Anjalika Silva Sri Lankan American Community member
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/after-easter-sunday-attacks-muslims-face-boycotts-and-violence-in-sri-lanka/2019/07/06/3e4a405a-91f6-11e9-956a-88c291ab5c38_story.html?utm_term=.8745a1f0c4f4
The above article that
appeared in the Washington Post on Monday July 8, 2019 singles out the
occurrence of reaction by the citizens of Sri Lanka against the recent
extremist Islamic violence portrayed as Muslims being under siege with
insinuations of unfair treatment of Muslims as a rule. The recent coordinated attacks in Sri Lanka
in 6 places within minutes of each other killing close to 300 men women and
children in churches and luxury hotels in one clean sweep of coordinated
attacks is not something to keep a country complacent. In addition, over 500 are injured with life altering
injuries. This kind of carnage is not anything new in the vision of the world that
has witnessed Islamic extremism fast spreading to obliterate the traditional
practices of Islam throughout the world.
Why is Sri Lanka
isolated from other countries that are facing similar issues? Why is Sri Lanka singled out for trying to
protect its people and all traditional religions? Why are only the Buddhists blamed for
reacting when the Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and moderate Muslims face the
same danger of extremist brutality? It
is not a perfect world to not have some reaction to such high numbers of
casualties. To direct the reaction as
faith-based attacks implying that it came from a Buddhist Nationalist group is a
deliberate attempt at the confirmed Buddhist bashing that has become a theme of
the international media.
How does one assume
that any of the attackers to be solely Buddhists? The Easter attacks were directed at the
Catholic churches. Why are Buddhists
blamed without proof? The entire country is angry, grieving and living in
fear. It is not only Muslims but all
those who don’t conform to the radical Islam of the Saudi supported Wahabi form
that is rammed down people are in danger.
These questions
must be answered by the Washington Post reporter who has not understood the
root of the problem or fails to do so blatantly ignoring the recent violence
against one of their own – Jamal Khashoggi a Saudi dissident. It is the
possibility of the same violence that Sri Lankans fear because of the push to
annihilate all religions with only two choices.
One, to convert to extreme Islam and live, or refuse and die by
beheading or any other means. This is the Saudi sponsored Wahabism that is
causing a problem to moderate Muslims also in Sri Lanka. If they are concerned for their safety, how
much more should non-muslims fear for their lives? This applies to all people in the cross wires
of a fanatical drive to push their flavor of Islam throughout the globe.
The article is more
sympathetic to the material loss of business and buildings over the loss of
life deliberately destroyed. Regardless
of the faith, this is completely wrong and yet it continues globally with
countries more powerful than Sri Lanka bracing for attacks.
If there is a fall
out from this event against all muslims, it is to be expected because the
moderate muslims are as much victims of this tragedy. They
cannot denounce the extremists to suffer threats to their lives to a far
greater extent than illustrated in the article that pinpoints to the majority
race the Sinhalese among whom are majority Buddhists, viewed and assumed as a
threat. Recognizing the right or real threat is the bottom line here. It is
convenient to ignore the root cause – the jihadist attacks and skip to those
who react.
The Washington Post
needs to be balanced in reporting sporadic incidents of the fate of material
business and understand fully the implications of the fate that awaits the
people of Sri Lanka with the risk to their life if nothing is done about it. Patience of the people is fast running out.
The current
situation is that all citizens of the country across religious lines are coming
together because they realize the gravity of the situation. The lead to the group and one of the most
vocal proponents of the need for action is Cardinal Malcom Ranjit the head of
the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka who has fearlessly come forward to join the
Buddhist clergy with the common goal of saving all traditional believers from
the plans for widespread Jihad. Further plans for destruction have been
revealed following the swift action and investigations by the security forces
in the country.
Historically Sri
Lanka that survived invasions by the Portuguese, Dutch and British have saved
the country with extreme sacrifice and action of the patriots that include the Buddhist
clergy who have their own way of expressing their patriotism through which they
have protected all religious and ethnic groups in the history of the
country. That is a given and no reporter
in the international media understands their role. In the 30-year war too, there was mass
slaughter of Buddhist monks by terrorists, slaughter of Muslims in prayer in
the very area that was home to the leader of the recent extremist bombing.
