Four Sri Lankans arrested in India for smuggling; here Rohan Gunaratne accuses Muslims of radicalisation

Four Sri Lankans were arrested on Monday, 20 May 2024 at the Ahmadabad Airport in India for smuggling of gold and drugs. 

According to Daily Mirror of 23 May 2024 Sri Lanka’s state intelligence has asked for further information from India’s state intelligence to verify the background of these alleged suspects, as well as to probe if they are actually linked to the ISIS network.

Thus so far there was no report of their involvement in any organisation promoting violence. One should not forget the government in power in India is extremely hostile to Muslims. They demonise and unleash violence against Muslims. On the other hand it is ridiculous to state that they went to India to commit crime for a mere Rs. 100,000 each.

However within 24 hours Rohan Gunaratne, the self-claimed terrorist expert who is blind to the ongoing RSS-BJP atrocities on Indian Muslims and the US-European backed Israeli genocide roasting and toasting Palestinians, had given a fatwa describing Sri Lankans caught in India as ISIS agents.

This was done even before the Indian authorities started their inquiries. Perhaps Gunaratne has his own information channel to Indian intelligence? The question is how could Gunaratne accused these four people, perhaps professional smugglers, of being ISIS members even before Indian authorities started their investigations?

His statement warned Sri Lanka of ISIS threat. It was published on 22 May in the Ceylon Today under the title *Message to the Sri Lankan government and Muslim leaders:* “Do not live in denial, acknowledge the truth, and address radicalisation”.

Such provocative statements demonising Islam and Muslims has been Gunaratne’s speciality for reasons better known to him. In his statement on 23 May 2024 this is what Rohan Gunaratne stated: “I have painstakingly stressed that the scourge of the Islamic State (ISIS) has not gone away from Sri Lanka even though Zahran and his infrastructure was disrupted. The ideology that is producing Zahrans are intact. Zahran was only the symptom of a larger problem of radicalisation in the country. 

Whether we like it or not, the radicalisation is a regional challenge that will grow. The extremist organisations have established a presence in Sri Lanka. Based on interviews with detainees that staged a catastrophic attack, I have shared the details of the network in my book “Sri Lanka’s Easter Attack: Lessons for the International Community,” concluded Gunaratne.

Many alleged that IS is a direct product of Israel, sometimes weaponising the acronym to call it the “Israeli secret intelligence service.” An X account called “Suppressed Voice,” which routinely amplifies Hamas propaganda and glorifies terrorism as a form of “resistance,” posted these conspiratorial sentiments alongside the false claim that Mossad is also an IS-affiliate.

Islamic State said that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was actually a Jewish agent of the Mossad seeking to sow destruction and anarchy in Syria and other regions.

Isn’t it time that Rohan Gunaratne spoke about the barbarity unleashed by Israel with the complete support of US and Europe, indiscriminately killing innocent Palestinians? This not only include children but even babies taken out of the womb of murdered women. Latest being headless children. So far they have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians although the estimated figure is around 100,000 as those buried under the rubble of bombed and destroyed buildings were not counted.

The Zionist Jews and their US European partners have caused immeasurable sufferings to Palestinians who were deprived of water, food, medicine, electricity and shelter.

Zionists were committing these barbarities to justify their US-European-Israeli wars invading Muslim countries and killing innocent Muslims worldwide.

This began with the collapse of former Soviet Union in December 1988. So far a number of Muslims countries were destroyed and millions of Muslims were slaughtered. Did any Muslim country any where in the world, invade a non Muslim country leave alone massacring their people in the way US-Europe and Israel had done and still doing?

Isn’t it time that Gunaratne write about US-European Israeli war crimes in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and now in Gaza rather than demonising Islam and Muslims and helping justify US-European Israeli war mongers destroy Muslim countries and kill Muslims worldwide.

Sri Lanka is passing through a very difficult period due to racist politics which divided the communities and contributed to the current economic crisis. Under the circumstance the need of the hour is for all to get together to pull the country out of this manmade disaster and not divide communities.

Of the three communities in Sri Lanka Muslims were the most peaceful. They never resorted to violence to restore their rights. Even in the case of Easter Sunday massacre only few Muslim individuals were accused but the community as a whole, even after five years, proved nothing to do with it.