{"id":113773,"date":"2021-04-25T23:20:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T05:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113773"},"modified":"2021-04-25T15:56:16","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T22:56:16","slug":"islamic-peacemakers-and-queasy-monk-invitees-a-retrospective-look-at-the-national-conference-on-peace-harmony-and-coexistence-from-a-citizens-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/25\/islamic-peacemakers-and-queasy-monk-invitees-a-retrospective-look-at-the-national-conference-on-peace-harmony-and-coexistence-from-a-citizens-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamic peacemakers and queasy monk invitees: A retrospective look at the \u2018National Conference on Peace, Harmony and Coexistence\u2019 from a citizen\u2019s perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

 ………Please\nunderstand the global movement that becomes a cat\u2019s paw of other individuals\nand groups who have nothing to do with your deep faith and your sincere desire\nto live your religion to the fullest to reach their selfish goals. Be brave\nenough to reject extremism. Rise up against schools and organizations that\nbrainwash (the faithful) to kill people in the name of religion. \u2026.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith to My dear Muslim brothers and\nsisters\u201dof Sri Lanka<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    No ethnic or religious strife to be quenched in Sri Lanka<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sri\nLanka has never had an ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese majority and the\nTamil minority. It\u2019s only a separatist problem that had its origins in the last\ndecades of the divisive British colonial rule that came to its demise in 1948;\nbut its powerful ghost is still haunting Sri Lanka in the form of Western\nneocolonialist interventionism. Tamil separatism gradually escalated into a\nfully fledged military confrontation\/a civil war of over twenty-five years\nduration (1983-2009). While the government security forces clashed with armed\nrebels, mostly in the jungle and while separatists mounted terror attacks on\ncivilian targets in towns, the ordinary Sinhalese and Tamils lived in\naccustomed peace and amity, equally tortured by the extremists\u2019 terrorist\nviolence.  Mainstream Muslims (mostly following the Sufi tradition) who\nform the second largest ethnic minority in the country, largely Tamil speakers\nthemselves (Tamil-Sinhala bilingualism is more common among them than among the\nother two communities), used to get on well with both Sinhalese and Tamils\nuntil, with the recent advent of Wahhabism\/Salafism related Islamist\nisolationism, a sort of religious separatism came into the picture. (If there\nis any subterranean Muslim vs non-muslim religious division in Sri Lanka, the\ntotal responsibility for that lies with the handful of Islamist extremists who\nhave taken cover behind certain powerful opportunistic communal Muslim\npoliticians as strongly suggested by information gathered by the police  \nand army intelligence agencies since the 2019 Easter blasts and evidence\nrevealed in the course of investigations by the PCoI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Apparent travesty of justice in some PCoI recommendations<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Though\nthese politicians are mentioned in the PCoI Final Report with relevant\nallegations of having been accountable for behaviours which were contributory\ntowards the provocation of the Easter bombings, apparently no punitive action\nis recommended against them. Two outstanding cases are All Ceylon Makkal Congress\nleader Rishad Badiuddeen and Ceylon Tawheed Jamath leader Razik Abdul.  In\nstark contrast, there is a special severeness in the recommended treatment of\nVen. Galaboda-Aththe Gnanasara Thera in the same context whose name appears at\nthe end of the list: The organization that he heads should be banned on the\nbasis of the allegation that its activities undermine religious harmony. His\nspeeches and and actions are alleged to have partly contributed to the\nradicalisation of Muslim youth. The AG is to consider instituting criminal\naction against him under the ICCPR Act for his speeches made at Aluthgama in\nJune 1914 and on Feb. 17, 2013 at Maharagama, which will mean that he will be\ncharged with an unbalable offence leading to a heavy sentence. A strange case\nof criminal suspects with plausible evidence against them going free, while the\ncomplainant is sent to jail. There must be some power or force behind such a\njudicial aberration. This reminded me of (then MP, now Minister) Udaya\nGammanpila\u2019s emotional speech in parliament on May 9, 2019 on the subject of a\nbrazen attempt at direct  interference in our judiciary by a foreign power\ngeared to reinforce the \u2018successes\u2019 achieved through the regime change that\nthey engineered in January 2015, which, according to him were: pushing through\nthe until then stalled federal constitution and anti-terrorism