Thousands of dead from suicide bombs never had their day because terrorists are
non-state players who walk free with no accountability for human rights.
This is not only
applicable to Sri Lanka. The US also will
do well to focus their attention to take note of how operations were carried out
in places of religious worship, under cover with the abuse of religious freedom
afforded to all groups in Sri Lanka. No
one wants the brutal bloodshed and beheadings, suicide bombings to destroy one
of the most beautiful, peaceful spiritual nations in the world that has seen
Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and moderate Muslims living peacefully without
the radicalization that is going on today and brutal consequences in the name
of religion. Nor do they wish to have
the laws of the country substituted by Sharia Law that doesn’t offer justice to
its people.
Before the
Easter Sunday attacks, vandalism at Buddhist Temples
Leading up to the
bombing of the churches on Easter Sunday, over twenty Buddhist temples were
vandalized and the individual leading those attacks was also the leader of the
pack of suicide bombers who were known but never apprehended until they caused
all the damage. Valuable Buddhist statues at temples were mutilated and this
was also an organized attack as a prelude to bigger and more violent attacks on
living worshippers. These actions
received very little media attention and the government took extra precautions
to protect a backlash against Muslims by keeping it away from national news.
Is the
Washington Post ignoring the global trend of Islamic extremism that has hit Sri
Lanka?
The article refers
to boycott of Muslim businesses and sporadic attacks by angry mobs with an
element of sympathy using anecdotal incidents. The reporter may not have
encountered or interviewed customers who decided to boycott some
businesses. There are those who
experienced the crudest treatment from eating houses that they decided to
boycott. Some non-Muslims have reported firsthand
that their food was contaminated with human excreta and as word got around,
those eating places were boycotted for obvious reasons. It takes only one for reaction to all. The actions of hate found their way to food
outlets too. Can one blame the
boycotts? Isn’t it obvious? These are anecdotal reports from individuals
who experienced firsthand.
Stocks of
Buddhist robes, white garments and military like uniforms, weapons, explosives
found buried in mosques
The reference in
some media reports to mob attacks attributed to Buddhist monks has a strange
connotation. The discovery of huge
quantities of Buddhist robes worn by monks buried in mosque premises deserves
to be queried. Most of the attackers
could not be identified by the chief incumbents of Buddhist temples because
they were imposters. Another deliberate
move to discredit Buddhism.
There is an obvious
explanation for the discovery of a large quantity of white clothing found
buried in mosques and other places to be used for disguise in mingling with
Buddhist devotees for a planned attack at temples. White attire is worn by Buddhists as simple
garb when they attend Buddhist festivals.
It was recently
revealed that there were plans to destroy the most sacred Buddhist shrine, the
Temple of the Tooth in the country that enshrines the relics of the
Buddha. Sri Lanka is a spiritually rich
country with prayers in every faith and it will be protected from these
fanatics to a greater extent than one can believe.
There is also a
strange find of military like uniforms buried in the premises supposed to be
for religious worship. According to the
Indian Intelligence reports, there is a warning of an impending attack on India
and Sri Lanka by Jihadists wearing military like attire. This is yet to be proven, but if it does
happen, the Washington Post better be alert that the Indian authorities are
just as concerned. The discovery of mass
scale catches of weapons and explosives obviously gives credibility to their
findings.
It is not accurate
that a reputable newspaper in the capital of the world in Washington DC to
present a one-sided picture of the situation in Sri Lanka and imply that
terrorists who are Islamic extremists who catalyzed the situation should not be
a reason for the victims to react. This should be challenged by moderate Muslims
too. Claiming faith-based attacks
accusing a Buddhist Nationalist Group is preposterous when up to and until this
event on April 21, all religions in Sri Lanka had the freedom to practice their
faith and there was no forced murderous killing of individuals while in
prayer. The Buddhist Nationalists are
coming together through patriotism and they have no affiliation to any armed
group outside Sri Lanka and it is an exaggeration to paint a picture that they
will take to arms. They have no such
capability.
All Muslims are only
9.3% of the population and they came to Sri Lanka as traders in 8 A.D., when
Buddhism has existed in Sri Lanka since 250 BC.
With 70% of the Sinhalese people who make up about 72% of the population
of 21.6 Million being followers of Buddhism, the rest of the Sinhalese majority
are followers of Christianity. The situation on the ground is one that has
brought together all segments of the population that feel threatened by
extremism.
