Courtesy The Daily Mirror

While condemning the recent terrorist attack on innocent civilians in New Zealand, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera today threw a challenge to the 22 organizations to make a joint public statement that they reject Wahhabism and Salafism’.

Ven. Gnanasara said the attack was carried out by a Muslim man who left Sri Lanka about 10 years ago and has been living in New Zealand ever since.

The prelate pointed out that a similar attack was launched in Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019 in the name of religion. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

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The BBS organisation has released a statement describing the situation as follows:

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September 04, 2021

Terrorist attack by the Islamic State(IS) Sri Lankan in New Zealand.

We strongly condemn yesterday’s(2) terrorist attack on innocent civilians which was conducted in the name of Islam by a Muslim who left Sri Lanka about 10 years ago and was living in New Zealand.

A similar attack was launched in Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019 in the name of religion, making the dangers pointed out for several years by the Bodu Bala Sena a reality. The question before us today is whether a lesson has been learned from the said attack  as a nation. The politicization and oscillation of the Easter attack carried out by Saharan and his gang in the name of religion is further endangering our country.

Can those trying to take advantage of the Can “hunting the mastermind of the Easter attack” scenario adopted in Sri Lanka be used to find the mastermind of the Auckland attacker? Absolutely not. This is not because of any other reason but because there is no need to direct terrorism by someone else since Its based on religious principles.

A believer who is confused by a religious teaching has the opportunity to become a terrorist at any time and carry out isolated attacks. Hundreds of such “Wahhabi attacks” have taken place around the world.

Ahmed Adil Mohamed Samsudeen, now known as Ahmed Adil Mohamed Samsudeen, has been under New Zealand intelligence watch list well before the attack. But the country’s security forces have had to wait until he launches the attack. If such a situation arises in Sri Lanka, opportunistic politicians will point the finger at the self-sacrificing security forces. Ahmed Adil Mohamed Samsudeen was arrested in 2017 by New Zealand police. Cases have been filed in Auckland High Court on few counts for promoting Islamic terrorism through two Facebook accounts. But human rights activists and others have advocated for the freedom of speech of Ahmed Adil Mohammed Samsudeen. For that reason, the New Zealand security forces were limited only to follow the terrorist and wait until the terrorist attack to take action.

This is a situation that our country needs to pay close attention to. Following the arrest of the promoters of Islamic extremism, local and foreign human rights groups have been exerting intense pressure on the Sri Lankan government. In particular, lawyer Hijaz Hezbollah and Hanaf Jassim, also known as a poet, were pressured to be released. We urge the government to be vigilant in deciding on the arrests and future arrests of extremist terrorist threats and to act solely on the progress of investigations by the security forces without being influenced by any outside forces.

The challenge of identifying religious terrorism before the attack has now become a global problem. Reason is, the religious terrorist has been active in various forms since before he became active. This is clear from the joint press release issued by active Muslim organizations in Sri Lanka yesterday (2) condemning the New Zealand attack. Had Saharan been alive, he too would have issued a statement condemning the attack.

The statement was co-authored by 21 other Wahabi and Salafi ideological organizations, which introduced the concept of the “Khilafah” to make Sri Lanka a Muslim state in the 1950s, and even sent magazines justifying the suicide attacks that sent its members to the war in Afghanistan in the 1990s. By doing so, the white supremacy that had hitherto covered the nude of extremism has escaped and the nude of the extremists of Sri Lanka has been exposed to the whole world. Hajjul Akbar, who sowed the seeds of extremism in the country for 25 years as the leader of Jamaate Islam, is currently in custody for his extremist activities. It is noteworthy that the All Ceylon Jamayathul Ulama, as always, has led the way in immersing the innocent Muslims in this country in Wahabism. It is also a good example that the Sufi Star Council, which had hitherto worked with the All Ceylon Jamayathul Ulama, has escaped from that entity. We wish the Sufi Star Council the ability to save the Muslim community from the monster of Wahhabism and Salafism.

Bodu Bala Sena Challenge

Wahabism and Salafism are said to be the strongest ideologies that have led the world to call Islam a barbaric religion. Bodu Bala Sena challenge the said 22 organizations who made the joint statement to make a public statement as to that they “reject Wahhabism and Salafism”.

To put an end to Islamic extremism,

In order to stop the attacks in the name of Islam,
1. Wahhabism
2. Salafism
3. Ihwan ideology
4. Jamaate Islam ideology

Organizations with these ideologies including NGOs /welfare institutions / educational institutions should be banned and the implementation of such new organizations should also be banned.

Also, the importation / production / printed publications / audio-visual publications with these ideologies should be banned.

Action should be taken to ban the use of sermons and books related to these ideologies on the Internet.

Isolated attacks such as the New Zealand Auckland attack and planned attacks by extrimists such as the Easter attack in Sri Lanka will not be possible to end until the above measures are taken to put an end to Islamic extremism.

Bless the Triple Gem.

Rajakiya Panditha Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero.