Growing hate Muslim Campaign!

(by Latheef Farook)

This is sheer madness. This is how one could describe the potentially disastrous hate campaign unleashed against the Island’s peaceful Muslim community by a handful of racist rabble rousers who are law unto themselves.

Recently two Muslim payment hawkers were attacked by monks at Embilipitiya. Police, first refused to accept victims’ complaints, recorded them only after JVP intervention.  

Then there appeared provocative posters in Mahiyangana, showing a person carrying sword in a fit of rage to kill, stating” remove the mosque. About three weeks ago a medical camp was jointly organized by Sinhalese, Muslims and Christians to help the poor at Maggona to mark the first death anniversary of a Buddhist monk. The late monk was so loved by people of all communities that trustees of the adjoining mosques and other Muslims carried his coffin in their shoulders.or we will do it”. Then comes report of a medical officer in a government hospital forcefully trying to sterilize a Muslim woman who gave birth to her third baby.

While the medical camp was underway two unknown Buddhist monks accompanied with few others arrived in a luxury vehicle and demanded to close the camp immediately. When the monk tried to explain the two monks threatened him and closed down the camp forcefully.

The question is who are these outsiders disrupting communal harmony? Who finance them and for what purpose? How do they get away scot free?  I am sure they embarrass the mainstream peace loving Sinhalese.

However no step was taken to bring these lawless elements to book.  

So far Muslims have demonstrated remarkable restraint, but the question is how long? At some point some Muslim may react and such a development could be exploited to unleash an anti-Muslim pogrom.  

In the aftermath of the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 the entire country hoped that all communities could move ahead peacefully for a better future though the wounds were deep. It appears that these racist elements have shattered all these hopes.

This campaign poisoning the minds of mainstream Sinhalese against Muslims began by a small but well organized   group demonizing Islam and Muslims through 19 Sinhalese and English language websites.

In the midst came the destruction of a 400 year old Muslim shrine in Anuradhapura followed by the shameful   attack on Dambulla Mosque led by the chief Buddhist priest. This was the first time in the history of Sri Lanka that mobs vandalized a mosque and prevented Friday prayers

Since then there were attacks on number of small mosques all over the country. However perpetrators, always outsiders, remain free.

Leaflets calling to boycott Muslim trading and other establishments and not to sell properties to Muslims started circulating all over. Do they realize that around a million Sri Lankans, majority of them Sinhalese happily employed in Muslim countries and their inward remittances, around six billion dollar annually, help afloat the island’s economy? 

These countries supply bulk of our oil   requirements. We export tea, nontraditional and many other items to Muslim countries from where considerable number of tourists who insist on  halal food  come here.  Muslim countries also provide billions in development aid. 

Timely assistance of Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Iran and Libya proved crucial in defeating the LTTE. Neither the Christian West nor the Buddhist East came to Sri Lanka’s aid in times of crisis. Only Muslim countries remain   sincere friends. For example most Muslim countries stood by Sri Lanka against US sponsored UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka last March.    

On top of all it was Muslim’s refusal to support the LTTE’s separatist call and their sacrifice   that  helped Sri Lanka preserve its  territorial integrity -especially at the early stage when the island’s armed forces were not equipped to meet this challenge.

Under such circumstance to whose benefit these racist elements are provoking Sinhalese against Muslims? Do they know that the Jews who cleverly put the Christian West and the Hindu extremists dominated India against Muslims are now manipulating to put Buddhists worldwide against Muslims? 

According to   reports those who attacked Buddhist temples in Bangladesh were not people from the area but brought from outside as it happened in the case of the attack on Dambulla mosque. Buddhist pilgrims to Bodhgaya visit Nalanda where tour guides sow the seeds of hatred towards Muslims by portraying Muslims as responsible for destroying Buddhism in India.   

Many suspect that what is happening in Sri Lanka is part of this overall hate Muslim campaign unleashed under Washington-Tel Aviv-New Delhi axis. Isn’t it time that responsible elements in the Sinhalese community probe into these manipulations to save the country from another potential disaster?

