Dilrook Kannangara

Major problems, ailments and disasters brew slowly. There are unmissable signs of impending danger that are often disregarded for convenience. At other times humans simply do not want to hear them as they have enough on their plate. They wish the problems will go away or find an easy scapegoat. These are the very reasons why problems grow larger and more dangerous, to the extent they cannot be fixed.

The conditions that led to 4/21 terrorist attacks have not changed. It is impossible to prevent every such attack as that would require a mammoth size and omnipresent military which no nation has. Extremism has to be contained and reversed. Nothing has been done to do so in the island. For good reasons. Extremists both local and foreign don’t allow it. They threaten violence and economic trouble. The others of the same faith want it pushed under the carpet as their moderate stance will be exposed within their community which threatens them. When the dust settles, the victims are blamed for the crime! Interestingly it is also part of the extremist plan.

Peaceful means of diffusing extremism, keeping those elements under constant check and reversal of religious extremism are essential steps in overcoming this problem that is very real. If it is allowed to grow, the nation is headed to another long war or worse.