{"id":109565,"date":"2020-12-09T18:28:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T01:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=109565"},"modified":"2020-12-09T18:28:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T01:28:15","slug":"attacks-on-cardinal-outrageous-and-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/12\/09\/attacks-on-cardinal-outrageous-and-unacceptable\/","title":{"rendered":"ATTACKS ON CARDINAL OUTRAGEOUS AND UNACCEPTABLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

As\nevident in the social media, His Eminence Archbishop Malcom Cardinal Ranjit is\ntaking heavy flak from certain quarters for urging the authorities to bring to\njustice the culprits behind the suicide bomb attacks on three churches and four\nhotels on Easter Sunday last year on the basis of the findings of the\npresidential commission, which is about to close its proceedings. It is not\nclear whether the critics are supporters or opponents of the Government or of\nthe Opposition, but they are definitely not lovers of the country\/nation. The\ncriticism of the Cardinal is no doubt politically motivated, though he himself\nis absolutely above partisan politics. He is being an ideal Shepherd not only\nfor his Flock, but also for all Sri Lankans, in both spiritual and secular\n(mundane) senses; he is performing this role most sincerely, with the greatest\ncourage, and ascetic selflessness, without expecting any personal reward. It is\nwith some reluctance and hesitation that I am broaching this subject because I\ndon\u2019t want to even remotely link his name to mundane politics. Globally, the\nCardinal is a great asset for our crisis-ridden country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nresponse to Opposition queries regarding the progress of the presidential probe\ninto the Easter Sunday (April 21, 2019) suicide bombings, the newly appointed\nMinister of Public Security, Rear Admiral (Retd) Dr Sarath Weerasekera, told\nparliament (December 5) that 257 persons (suspected of involvement) have been\nremanded and that 86 are being held under detention orders, and that he was\ngoing to meet with the Attorney General on Monday (December 7) to talk about\nexpediting legal proceedings on the basis of the commission\u2019s findings. The\ngovernment has indicated that the presidential commission will finalise its\nwork soon. The minister\u2019s statement came amidst exchanges between Opposition\nand Government benchers centering on certain misgivings previously expressed by\nHis Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjit about the imminent winding up of the\npresidential commission of inquiry and the followup process.  Asked about\nthe same subject by the media the next day (December 6), Minister Weerasekera\nsaid that he could understand the prelate\u2019s concerns, and that although the\nCardinal didn\u2019t know about it, almost 90% of what should be done through the\ngovernment has already been done by the police: 37 have been charged with\nmanslaughter and others with aiding and abetting\nterrorism.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n2019 April 21 Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks were a bolt from the blue. The\nbombers targeted three Catholic\/Christian churches situated in Colombo, Negambo\nand Batticaloa and four hotels, three of them luxury class hotels in Colombo\nand another hotel at Dehiwala, near the zoo. An eighth bomber blew himself up\nin a residential part of Dematagoda.  These near simultaneous coordinated\nattacks by Islamist terrorists left at least 277 dead including the eight\nbombers and more than 500 injured according to different but generally\ncompatible media accounts. The dead and injured men, women and children in the\nchurch attacks had been participating in Sunday mass. Among hotel attacks\ncasualties, there were 38 foreigners.  It has now been revealed that there\nhad been a plan to attack the Kandy Esala perahera as the next target, but that\nplan was not carried out. The attacks were absolutely unprovoked and pointless\nfrom the point of view of the normal civilized world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\ncourse, the eight bombers and the individuals who sponsored them wouldn\u2019t have\nlooked at the bombings that negative way. The choice of targets, including the\nKandy Esala Perahera that they were planning to attack but later spared,\nsuggests that they were aiming to destabilise Sri Lanka both internally and\nexternally. Isolating Catholic\/Christian churches and tourist hotels for the\nattack was most probably meant to create as powerful an adverse impression as\npossible among nations across the world about the country that justifies\nforeign intervention in its domestic affairs; had a few Buddhist temples been\ntargeted instead, the international impact would not have been so much. Hollow\nexpressions of solidarity trumpeted from an unexpected direction  with\nwhat looked like a gush of indecent haste, even before the reverberations of\nthe bombings had properly died down, did little to allay the public\u2019s growing suspicions\nof a foreign conspiracy behind the attacks. (Incidentally, the Cardinal\nmentioned the apparent possibility of such a conspiracy, earlier than most\nspeakers.) In fact, SLMC MP Rauff Hakeem revealed to the Presidential\nCommission of Inquiry on Easter Sunday Attacks, in camera, what he knew about\nalleged foreign involvement in the heinous crime; former president and SLFP MP\nSirisena who appeared before the same commission also said that a foreign power\nwas involved, though he did not name it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbombers and their sponsors must have been quite clear about their respective\naims. For the terror sponsors the whole operation must have been nothing but a\npolitical project for destabilizing Sri Lanka. For the eight suicide attackers,\nit was purely a pious religious mission with a direct heavenly reward and the\nadditional advantage of serving the cause they believed in by instilling fear\ninto infidels (that is, all non-Muslims including atheists, agnostics and\nothers like people of no religion), as an internet post by an ex-Muslim argued\n(an argument that the majority of ordinary Sri Lankans are sure to dismiss as\nfalse).    