Does Terror ideology stem from hate verses in scripts – Gnanasara Thero & Minister Sarath Weerasekera
Posted on September 30th, 2021
Shenali D Waduge
What is the reason for 99% of terrorists resorting to suicide terrorism & other forms of terror? What differentiates these terrorists from others is that they quote their holy verses before committing the crime. How connected is this to the overall fear by non-Muslims regarding these verses? If the duty of intel & security authorities is to ensure another 21/4 does not repeat & to ensure the country is safe & secure for all citizens, not just one community, why is it that their efforts end up being diverted by well-funded campaigns citing ‘islamophobia’! Their duty cannot be diluted simply because some NGO figures or others in high positions claim anything against their community is offensive. Most of these reactions are for their own personal/political gains & have nothing to do with concern for their community. When 99% of global attacks are related to terrorism based on religious superiority and by 4 main groups of which ISIS wants to create a Caliphate in Sri Lanka and when the Easter Sunday suicide bombers claim to be part of the ISIS, why should Muslims feel offended when someone says that a terrorist attack may happen in the future. Is it not because Tamil leaders and Tamils pooh-poohed LTTE that LTTE was allowed to grow & become lethal? Therefore, citizens cannot ignore that the Easter Sunday attack took Sri Lanka by surprise, though local intel were aware of pocket groups aligned to the ideology & had been monitoring them. Verbal statements is nowhere near as deadly as an attack that took place on 21/4. It was no isolated attack motivated by an isolated objective. Therefore, no one should take offence when anyone publicly says that the threat of future attacks persists – isn’t this why 32 countries of the world continue to ban LTTE even after its demise in May 2009? So long as the ideology is the source of the terrorism – the State & its citizens have every right to be alert.
When all of the Islamic/Islamist terrorists commit mass murder in the name of their religion, which included the Sri Lankan student-turned refugee who stabbed 5 persons in New Zealand – there is certainly cause for concern. Why are those who got offended by the Admiral’s or the thero’s interviews/statements not offended more by these suicide bombers committing mass murder in the name of their religion.
Many denounced the crime after it was committed but until it was committed, no one knew he was going to. However, in the case of the 21/4 suicide bombers, there was a nexus planning to execute the crime – this nexus was much larger than the 9 suicide bombers who think they went to heaven!
This is the very reason that the Sri Lankan authorities cannot and should not let their guard down simply because there appears to be a campaign to divert the attention under a feigned projection of targeting ALL Muslims.
Let us remind all that quite a number of the said community was aware of large numbers of swords being hidden in various places across the island. How many reported this? There were foreign preachers in remote parts of the island, how many reported these? The arrests made soon after 21/4 revealed that the majority of them were in the intel monitoring list and if we recall some of these special units were disbanded after 2015 crippling their operations. The person who reported the Mawanella Buddha statue disfiguring, was eventually shot by Zaharan’s group and today remains injured for life. https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Informant-of-Easter-Sunday-suspects-rewarded/108-218514
When Islamic scholar Usthaz Rasheed Hajjul Akbar (uncle of those who defamed the Buddha statue on Mawanella) was detained by CID in August 2019, Latheef Farook was quick to write in his defence Demonised, battered and ostracised Muslim community of Sri Lanka is deeply disturbed at the detention of respected Islamic scholar”. The National Shoora Council, All Ceylon YMMA conference, All Ceylon Union of Muslim League Youth Front, Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, Muslim Media forum and All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema even petitioned for his release. He was arrested in March 2021 under PTA – https://www.newsfirst.lk/2021/03/13/ex-leader-of-jamaat-e-islami-arrested-under-pta/
Therefore, the onus is on the Muslim community to be alert to the preachers that preach to them, the mosques that preach radicalism, the foreign preachers that arrive etc. Have such reports been made since 21/4 to the security agencies as the nexus that plotted to commit 21/4 is still at large – Muslims must help locate the locals involved in this mass murder, whatever powerful positions they hold and powerful people should not use their clout to prevent investigations or arrest citing islamophobia” – we do not wish to see a bloodbath similar to 21/4.
Planning to kill close to 300 innocent people is nothing that can be forgotten or forgiven. What often happens is that political/economical & social pressures are exerted to delay or divert the punishment of the perpetrators as we have seen regarding the campaign around the arrested lawyer linked to 21/4 whose charity was accepting funds from an internationally banned entity. Given the international clout of these entities & personages linked to them, can we expect true justice? While the same parties will be quoting all the law books when they claim to be ‘discriminated’.
Therefore, instead of nit-picking on statements and carrying wrong placards – everyone is duty-bound to ensure no innocent live is compromised in the name of religion or controversial religious texts.
Alternatively, it is good to tabulate the verses being quoted by terrorists and either issue a global clarification or have them removed altogether if it can prevent radicalization & extremisms.
With ISIS claiming to make Sri Lanka a Caliphate & knowing the Western-brains that manipulate ISIS, Muslims must understand the dangers lurking which requires them to ensure that their youth do not get roped into radicalism. The issue at hand is the fact that suicide in the name of religion is regarded as a noble act & not something to abhor and this factor must be looked into by the Muslim community. Our goal is to prevent another generation of brainwashed youth who become mere pawns in a bigger game that seeks to only kill & destroy & destabilize nations. We must now understand the bigger picture. Politicians of this community must not commit the same mistake that the politicians linked to LTTE did – a camouflage to gain votes & enjoy parliamentary privileges and political panache!
