In about-turn, GL wants Commission of Inquiry on Aluthgama

By Dharisha Bastians

In a supremely ironic twist, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Chairman and former Foreign Minister Professor G.L. Peiris yesterday called for a Commission of Inquiry into the religious riots in Aluthgama in 2014, which claimed three lives and laid waste to a Muslim township, when his Government was in power.

In his shocking statement, Peiris also called for inquiries into the religious clashes in Gintota and the sudden flare up of extremist incidents in 2017.

Responding to publicity given to a letter addressed to Prof. Peiris from the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka about post-election violence targeted at several Muslim villages in Kandy and Kalutara, Prof. Peiris warned that moves were afoot to mislead Sri Lanka’s Muslim community and turn them against the pro-Rajapaksa party he leads. “If any such incidents had occurred, they should be reported to the police and dealt with,” Prof. Peiris said.

Peiris said that the public was well aware of the “strategies that were orchestrated before the last Presidential election to alienate the Muslim community from the former President.”

“We admit our government was not decisive enough in dealing with this conspiracy,” he added.

As the Yahapalanaya Government declined rapidly in popularity in 2017, there had been yet another spate of attacks on Muslim businesses and houses, Prof. Peiris’ statement said.

The SLPP Chairman also took aim at controversial Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, saying the “monk at the centre of these incidents had been granted bail three times in a single day and everything was swept under the carpet.”

Speaking to Daily FT, Bodu Bala Sena CEO Dilantha Withanage said the group welcomed an inquiry into the Aluthgama violence, adding that they had demanded such an inquiry from President Mahinda Rajapaksa too, when he was in power. The BBS has also decided to call a press briefing today to counter the claims made in Prof. Peiris’ statement.

Ironically, soon after the Aluthgama religious violence, the Government of Sri Lanka, led by President Rajapaksa, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the Muslim community in the area had started the clashes that left Muslim homes and businesses in ruins. Peiris himself met with the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka at the time, and urged the group to refrain from “internationalising” the clashes.