acts, and the\nwitch-hunt against the war heroes. In this speech Gammanpila also praised the\nCardinal (who, he said, was one of the total 120 Cardinals who provided spiritual\nleadership to the 1.3 billion Catholics of the world) for his sagacity in\ncalming down the targeted Catholics and in bravely identifying the Easter\nattacks as the result of an international conspiracy, and not the work of the\ncountry\u2019s Muslim community (something he repeated with more conviction \nduring a commemorative ceremony on the second anniversary of the attacks held\non April 21 this year a couple of days ago, as you will see below – RRW). The\nMP remarked on the existing accustomed peace and fellow feeling among the\ncommunities demonstrated in the fact that Buddhist pansalas<\/em> were offered\nto the Catholics to perform their services, and that Muslims helped apprehend\nsuspect extremists among them and hand them over (to the police).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A history of colonial discrimination against the majority\ncommunity through the preferential treatment of a small elite of the\nminorities <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Just\nas the European colonialists used a minuscule elite of the minority communities\nthrough preferential treatment during their rule to the disadvantage of the\nmajority Sinhalese, whose unique historic homeland they were occupying, their\nsuccessors, the Western hegemonic powers, assisted by determined Indian\nexpansionism, are capitalizing on false allegations of Sinhalese majoritarianism\nand ethno-religious (Sinhalese) Buddhist intolerance by a handful extremists of\nthe same minorities and supportive foreign funded NGOs, to undermine the Lankan\nstate. These same neocolonialist powers seem to have found an ally in the\nwidely known global exporters of ruthless Islamist extremism in destabilizing\nthe Sri Lankan state purely in the interest of their geopolitical agenda in the\nso-called \u2018Indo-Pacific\u2019 region, where it is geographically located. It will be\nto the great detriment of Sri Lanka for its politicians, whether in or out of\npower,  to agree to kowtow to the latter (i.e.,  those that the\nAmericans earlier held to be purveyors of Islamic extremism) while allowing\nthem to act on the false assumption that mainstream Muslims of Sri Lanka are\nsingle-minded supporters of the few Wahhabist\/Salafist extremists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    His Eminence the Cardinal\u2019s special statement on April 21, the\nsecond anniversary day of the Easter bombing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In\nhis special statement on April 21, 2021 the second anniversary of the Easter\nSunday attacks, His Eminence Malcom Cardinal Ranjith reiterated his not\nunreasonable allegations of  neglect and dereliction of duty by the\nhighest political and civil authorities of the previous regime that allowed the\nattacks to be carried out. He was clearly dissatisfied with the level of\nprogress so far made under the present administration in bringing those\nresponsible to justice. Was there an attempt to sweep the truth under the\ncarpet in order to let those behind the crime escape punishment as a result of\nsome political wheeler-dealing? Politicians of both the previous and present\ngovernments acted and are acting in an indifferent, inactive manner swayed by\nchanging political winds. He repeated his determination to pressure the authorities\nto deliver justice. The cardinal expressed special appreciation of the Buddhist\nclergy and the laity for always being with the Catholic community in dealing\nwith the tragic aftermath of the devastating terror attacks, while preserving\nnational peace and unity. The Catholic prelate implied that the Muslims\u2019\nattitude was different on the whole. You haven\u2019t still come forward to condemn\nthe Easter attacks. If you joined us in an earnest spirit, demanding (of the\nauthorities) to find out who was responsible for the attacks, the problem would\nhave been resolved by now\u2026.\u201d. But, in the same breath, he stated that this\nlapse on the part of Muslims in general was only until that moment (of\nspeaking), for the moulavi who spoke before him (Hassan Moulana) stressed how\nhis fellow Muslims totally rejected the terrorists who blew themselves up\n(because they were not true Muslims), and how they refused to accept their\nbodies for burial and handed them over to the army to be disposed of in\nwhatever manner they decided. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The\nCardinal further said (in verbatim translation): …Therefore I\u2019d like to take\nthis opportunity to make a special request of you my dear Muslim brothers and\nsisters: In geopolitics, there are its local agents and brokers who are\nprepared to commit any form of betrayal out of their greed for money and power.