October 1st, 2021 at 11:27 am
Shenali,
“Why are those who got offended by the Admiral’s or the thero’s interviews/statements not offended more by these suicide bombers committing mass murder in the name of their religion.”
When no action was taken saying “ahaka yana nai redda asse daganna epa”, this country suffered so much in terms economy as well loss of life and limb.
Are they not doing same again without arresting the terrorists if any. Or is this ‘Kotiya enavo’ again and you sing hosanna to someone who seem paid to destroy this land’s very cultural foundation. How many more weeks needed for action?.
What is important for us is our own security and not what is happening elsewhere which are far more complicated for us to fathom.
October 1st, 2021 at 11:47 am
Instead of being awakened after the jolt the Sinhalas got on 21/4, it looks as if those who are supposed to be the ‘jathiye moradevathavo’ also started doing the exact opposite. Or are they confused?.
Please note that creating confusion is also a strategy to divide and weaken a nation. And one fine day you will get the death blow; it will be too late then.
October 1st, 2021 at 10:38 pm
Who is the Mahamola Karu? – Allah, Koran, or Jehovah!
There is Allah and then God to be precise, Jehovah! According to the The Old Testament -believed by Jews Muslims and Christians they are both supposed to be the same. There are adherents belonging to both camps and over the years, and centuries they have killed each other with glee.
What happened in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday 2019 was another version of this enmity continuing to date. For us bystanders there is much confusion because literally it is the same God in the end who is blowing up bombs with one hand and now asking to find the Mahamola Karuwa by the other!
What really happened is really laughable. Those doctored, brought up and tutored (brain washed) in their holy book the Koran and have unwavering belief in Allah came and blew themselves up inside the churches of Jehovah where his followers were praying and remembering crucifixtion and rising from the dead of Jesus, his son ( an event that he too was witnessed two millennia ago, but did not intervene – Jesus is reportedly lamented on the cross -Why hast thous forsaken me in his death throes!) Although he is supposed to be omnipresent, omniscient and omni omni ad infinitum, this time too he only witnessed but did not intervene.
The churches were destroyed but Jehovah did not come to lift a single grain of sand to re-build the churches. They were all rebuilt and restored to better than their ‘previous glory’ by the much maligned members of the Armed Forces.
The worshippers are now back at their newly built churches and praying to the same God who did not lift a finger while being all powerful and all seeing to save them. Hundreds died and more hundreds are injured and maimed for life.
They are blaming the government and even trying to implicate the Pohottuwa Government, that the Easter Sunday Attacks favoured their coming to power. This is forgetting and believing that ordinary right thinking people will forget that their ‘love child’ the Jadapalana Government was so unpopular even as far back as March 2018, they practically lost all local government seats!
The Easter Sunday attacks barely helped the Pohottuwa to come to power. Even after the Easter Sunday attacks, the Catholics Harin Fernando ( who famously knew about the attack) Kavin Jayawardana, Hector Appuhamy, and Festus Perera’s got elected from the Catholic Belt without much effort! So much so for the Catholic vote favoring Pohottuwa!
As for bringing those responsible for the Easter Sunday Attacks to justice – it takes time for the judicial process to get ready and put in place water tight litigation charges and procedures. Let us look at a few similar or more horrific incidents from elsewhere in the world:
a) 9/11 attacks in the US: 20 Years after the attacks five are accused of war crimes in the September 11 aircraft hijackings that resulted in the deaths of 2,976 people. A new military judge has been assigned to the trial, previously expected to start in 2022 but now likely to be further delayed as lawyers for the defence prepare to attack the legal foundation of the military commission.13 Nov 2015
b) Paris Attack: Trial only beginning now – nearly 7 years later
c) 17 July 2014 – Malaysian Air Lines attack – Trial began in June this year – after 7 years
Cardinal having prevented bloodshed at the hands of his followers (this clearly shows that his followers would have killed Muslims at random) in the immediate aftermath of the attacks is now asking for his ‘pound of flesh’! His underlings are following suit to blacken the current administration.
The Muslims community is yet to appologize in a meaningful way for the Easter Sunday Attacks – for all of it happened following the readings and the teachings of their holy book the Koran!
Shame on any who thinks differently!
October 2nd, 2021 at 12:38 am
“What really happened is really laughable.”. – An extract from a comment above!.
Is this a laughing matter?. May be so for those with vicious hearts.
October 2nd, 2021 at 12:50 am
In fact, we saw a group of VVIPs laughing it out, when a certain character was carrying out a fast un to death and another who is depicted above was making a huge din in Kandy. These are very well etched in our minds.
That perhaps was the biggest drama in history when the whole country was captivated.
But one thing I agree, the religion is a tool of the west (and Arabs). They have killed thousands of natives in Canada, in the name of Catholicism but appear as angels.
But then again are we not in their pockets unlike the Chinese and perhaps Indians?.