Opposition politicians call on Govt. to protect minority rights

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Members of Sri Lanka’s Opposition yesterday accused the Government of ignoring minority rights and allowing extremists to target the Muslim community. The Muslim Tamil National Alliance, led by Azath Salley accused the Government of targeting him “unfairly” for sending a SMS by mobile but not taking any steps to stop Buddhist extremist organisations that have popped up in the island during the last few months.

“Just because I sent a text to a Moulavi, I have been slapped with nine charges for attempting to ‘disturb the peace’ and have police after me. This is completely unfair when extremist elements such as the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) have been holding rallies around the country and are attempting to cause religious disharmony,” he told media.

Salley, who will be appearing before the Magistrate’s Court in Colombo this morning for anticipatory bail, insisted that he stood for religious harmony on the tiny island nation of 20 million people. He also noted that the Moulavi, who received the text, is willing to withdraw the complaint but is not being allowed to do so by the police.

Salley went onto insist that he was the victim of a “witch hunt.” However, he insisted that extremist organisations such as the BBS led by well-organised monks are being allowed to slander the entire Muslim community with impunity while people attempting to engage in a discourse are being criminalised.

“BBS members are going out and saying terribly degrading things. Recently, I heard the head of the BBS saying that Muslims spit on food given to non-Muslims – this is an utter lie but the Government is not doing anything about these rallies. This is also our biggest problem, why is the Government silent on these issues?” he questioned.  

Salley’s comments come as the Sri Lankan police arrested two people for sending SMS that they allege would cause “racial disharmony.”

Speaking at the same press conference, Democratic Left Front Leader Wickramabahu Karunarathna also made an impassioned plea for minority rights. He criticised the Government for souring relations with south India and called for immediate implementation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) report recommendations, holding of elections in the north, power devolution along the 13th Amendment and credible investigations into allegations of war crimes to foster relations with India.

“The Government is building a monument depicting the ‘Aranthala’ monk murder in all its gory detail, which is an attempt to foster racial disharmony. It is true that the horrific incident must be condemned but that does not mean that it should be enlivened so that future generations can feel the hate for Tamil people. When the tsunami happened and people died at Pereliya, the Government did not build a monument for them but instead is happy to spend public money on projects that foster communal hatred.”