the Halal certification adequately address the issue or has it
only appeased one community? Does it matter to most Sri Lankans that Muslim
women wear the hijab? Would the destruction of Churches and assaulting a
pastor, stop conversions? Instead of whipping up anger and suspicion against
the spread of Islam and Christianity in the country, should not the Buddhist
clergy look at the reasons why religious conversions , if it is true, are
taking place.
It is the responsibility of legislators
and community leaders to study these issues and introduce guidelines that would
protect each other’s lifestyles and ensure harmony between communities does not
get disrupted.
If not, NfR fears that extremists would,
as they already done, take matters into their own hands and lead Sri Lanka into
yet another conflagration, which could be worse than what was endured in the
past and one that the country can ill-afford now or in the
future.