This article
written without due consideration for the big picture is a pitiful illustration
of a very dangerous situation. Some of the suicide bombers were well educated
in western countries and from affluent families enjoying power in professions
and business circles in addition to political roles. It is the scenario we see in countries like
France, UK and other places that have provided refuge to radicals who now
disturb their peace by making demands that are beyond reasonable.
According to
experts, this is clearly a push for new grounds for their caliphate with the
footing lost due to US bombings and the displacement of ISIS that is the
influence behind the forceful conversion of an entire nation that has only two
choices, death or forced conversion to a radical form.
This is not how Sri
Lanka and Sri Lankans want to live. When
they protect their country, the interpretation of international media has taken
on a role of Buddhist bashing and it must be reminded that the Sinhalese
Buddhists are fearless about guarding Sri Lanka as a world minority of only 17
million in the entire world, while
accommodation all other ethnic and religious groups in their midst to exist
peacefully. In Sri Lanka, every
religious holiday for Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim followers are
mandated government paid holidays. Taking
aim at the majority as spreading faith-based attacks as the norm is baseless
and inaccurate. It is more accurate to
indicate that there are undercurrents to eliminate all non-muslims from the
entire country with no regard for human life. The Government of Sri Lanka has
taken measures to protect Muslims over and above the majority to prevent a
backlash. There is every possibility that this situation can be taken advantage
of if it is not monitored diligently.
Recently a Buddhist
monk and a Hindu priest went on a hunger strike because of this issue demanding
the removal of ultra-powerful Muslim cabinet members who were loyal to the perpetrators
of this carnage. See the confession of a Jihadist who mentions them by
name. (The names have been removed for
the personal safety of this writer)
With the emergence
of extremism, the hardliners who were radicalized became a force that was
recognized and feared mostly by the moderate Muslims in the country. They made representations to the government about
the activities that were going on under cover because the danger to them was as
bad as to other religions. It is not a
wonder that with the severity of the recent attacks, people of all religions
and ethnicities including the moderate Muslims live in fear?
This is also a
common issue considering the occurrences in bigger and more powerful nations
faced with the push from extreme Islam followers trying to rule in their host
countries with no go” zones and a push for Sharia Law.
The extract from a
Jihadist’s confession below will be an eye opener. Ironically his appeal was sent to the very
Buddhist Nationalist Group referred to in this article. This letter was his ultimate salvation from
the brainwashing that he underwent for nine years to turn him from being human
to a barbarian trained to kill even his own people perceived as a threat to the
religion with no basis for verification.
All in the name of man-made religious beliefs. This confession is a translation from
reputable sources.
How a
brainwashed Jihadist confessed plans in detail to the Buddhist Nationalist
Group mentioned above
The letter from a Jihadist
going back to 2014 that was revealed in the light of recent attacks.
This is a translation of a
letter received by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) organization (the Buddhist
Nationalist Group referred to in the article) in Sri Lanka that was a much-maligned by the government
as an organization for pointing out the secret activities of the radicals in
the country as confirmed by this Jihadist.
The Buddhist monk heading the organization was sent to jail for several
years. He was released after April 21
attacks came to fruition proving his findings to be true facts.
The BBS spokesperson who revealed this is a Buddhist
monk, in a video statement online. He has declared that this is not being
revealed to cause any harm, anger to resentment toward any segment of the
community to hurt their feelings or cause fear. This is revealed for the
seriousness of the contents as revealed by the writer, a young radicalized Jihadist
who wants it to be known.
The original letter was written in Tamil and an
authentic translation was made with the help of a reporter of a leading Tamil
newspaper the Virakesari. The handwritten Tamil letter translated into Sinhala
is in the hands of the BBS organization.
The English translation of the confession of the
Jihadist from the letter is as follows: (The words here are the words of the
brainwashed Jihadist)
I ask
you to read this letter from top to bottom more than once recommends the writer
and he adds that every word in this letter is true.