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testifying\nbefore the presidential commission of inquiry former Eastern province Governor\nM.L.A.M. Hizbullah said, according to the media (November 27), that he hoped to\nopen the Batticaloa University after talks with the government when the corona\nspread crisis is over. He claimed that he built it to teach the poor children\nof the Eastern province and that, when completed, it will be the biggest\nuniversity in Asia; it had been planned to be built on 100 acres of land. He\nhad received, it was reported, some 3.6 billion rupees in funds from donors in\nSaudi Arabia. No doubt, after what transpired at the presidential inquiry that\ncast doubt on the sincerity of Hizbullah et al, his nonchalance shocked and\ndismayed most of us, because it gave rise to fears among the concerned public\nthat the unlawfully established Sharia college project will go ahead, without\nrelated issues being settled beforehand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islamic\ninstruction conducted by fundamentalists even in the Islamic \u2018madrasas\u2019 in the\n95% Muslim Pakistan has been found to be problematic. About a year and a half\nago the Pakistan government under PM Imran Khan moved to take over some 30,000\nmadrasas across the country with a view to \u2018mainstreaming\u2019 them, in response to\ninternational pressure following many complaints that they radicalised the\nyoungsters. Islamic terror attacks carried out in India and Afghanistan were\nblamed on young Pakistanis who had learned in these madrasas. If that is the\nsituation in the religiously near homogeneous Pakistan (pop. 212 m), is it\nunnatural for the much smaller, multi-religious Sri Lanka (pop. hardly 22 m) to\nbe concerned about a Sharia University on its territory, that too potentially\nthe biggest one in Asia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hakeem\nfalsely complained to an Indian newspaper that Muslims faced communally\ninstitigated retaliatory violence  after the Easter attacks. He was basing\nhimself on reports of a few incidents in some unrelated places far from where\nthe bombings took place.  Muslims and other religionists and their shops\nand houses were indiscriminately targeted in these instances allegedly caused\nby paid agents provocateurs who were strangers to the area, employed by\nsupporters of the yahapalana regime of the time, as rumoured; these incidents\nare described in the Wikipedia (obviously, as fed in by an anti-Buddhist\neditor) as \u201danti-Muslim riots in retaliation to the bombings that were\norganized by the Sri Lankan Buddhist Extremist Group on Vesak Day\u2026\u201d (Actually,\nthe monks of the BBS which is meant here played a big role in the rescue\noperations after the blasts, including cleaning the bomb-destroyed church\npremises and organizing blood donations; some blood donors had to be turned\naway when enough blood had been collected. (Lay) Buddhists, let alone Buddhist\nmonks, never indulge in violence, except under extreme provocation; they are\nleast likely to do that on the day of Vesak, the holiest day in the Buddhist\ncalendar.) The outside world doesn\u2019t know that members of Buddhist rights\norganizations like the BBS that are trying to articulate the legitimate\nconcerns that Buddhists (the majority of the Sinhalese) have, some issues even\nthreatening their very survival, are almost totally denied the most vital of\nhuman rights, the freedom of expression, in the local mainstream media just as\nin the foreign media, but are subjected to constant misinformation. The general\nmedia image of these Buddhist monk activists as terrorist hooligans is not\nshared by ordinary traditional Muslims.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning\nto the main subject of this piece, it is inconceivable how the Sharia and the\nmadrasas problem could be effectively addressed without the cooperation of\nmainstream Muslims who form 9.7% of the population. But such cooperation cannot\nbe expected from the likes of Hizbullah and Hakeem. Not long before the Easter\nSunday attacks Hizbullah was reported as warning that young Muslims in the\neastern province might take up arms unless their grievances were answered (by\nthe then government). What these grievances were only he knew. But before the\ntime he was thus falsely complaining, there were internecine clashes among\nMuslims in the area, between jihadists and traditionalists, which resulted in\nmurderous violence and property destruction by the extremists. The travails of\nthe persecuted traditional Muslims did not seem to move Hizbullah to identify\nwith them or speak up on their behalf. Some of these persecuted Muslims made\nsecret contact with the monks of the BBS in Colombo to plead with them to\nintervene by persuading the political and civil authorities to give them\nrelief, and these poor Muslim victims even provided the monks with