\nPlease understand that religious extremism is a useful tool for attaining their\ngoals. Please rise up against Wahhabist schools and organizations that\nbrainwash (adherents) to kill in the name of religion. Let us bring pressure on\nthe government to fulfill the promises given to the people. Because the process\nof finding out the truth is still not happening at an acceptable level of\ntransparency, and because it is the expectation of everybody to see that goal\nachieved, let us encourage the authorities to devise an express mechanism to\nthat end. We urge that steps be taken immediately to implement the relevant\nrecommendations of the PCoI to ban schools and organizations that propagate\nWahhabism\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What Ven. Dr Omalpe Sobitha said<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ven.\nDr Omalpe Sobitha Thera said that the most primary obligation of a government\nwas to protect the people. The previous government miserably failed to perform\nthis responsibility. He pointed out that there were many allegations heard from\nall directions that the present government was not doing better in the area\neither, and that they must immediately improve matters. He remarked that though\nsome one billion rupees was received from the Muslim World League for helping\nthe affected families, no one knew what happened to those funds. (However, the\nmonk seems to be ill informed about it; the money has still not been paid by\nthe Islamic NGO as MP Wijedasa Rajapaksa complained recently. – RRW)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2018National Conference on Peace, Harmony and Coexistence<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After\nthese background comments, let me address the subject proposed by the title. A\n(actually, the second) meeting  of the so-called \u2018National Conference on\nPeace, Harmony and Coexistence\u2019 was held at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre, Colombo\non March 4, 2021. The chief guest was the general secretary of the Saudi-based\npan-Islamic NGO the Muslim World League (MWL) Dr Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdul\nKareem Al-Issa. (MWL leader Mohamed Abdul Kareem had pledged USD 5 million to\nsupport the families of the dead and injured in the Easter Sunday terror\nattacks at the first National Peace Conference that took place at the same\nvenue under the patronage of the previous president Maithripala Sirisena on\nJune 30, 2019; but this money has not been received yet.) This arguably\nquestionable NGO involvement in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday suicide\nbombings through this rather adventitious National Conference on Peace, Harmony\nand Coexistence has passed almost unnoticed in the media. The negative\nrepercussions of this well- or ill-intentioned intervention in a situation\ncreated by dangerously radicalized Muslims will be evident in the time to come.\nThe MWL itself deserves our gratitude for offering to help us on this occasion.\nNot so the politicians involved, who should be the object of our reproach.\n(Strangely, MP Wijedasa Rajapaksa, who believes in the good intentions of the\nMWL, has made an issue of the nonpayment of the promised money by the Saudi\nbased and funded NGO even by the second anniversary of the Easter bombings.\nShouldn\u2019t he have known better, I wonder. Doesn\u2019t he know the calibre of the\nMuslim politicoes mentioned in the PCoI Final Report who appear to seeking\nundeserved refuge under the wings of the powerful global Islamic organization?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The\nHiru TV news footage of the event that I watched the next day (March 5, 2021)\nshowed PM Mahinda Rajapaksa and former presidents Maithripala Sirisena and\nChandrika Bandaranaike attending the event along with some Muslim politicians\nincluding A.H.M Fowzi, Rishad Badiuddeen and M.L.A.M Hizbullah and others (the\nlast two having got \u2018honourable\u2019mention in the Final Report as shown above).\nThere were also a group of Buddhist monks who had been invited as guests\n(though it was evident that they were unwilling guests). The news report\nfeatured two leading monks expressing their views about the incompatibility\nbetween  the Islamic religious ideology that the MWL espouses and the\nethical philosophical doctrine of Buddhism where peace-making was concerned;\none of them spoke in Sinhala and the other in English. The monks were the\nAnunayake of the Asgiriya Chapter Ven. Wendaruwe Upali Thera, and Ven. Dr\nOmalpe Sobhita Thera. The first, speaking in Sinhala, emphasized the\nideological hiatus between religion\/s and the (Buddha) dhamma<\/em>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Anunayake of the Asgiriya Chapter Ven. Wendaruwe Upali Thera\u2019s\ndefinition of the difference between religions and Buddhism<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The\ntruth about our participation in this event must be stated: It needs to be\nremembered that we are here as a mark of respect to the order given by the\nMahanayake Theras,  and that too, only as observers. It must be due to\nsome shortcoming somewhere that this multi-religious concept has come about.