He
says think about the contents. I confirm
that every fact is true. (Words from the Jihadist that prefaced the actual
confession)
I was born and raised in the Muslim environment and knew only about
Allah” and as I grew up all I heard in
my life was about the harm done to Muslims by other believers and
religions. My village had small mosques
and in a close by town there was a larger mosque. Some of the folks in my village had
connections with the larger mosque. When
I was about 15 years old, I got a chance to attend the larger mosque with some
folks who had connections to the larger mosque and I too got a chance. Those who attended this mosque had
revolutionary ideas. Their talk centered
around how to deal with the other believers outside Islam. After a while I too
accepted their ideas and believed that to protect our belief, we must destroy
others to save our religion. The main
aim of discussion was the elimination of all other believers. In order to do so we were prepared to commit
genocidal attacks on all others except muslims. We were ready to eliminate
everyone except muslims and create an Islamic state.
We received special talks too.
One day we had a visitor, from a foreign land at our mosque. A discussion ensued. He preached that we must be ready make the
whole world Muslim and that we must be ready to do anything to achieve that and
concentrate on Sri Lanka. This is what he said and invited us to join a special
organization. We were impressed with the idea and agreed immediately. We didn’t know the name, or the organization
didn’t have a name. We were not sure
whether it was Jihad but later found out it was not Jihad and that it was the
mother organization. Many people didn’t know for sure the real organization
structure or name. We were told that the
name need not be known, and that Jihad was just a cover to mislead those who
were seeking to find out about us.
We didn’t care if it didn’t have a name. They avoided naming the organization getting
known. I got to know this after 7 years
with the organization. Jihad name was to
mislead because Jihad the known name was being watched while they operated with
a bigger mother organization that had spread throughout the world. Most people didn’t know this. I was proud to
be in this organization. Due to my contribution, after 9 years I was able to
get a big position and at that time I was 26 years old. I was empowered to kill anyone to spread
Islam and establish a Muslim country in Sri Lanka. To establish Islamic state,
I was ready to kill anyone, and we were trained well without being visible to
the outside world.
I learned to read and write the Sinhala language (language of
the majority ethnic group and majority of the Sinhalese people are Buddhist)
and I looked like a Sinhalese in my appearance.
At this point the organization gave me something special. That is, identification papers changing me to
a Sinhalese with a new name and all the necessary papers to disguise myself as
a Sinhalese. I was given a special assignment to go to the Sinhala community
and learn as much as possible about them and I was able to travel to any part
of the country.
At this point I was also informed that every office or
establishment throughout the country had people who were prepared like I was,
and they were established in such places for many years. Some of these folks were in this role for
around 30 to 40 years and some were Sinhala people, but they were converted to
become like us. I was given a code word
to identify similarly trained people. I
am going to reveal that code in this letter.
When it becomes known the organization members will be disturbed. That is what I want to make known. The code word was madei” which when softly
spoken they reply to confirm they are in the movement. This is the code word worldwide. These people continue to operate in every
sphere even today.
This way they infiltrated all the areas of work in the
country. Every government department,
military, air force, airports, banks, police, and all other places they have
infiltrated and are not known or visible from the outside.
Ports and airports were
the most important and we have got things done the way we want. Due to political instability we had
advantages. We also dealt with those who
didn’t agree to what we wanted done.
These people who worked in ports were taken to the middle of the sea and
murdered for not agreeing to carry out what we wanted done. Then we spread the
word that they went overseas. Among us
are Government politicians that include two (Muslim Ministers – Name 1 withheld,
Name 2 withheld but widely known in local media). These ministers in the
government are our biggest members.
About 3 years ago they gave me a special assignment. They made use of my appearance that looked
like a Sinhalese. Sent me to a Buddhist
organization and made a member. I was
asked to learn all the inside working of the Buddhist organization with my
Buddhist Sinhala identification documents.
I was not given details, but I realized that what I was expected to do
was a very serious act of genocide and mass destruction. I was also brain washed with the desire to carry
out such acts. They asked me to study
the festivals and when and where their festivals were to be held and where
people were to gather. I was able to get a good insight into their activities
and passed the information on. I was
told to stay in the same place, and I was ready for the next step as they said
the next step will take place there.
I was with the Sinhala people for 3 years in this
environment. This is when things started
to change. My attitude started to change, and I realized that the Sinhala
people were more civilized than I had believed.
By then my commitment in the Islamic organization had gone far beyond a
point when I could turn around. If I had
changed at this point, I would have been killed by the Islamic
organization. So, I stayed quiet and
time passed. My organization did not
notice a change in me.
