{"id":102283,"date":"2020-05-13T15:46:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T22:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=102283"},"modified":"2020-05-13T15:46:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T22:46:41","slug":"making-a-mountain-out-of-a-molehill-to-hide-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/05\/13\/making-a-mountain-out-of-a-molehill-to-hide-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a mountain out of a molehill to hide behind?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Island on Monday 11, 2020 reported: \u2018Samagi Jana Balawegaya\nleader Sajith Premadasa, yesterday, called for an end to the discriminatory and\nprejudicial manner in which the government conducted the last rites of Muslims\nwho had died of Covid-19, and continued racist attacks on Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Racist attacks perpetrated against our Muslim brethren is\nabhorrent and should be confronted by all of us. Such heinous acts are contrary\nto the noble teachings of the Lord Buddha”\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 According to another news report in the same newspaper, All\nCeylon Makkal Congress leader Rishad Bathiudeen in a long petition to the\npresident appeals to him \u2018to permit Muslims dying of Covid-19 to be buried and\nnot cremated\u2026\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We saner ordinary Sri Lankans feel that both the defeated\npresidential candidate and the  controversial Muslim politico who has been\nunder a cloud for some time now accused of causing environmental damage to the\nWilpattu forest reserve, and considered worthy of being questioned   in\nthe course of fresh investigations being conducted into last year\u2019s April 21\nterror bombings, are making a mountain out of a molehill to gain some political\nadvantage out of the Covid-19 emergency. Their desperate pretensions need not\nworry anyone and need not be answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was regrettable that even the sedate Bimal Ratnayake of the\nJVP, former MP, lamented  alleged discrimination against Muslims, who, he\nsaid, should be allowed to have an honourable burial if they are not let live\nhonourably (as reported in lankacnews a couple of days ago). I never believed\nthe formerly decent Bimal Ratnayake could utter falsehoods, but now I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNP parliamentary candidate Oshala Herath has filed a fundamental\nrights petition (May 11, lankacnews) before the Supreme Court challenging the\npractice of cremating bodies of Muslims who died of Covid-19 infection. Whether\nthe judiciary will intervene to countermand a vital scientific recommendation\nof the health authorities of the government appointed task force to maintain\nand control the spread of the deadly Covid-19 contagion  is yet to be\nseen, as my common sense tells me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, opinion in the Muslim world about cremating bodies of\ndead Muslim Covid-19 victims is divided. Most sensible Muslims accept cremation\nas a scientific imperative which should be accommodated with necessary\nadjustments if possible to make it compatible with their religious beliefs in\nthe prevailing situation.  A report by Agaddir Ali carried in Gulfnews.com\non April 3, 2020  under the headline: \u2018Coronavirus: Sharjah Ruler issues\ndirective on burials\u2019 ran: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2018His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Supreme\nCouncil Member and Ruler of Sharjah, on Friday directed the Department of\nIslamic Affairs in Sharjah not to allow the burial of any coronavirus victims\nin Al Saja’a area of Sharjah\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Doesn\u2019t \u2018not to allow the burial of\u2019 in this context mean\n\u2018allow the cremation of\u2019?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month ago (April 12), Colombo Times carried this piece of news:\n\u2018President of the All-Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama Sheikh Rizwie Mufthi said here\nin a TV interview that the ashes of the dead person who is cremated could be\nburied with due Islamic rites in a Muslim graveyard\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation\n(OIC) has issued a statement (as reported in The Island of May 9, 2020 and in\nother print and online sources) expressing its \u2018deep concern over reports on\nescalating hate speech and hostility towards Muslims in Sri Lanka and rejected\nthe publication of allegations \u2026.