\nAll religions might be the same; but it is a well known fact that the Buddha\nDhamma<\/em> is not a religion. Religion and the dhamma<\/em> are clearly two\ndifferent things. The dhamma guards the mind whereas religion gratifies the\nmind. When a Buddha statue was damaged (by jihadist fanatics) at Mawanella, it\nwas as if we were struck on the head. But won\u2019t you accept the fact that our\nMahanayake Theras did not incite the Buddhist public to violence (in\nretaliation)? How forbearing we were (even under such provocation)! How well\nwere peace and harmony preserved avoiding a bloodbath after the April 21\nattacks due to the calming voice of (His Eminence) the Cardinal! In reality, we\ndon\u2019t have anything to learn from  you about peaceful coexistence; it is\nwe who are teaching you (now) and have taught you (before this moment) about\nit\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (What\nI have added parenthetically and what I have specially emphasized in my\ntranslation here are naturally grasped by a Sinhala speaking audience without\nthem being explicitly expressed. The valid point the monk raises here is\nsomething not very easy for a non-Buddhist or a non-Sinhala speaker to grasp\nand appreciate. Even today, in rural Sri Lanka, Christians are colloquially\nmentioned by Buddhist neighbours among themselves as \u2018agamkarayo\u2019 (people of\nreligion), the implication being that what they follow for moral and spiritual\nguidance, Buddhism, is not a religion. The important Article 5 of the Kandyan\nConvention of 1815 contains the crucial phrase The Religion of the Boodhoo\u2026.\u201d\nin its English version (The phrase was actually a product of a political and\nlinguistic sleight of hand by ace intriguer and spy John D\u2019oyly who drafted\nit). The Sinhala original, which was really important from the point of view of\nthe occupied nation, had the equivalent of the \u2018sasana of the Buddha\u2019 or\nBuddhist establishment and the \u2018agama\u2019 (religion) of the devas (deities)\u201d; but\nthis didn\u2019t appear in D\u2019oyly\u2019s English version. When Christian Europeans\narrived in Sri Lanka at the beginning of the 16th century, there was no\nreligion in the modern sense in the country, but a highly cultured society with\nits Buddhist spiritual foundation, the Buddha Sasana and its characteristic\npractices and cultural rituals; there was no Buddhist \u2018religion\u2019. (Of course,\nno one could expect a positive response to the monk\u2019s words from the head of an\nIslamic NGO that is devoted to the task of promoting a particular brand\nof  religion in a world where the scientific knowledge enlightened people\nare fast moving towards a global humane culture without religion.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ven. Dr Sobitha\u2019s challenge to the Islamic peacemakers<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In\nthe course of his speech, which was in English, the other monk, Ven. Dr Omalpe\nSobhita, said, as reproduced here thus unedited: While we are trying to be\nunited together as Sinhalese, Tamils, Buddhists, Christians and Hindus, it is\nregretted that our Muslim friends are demanding for a separate food system,\nthey are demanding for separate law and order system, separate uniform and\ndress code, separate education, separate universities, separate, separate, and\nseparate. Ultimately, we understand this separatism paved the way for separate\nfrom the whole. Actually, friends, we are hurt so much; we are disappointed.\nThen we find out what is the  reason for these different ideas and\nseparatism. Then I found the very reason is the Quran. I am not criticising the\nQuran. I am revealing the truth. Let me quote certain phrases of the Quran:\n\u2018Allah will shed human blood while angels praise in heaven (Surah Al Baqarah No\n2); again, \u2018Kill disbelievers wherever you find them, but if they desist in\ntheir unbelief, don\u2019t kill them\u2019 (Surah Al Baqarah). \u2018Attack on the necks of\nthe disbelievers whenever you fight against them. Those who die fighting for\nAllah will be rewarded\u2019 (Surah Muhammad No 47). Lastly, I just quote this line\n(from) Surah Al Fath: \u2018If you refuse to fight for Allah, he will punish you\nwith a painful doom\u2019.  If this is the teaching in this holy book, how can\nit be implemented to achieve peace and harmony in this society? Please\nenlighten us if we are wrong, and let us enlighten you if you are wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From\ntheir point of view, the monks here, no doubt, believe that they have hit the\nnail on the head: the root of the trouble is in the religion itself, in its\nbasic teachings (but this view is not likely to be shared even by the least\ndogmatic Muslim. Dr Omalpe Sobhita\u2019s desperate challenge or invitation to some\nsort of intellectual or ideological interaction is not likely to be entertained\nby the MWL or its local proteges. But the monk cannot be blamed for that. The\nBBS leader Ven. Galaboda-Aththe Gnanasara has, on a number of occasions, also\nhinted at the idea of arranging a peaceful resolution