By TCN News,
New Delhi: All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, the apex body of Indian Muslim organisations, condemned the continuing attacks on the Muslim minority in Sri Lanka since last Sunday. President of AIMMM, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan said the continuing attacks, murders and burning of Muslim localities and uprooting of thousands of Muslims by armed Sinhala extremists is a blot on the face of Sri Lanka and proves that the Sri Lankan government has not learnt any lesson from the Tamil revolt which was extinguished at great cost over three decades of blood-letting.
The Sri Lankan government and Sinhala chauvinists have forgotten that Sri Lankan Muslims, including the Tamil-speaking ones, firmly stood with the government in that conflict and bore the brunt of LTTE attacks, killings and mass uprootings. Now the Sinhala chauvinists, with tacit government support, are forcing a peaceful and patriotic community to take up arms to defend itself. Such a development will not help anyone in Srilanka which has already paid a heavy price as a result of the Tamil insurgency which too was a result of similar Sinhala chauvinist attacks on Tamils in the 1980s. Dr Khan appealed to the Sri Lankan government to check Sinhala extremists before the violence snowballs into a major conflict.
Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has also expressed deep concern over the deadly violence that has erupted in a Sri Lankan coastal resort where Buddhist hardliners are targeting Muslims by indulging in arson and violence against them.
SDPI national president A. Sayeed in a statement urged the Sri Lankan Government to come out of limbo and act swiftly to save the lives and properties of Muslims, who are in a minority, before the situation takes a turn for the worst and becomes beyond control.
Sayeed said in the Muslim town of Alutgama in Lanka seems to be under siege where four people have been reportedly killed in this latest communal flare up. The government must urgently do everything it can to arrest this violence, curb the incitement and hate speech which is driving it, and protect all the religious minorities, he added.
He lamented that Bodu Bala Sena, or Buddhist Power Force, which is allegedly involved in the attacks against the Lanka’s Muslim minority, is said to enjoy state support. He pointed out that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s powerful defence secretary and the president’s brother, once made a public appearance supporting the group’s cause which is very unfortunate.
Meanwhile, Sayeed said it is creditable that Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem accused his own government of failing to protect Muslims. The law-and-order mechanism has failed to protect innocent people, he is reported to have said.
He demanded that the Lankan Government should forthwith bring the perpetrators of attack to justice so that the beleaguered Muslim community can breathe a sigh of relief. The Lankan government should not dilly dally the issue of communal violence and take necessary action with alacrity to send right message across the island.