(against)… the members of the Muslim\ncommunity\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 as responsible for the spread of the new coronavirus epidemic\n(COVID-19) in this country, the authorities\u2019 cremation of bodies of the Muslim\nvictims of the pandemic, and the arrest of members of the community who reject\nthese practices\u2019. The OIC \u2018reaffirms its position rejecting all policies and\npractices targeting the rights of Muslims anywhere, and calls on the\nauthorities in Sri Lanka to ensure the safety and security and rights of the\nMuslim community, a commitment to respect their practices and religious\nrituals, safeguard their dignity and stand firmly against all parties behind\nthe promotion of hatred, Islamophobia, and anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri\nLanka\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While thus articulating its cautious expression of concern, the\nOIC stresses the importance of synergetic global cooperation among nations in\nthe face of the COVID-19 pandemic. My description of the OIC\u2019s \u2018expression of\nconcern\u2019 as cautious is because it diplomatically expresses concern only over\n\u2018reports\u2019, rather than perceived or actual instances, of discrimination against\nthe Muslim citizens of Sri Lanka. We Sri Lankans know that these allegations\nare fanciful fabrications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The objective way The Island reported on the issuing of the OIC\nstatement was not followed elsewhere. The tamilguardian and the Daily FT\nwebsites ran the headline: \u2018OIC deeply concerned over the targeting of\nMuslims\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2019, and Colombo Times similarly cried out \u2018OIC rejects targeting\nMuslims in Sri Lanka\u2026\u2019., where mere allegation was reified as reality, perhaps\nin the interest of journalistic sensationalism.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relevant Sri Lankan government authorities will respond to the\nOIC statement in an appropriate manner if they consider it important to do so.\nI as an ordinary Sri Lankan think that the document is based on misinformation\nprovided by some source\/s in Colombo that is sympathetic to one or more of a\nnumber of fundamentalist Islamic groups that are said to be active outside the\nmainstream Muslim community in Sri Lanka. Muslims form some 9.7% of the\ncountry\u2019s multiethnic, multi-religious population.  Although it has been\nissued from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where the OIC is headquartered, it refers to\nSri Lanka as \u2018this country\u2019, which suggests that it originated in Colombo. So,\nthe voice is likely to be that of the fundamentalist sympathisers in Sri Lanka.\nIt does not reflect the opinion of the peace-loving mainstream Muslim\ncommunity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those reports about hate speech and general hostility towards\nMuslims in Sri Lanka that the OIC communique mentions are baseless.  Sri\nLanka is a democracy. People have a right to criticise persons, groups, and\ninstitutions freely, but without infringing their rights in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criticising persons, institutions, or ideologies that deserve such\ncriticism cannot be should not be identified as hate speech. That some young\nMuslim men vandalised  a number of Buddha statues in Mavanella, and that\nthey had some relationship with a fundamentalist terrorist group that had a\nsecret arms dump at a place called Wanathavilluwa are facts. That the April 21\nterror attacks om some churches and hotels last year were carried out by young\nMuslim suicide bombers is also a fact. However, ordinary Muslims were not\nattacked in retaliation by Sri Lankans of other faiths including the victim\nCatholic community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, it was not the rights of the Muslims that were being\nviolated in this connection during the six months prior to the election of the\ncurrent president followed by the change of government. Before November there\nwas general dissatisfaction in the country with the lackadaisical way\ninvestigations were being conducted into these heinous crimes, barely a month\nahead of the tenth anniversary of wiping out Tamil separatist terrorism. Some\ntangible progress has been made since, with breakthrough discoveries of secret\nhideouts, training centres, and arms caches of terrorist suspects, and some\nsignificant arrests by the CID, which seems to be working with fresh\ninitiative. Media are being apprised of the progress of the investigations with\nutmost care and necessary restraint so as not to unnecessarily expose the\nnormal innocent Muslim community (amongst whom the terrorists were taking\nrefuge incognito) to the threat of indiscriminate suspicion and social\nexclusion. Some powerful Muslim politicos who were flourishing in previous\nadministrations thanks to their conscienceless ability to switch allegiance to\nthe winning party or alliance with each change of government are being\nsuspected of having had undisclosed relationships with the terror\nsuspects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As reported in the media, latest  revelations made in the\ncourse of investigations seem to confirm those suspicions. Naturally, other\npeople tend to look askance at them when these individuals appear to be too\nworried about performance of funeral rites that tend to violate the health\nguidelines laid down for the safe disposal of bodies of victims of the deadly,\nhighly contagious Covid-19 disease, which is still killing hundreds of\nthousands around the world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala The Island on Monday 11, 2020 reported: \u2018Samagi Jana Balawegaya leader Sajith Premadasa, yesterday, called for an end to the discriminatory and prejudicial manner in which the government conducted the last rites of Muslims who had died of Covid-19, and continued racist attacks on Muslims. “Racist attacks perpetrated against our Muslim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}