According to New Delhi based fortnightly “The Millie Gazette” of 1-5 December 2009, Indian Information Ministry report (2008) disclosed that foreign money , Rs 7877 cores, was received by Hindu communal organizations in India to cause   riots against Muslims. These organizations got   money from Israel via Europe, instead of getting them direct from Israel. Similarly tours of leaders of Hindu organizations to Israel have also very much increased. They are brainwashed in Israel and used as tools against Indian Muslims.

Hindu organizations use the foreign money on subversive activities such as   anti-Muslim riots, bomb blasts and other such activities. Investigations give credence to the belief that Hindu terrorists are poisoning the socio-political atmosphere in India and Israel is helping them through financial means.

Isn’t this happening here in Sri Lanka?  Politicians, journalists and others started visiting Israel. Most of them   do not know ABC of Israel’s background and its agenda. Israeli penetration in the island’s print and electronic media seems to be effective judging from the number of pro-Israeli and anti-Muslim articles in the recent times.  

More than two centuries ago Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of United States of America, warned his countrymen of the danger of allowing the indiscriminate migration of Jews into USA. True to his predictions today Jews are the effective rulers of this great country. Isn’t it time Sri Lanka learns little more about this? 

Most Muslims suspect that the Jews, architect of Islamophobia and the force behind US led European invasions of Muslim countries, are behind anti-Muslim hate campaign in Sri Lanka. They started raising   issues such as halal food, Muslim women’s dress code, slaughtering animals, increasing population and anything and everything to demonize Muslims. These are issues which could be solved by peaceful means.    

Instead, an extreme anti-Muslim organization, in the same line as India’s Hindu fascist   Shiv Sena, held a meeting at a Buddhist temple, the premise meant to disseminate Buddha’s message of peace and harmony, to accuse Muslims of threatening the very existence of Sinhalese and Buddhism in this country.  

Their main purpose is to crush and sideline Muslims. What they failed to understand is that Muslims have already been sidelined. For example hardly any Muslim is recruited to armed forces, police and rarely one could see a Muslim employee in government departments and other state institutions. Even mercantile sector seems to have closed their doors to Muslims who are, by and large, excluded from Government contracts, tenders and all such activities. 

Indifference towards Muslims remains open and around 130,000 Muslim refugees from north continue to languish in refugee camps in appalling conditions three and half years after the war.

Muslim politicians who sold their souls for positions, perks, and titles and sealed their mouths do not raise these burning issues. Shameful state of affairs is such that when the UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa raised issues of rising anti-Muslim attacks, reducing government   budget allocation for Muslim Religious Affairs Department from Rs 35 million to Rs 15 Million in the parliament  some Muslim parliamentarians  interrupted him.

However the role played by JVP to expose the anti-Muslim campaign is laudable. Isn’t it time that Muslims   abandon and ostracize   Muslim politicians, and turn to mainstream parties such as JVP to strengthen communal harmony which was jeopardized to a great extent by the so called Muslim Congresses.

In this regard it is worthy to note that last month a 44 year old Madawala Muslim,   Mohamed Rafeek, who was running his small shop, was killed in an accident. Around 20 bus load of people from Mahiyangana, all

 Sinhalese, attended the funeral weeping and crying till 10 PM as if their own family member was killed.  

This is what Buddhism is about. This is what  Sinhala –Muslims relations have been.

Paying tribute to the peaceful nature of Sri Lankan Muslims and their organizations former Chief Justice Sarath N Silva said on 29 June 2008 that;

” A salient feature of the Muslims of Sri Lanka and their organizations is that they never organized themselves for armed insurrection or destruction. They are a peaceful ethnic group spread throughout the length and breadth of the country. They interact with other religious and ethnic groups cordially interlinking those cultures with their own culture while polarizing their own culture. This  is appreciable”.

Since independence politicians of all shades of opinion exploited racism to retain or gain power. The result was the armed conflict during which these   very same politicians flourished   on arms purchase while innocent ones from poor families sacrificed their lives. Their irresponsible and short sighted policies brought the country to where we are today.

Under the circumstance isn’t it the responsibility of reasonable elements in the Sinhalese community to wake up and contain racist elements whose anti-Muslim campaign has the potential to turn this country once again into a killing field