documentary\nevidence of what they were undergoing in the east at the hands of extremists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe aftermath of the Easter attacks, the victim Catholics were wisely and ably\nrestrained by the Cardinal from thoughts of committing any retaliatory violence\nagainst ordinary Muslims. He rose to the occasion, as a beacon hope, a symbol\nof compassion, forgiveness, and forbearance, and a great provider of emotional\ncomfort for all Sri Lankans at that moment of universal sorrow and shock. This\ngesture resonated well with the characteristic patience and resilience of the\ngenerally Buddhist culture-influenced Sri Lankan populace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apropos\ncriticisms of the Cardinal over remarks he made about the progress of the\nEaster Sunday attacks probe, this is not the first time that the prelate has\narticulated such sentiments regarding the performance of politicians whether\nthey happen to be in the government or in the  opposition, without himself\nplaying politics. He always expresses his opinions candidly, without any malice\nor bias towards anyone. He says that though the church has forgiven the\nattackers, their sponsors must still be brought to justice, as the BBC once\nreported. At an audience he gave to SJB MP Kavinda Jayawardane of the\nOpposition who called on him on December 3, Cardinal Ranjit expressed his\nsincere hope and adamant demand that the findings of the presidential inquiry\nbe not swept under the carpet under any circumstances or be subjected to any\nkind of political horse trading; he also wanted the real movers and shakers\nbehind the Easter bombing savagery be firmly dealt with according to the law.\nTo emphasize his point he added that if the present government fails to mete\nout justice to the victims by punishing those responsible, then the job will\nhave to be given another group of people who can do it. This was clearly a bit\nof exaggeration meant to stress his point. The Cardinal\u2019s comments implied,\nhowever, that he has not lost his trust  in the assurances already given\nby the president that justice will be done under his watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People\nwho believed that the Cardinal is universally admired, as he should be, for all\nthat he is doing for the country and for the ideals that he is bravely standing\nup for, they were in for a rude shock. Hizbullah\u2019s oddly defiant, affected cool\nthat smacked of calculated dissembling (at the presidential commission) went\nalmost unnoticed and hardly commented on, whereas the sincere, well meant\nremarks made by the Cardinal about the apparent tardiness of the progress of\nthe presidential inquiry caused a flurry of adverse reactions in the media.\nFunnily enough, he has been described as guilty of \u2018hate speech\u2019 for saying\nwhat he said! he\u2019s also been accused of advocating the overthrow the government\nby talking about handing over the business of punishing the persons involved in\norganizing the terror attacks to another party even though he is only the\nleader of a religious minority as alleged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nfind such attacks on the Cardinal simply outrageous, indecent, and\nunacceptable. We know Sri Lanka has a history of appointing commissions of\ninquiry as a strategy to consign vital problems to oblivion. It is not wrong to\ninvoke that reality at the present time when we have enough reason to believe\nthat there\u2019s going to be a change in that unhallowed tradition, particularly,\nunder our new president. The Cardinal has been for years stressing the need to\npreserve the benignly dominant Buddhist cultural identity and heritage of Sri\nLanka and striving to unite people following different religions as children of\nMother Lanka into a peaceful, harmonious and virtuous society. He is often seen\nparticipating in Buddhist events as an honoured guest. It is not difficult to\nunderstand that his unconventional behaviour does not go down well with at\nleast some conservative Catholics. Perhaps, his severest critics are Catholics\nwho are upset at what they probably dislike as his too accommodating attitude\ntowards Buddhism and Buddhist monks. Buddhists have no reason to attack him\nwhen he is seen to be giving just a timely fillip to boost the confidence of\nthe authorities who are set to move in the right direction under arguably the\nleast realpolitik-driven executive we have got since independence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwould like to wind up with this tentative proposal, respectfully offered, for\nthe attention of HE the President: What about inviting representatives of the\nclergy of the three minority religions – they should be of the same stature as\nthe Nayake monks within their respective hierarchies – to be participating\nguest members of the Buddhist Advisory Council that the president consults\nevery month?  The possible advantages of such a move are\nself-evident. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala As evident in the social media, His Eminence Archbishop Malcom Cardinal Ranjit is taking heavy flak from certain quarters for urging the authorities to bring to justice the culprits behind the suicide bomb attacks on three churches and four hotels on Easter Sunday last year on the basis of the findings […]<\/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-109565","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\/109565","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=109565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}