Then two weeks or so before writing this letter, I was given the
second stage of their plan. This plan
was to be in Anuradhapura (An ancient historic capital of Buddhist heritage)
where a big Buddhist festival offering of Jasmine flowers was to take place on
June 5th. There were plans in place to
cause a disturbance there. I was not
able to let this happen. Therefore, I
exposed this plan. To prevent this is for you to take over.
At a time, next month there was a plan to take over this
country. But due to incidents at
Aluthgama, (a place where there was unrest between Muslims and villagers) these
plans were postponed as I have learned.
As I told you we have our people in all institutions in this
country and worldwide in every country.
With the help of our people there is a plan to disrupt all communication
channels and mess things up. Then a group was to come from overseas and bring the
weapons and people, for us to take over this country by morning. All this is the absolute truth. In order to achieve this, we have hidden
weapons in the country in preparation.
In every mosque we have 300 swords and in some there are weapons with
ammunition too.”
End of the contents made public, but it is assumed there is
more.
History of 30
years of terrorism, winning peace in 2009 and the start of a new era of
terrorism
When security
personnel carried out their investigations following the suicide bombings at
Easter, they did connect remnants of terror suspects from the previous conflict
who have lent their services and provided remaining weapons to this group. Terrorism is a mindset regardless of a
cause. The outcome of destruction is
inhumane. Another definite contributing
factor is that after 2009 and the peace that followed, security guidelines were
dictated to by demands from UN and the US with pressure from certain sectors without
regard for the ramifications to national security. Following the attacks in April, some of the
very segments of the country that wanted the military checkpoints removed were
begging to have them reinstated.
Future for Sri
Lanka is bleak and uncertain for reasons that are known globally
According to experts,
this is clearly a push for new grounds for their caliphate with the footing
lost due to US bombings and the displacement of ISIS that is the influence
behind the forceful conversion of an entire nation that has only two choices,
death or forced conversion to a radical form. This is not how Sri Lanka and Sri
Lankans want to live.
Sri Lanka’s tolerance has been completely misconstrued. It must also be
pointed out that many skilled men and women from poor families seek employment
in the middle eastern nations. It is
interesting to make a study of the level of tolerance of other religions in
that region to the extent of not allowing any religious books or statues beyond
the airports in Muslim countries.
However, the liberal freedom in Sri Lanka has clearly been abused and
now being pushed to be overrun by radicalism
As stated in the
article referring to Hardline Buddhist Nationalist groups that emerged, they
took a hard line because the tolerance and compassion, with patience as practiced
in the Buddhist faith did not work as the revolution of hard line extremist
Islam started to take over the country and the push to eliminate all religions
began to be felt by all people.
The Western Media
continues to subscribe to Buddhist bashing with stilted information when
Buddhism is one of the most compassionate doctrines used even in the
rehabilitation of prisoners in the United States. It is not as fast growing as Islam because
the depth of the philosophy requires intellectual understanding and commitment
to self-discipline which is a much-needed human quality today.
It is unfortunate
that all of this stems from the distortion of Islam to a man-made version of a
brutal form that is more suited for those with sadistic instincts. Moderate Muslims are caught in the middle
with no freedom of expression in their own communities.
I suggest the
reporter Joanna Slater of the Washington Post makes contact with people on the
ground in Sri Lanka on both sides of the issue and takes the opportunity for a
discussion with the Sri Lankan American Community that lives in Washington to
ask pertinent questions and elicit answers about the truth.
The Sri Lankan
community will welcome your personal interaction for more accurate information
that reflects the ground situation.
There is an Embassy for the country in Washington DC, that will welcome
your participation to do so. This is an
open call to all journalists who wish to be balanced in their material
regarding Sri Lanka. The sources welcome you to do so. Sri Lanka must be reported accurately because
throughout 30 years of war and even after peace, the international media has
never been fair about the positive aspects of the country. This can only be turned around by journalists
who balance their information without bias from the right sources.
Anjalika Silva
Sri Lankan American
Community member
Maryland
Sent to
Joanna.slater.@washingtonpost.com
![Cars and trains may not always be reliable for getting around the Sri Lankan capital quickly, but they do afford physical protection [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/7/12/3cbf10322a2f444298baa0554e540912_18.jpg)
