Muslim politicians not focused on harmony: JVP 

• Anura Kumara blames Govt. for attacks
• Says Muslim politicians using power and money without considering consequences  

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

 Opposition lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday blamed the Government for the Easter Sunday attacks, and singled out Ministers Rauff Hakeem and Rishad Bathiudeen, who the JVP leader argued failed to foster harmony between different religious communities.

Opposition lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Joining the adjournment debate on the current situation of the country after the unexpected terrorist attack on Easter Sunday, MP Dissanayake highlighted the importance of the President and the Prime Minister coming to a common platform, leaving beside their political disparities and the dreams to be the next President.

“This is an attack that should have been avoided. There are two parties responsible for these attacks. The first party are the killers involved in it, and the second party are those who failed to prevent it, even after receiving the information. The President and the Prime Minister, along with the Government, are responsible for not being able to prevent it due to political power struggles. They used national security to monitor the movements of Ministers. National security should have come first,” he said.

Blaming Muslim leaders for allowing the seeds of racism to spread for political benefits, MP Dissanayake said: “The Muslim leaders didn’t do politics with the Muslim people, but instead did business with the Government, making use of the votes received. You could have focused on building national integrity and peace. You spread the seeds of racism instead of politics. Muslim politicians are not worried about suicide attacks. They have gained wealth, built large houses, have big dreams for their children, these children will not become suicide cadres. The racism that you planted spread faster than you expected. Now you are unable to control it. That is the problem both Minister Rishad and Minister Hakeem are facing now. We should not expel the Muslim politicians from Parliament, but get more Muslims to take the democratic path. I think the Muslim community and leaders have a responsibility. Only those who created it can destroy. Muslim people should come forward to destroy it.”

“The Government has failed to enter into the correct path. Shops and other establishments are open, but people are not going in. Schools are open, but the students are not present. This shows nothing but suspicion. The Government has failed to bring normalcy after two weeks. This is not a natural disaster. This is political killing. This is an Islamist extremist attack. I demand the Muslims name this dark force as Islamist extremism. This has the fundamentals of Islamist extremism at the bottom. You are unwilling to name it. It is nothing but a wired mentality created by Islamist extremism. We named the LTTE as Tamil separatists. There are enough topics that can be used for politics in this country, but we should not make use of racism for politics. Racism can only bring in a domino effect,” he added. (AH)