of the growing Islamic\nextremist problem through a rational dialogue or debate with Islamists, the\nsort of adversarial but cultured interreligious disputation between erudite Buddhist\nmonks and unrelenting Christian missionaries equally well versed in their\nreligion in the form of the famous Five Great Debates (Pancha Maha Vadaya)\nincluding the iconic Panadura Vadaya (1873) in the latter part of the 19th\ncentury. The missionaries were well and truly beaten by the monks in this\nideological confrontation. The news of the Panadura Debate impressed the\nAmerican soldier, journalist, lawyer and theosophist Colonel Henry Steel\nOlcott. His arrival in Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) in 1881 contributed to\nthe boosting of the already burgeoning Buddhist revivalism in the island. But\nsuch an easy resolution of the anti-Buddhist Islamic fundamentalist problem is\nimpossible, given the fact that Muslim believers, particularly the Wahhabist\nliteralists that the MWL was believed to represent in the past (Wikipedia) will\nnever be amenable to any form of argument that contradicts Quranic teachings or\nchallenges their infallibility. It would be too naive for these monks to even\nremotely imagine that their form of \u2018non-religious\u2019 (Buddhism is not a\nreligion) polemic will prevail against what is accepted as divine revelations\nby Muslims the world over. By now, they are informed enough about the\ndifferences between Muslims\u2019 religious beliefs and their own characteristically\nliberal Buddhist attitudes; these differences cannot be resolved through\ndialogue with those extremists. For dogmatic Muslims, religion and politics are\none. Something that the Islamic peacemakers should not overlook is the fact\nthat these monks know more about the religion of Islam than they (Islamic\npeacemakers) themselves probably know about Buddhism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Any reason for MWL\u2019s involvement?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As\nfar as I can see, there is no reason why the NGO known as the Muslim World\nLeague should offer to make peace or mediate between Sri Lanka\u2019s minority\nMuslims and their non-Muslim neighbours (the majority of whom are Buddhists)\nbetween whom there has never been any religious controversy  or physical\nclash that we know of in our post-independence history. A few Buddhist monks\nstarted sounding warnings about foreign funded promoters of potentially violent\nforms of Islamism in the country at least two decades ago, and have come out\nwith evidence of unacceptable activities targeting Buddhists (and Tamil Hindus)\nby Islamic and other religious extremists; they have brought it to the\nattention of the authorities. But the monks\u2019 complaints fell on deaf ears.\nNothing was done about provocative anti-Buddhist excesses committed by\nJihadists, such as encroaching on ancient Buddhist archaeological sites,\nvandalizing Buddha statues, and raising false allegations against the activist\nmonks to demean and deprecate them in the eyes of the world. The most prominent\none among these monks was reported to have been described by the leading April\nsuicide bomber Zaharan, as a \u2018demon\u2019. Zaharan had been angered to call Ven.\nGnanasara a demon by his relentless but just criticism of the former\u2019s violent\nmovement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    During\nthe Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter attacks (PCoI)\ninvestigations it was revealed, as the media reported, that though Zaharan\u2019s\noriginal plan was to bomb the Kandy  Perahera which is annually held in\nAugust, he changed his target and advanced the time of attack in order to make\nuse of the then prevailing lax national security situation under Yahapalanaya\nto avoid the risk of his plan being discovered and aborted. Attackers did not\ndifferentiate between Buddhists and Catholics. However, it was evident that\nanti-Buddhist elements and media regretted that there was no indication of a\nBuddhist link to the bombings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why\ndoes a Muslim World NGO seem to take it upon itself to re-create the\ninterreligious peace that is already there? This is like the West\u2019s\nreconciliation mantra. It is true that a handful of Islamic extremists who\nprobably had enjoyed the patronage of the Saudi-based movement tried to wreck\nthat peace in the name of the religion that the MWL fosters, which means that\nthe MWL should do better to rehabilitate those misguided Islamists from among\nwhom the suicide bombers emerged. Be that as it may, the fortuitous National\nConference on Peace, Harmony and Coexistence that hosted its chief met about\ntwo and a half months after the bombings. No doubt the organization has good\nintentions. When it was first held, the Yahapalana president Sirisena presided,\nwith his predecessors Mahinda and Chandrika in attendance. People are yet to\nlearn what new thing they learned about peace, harmony and coexistence? The\nsame dignitaries were dutifully present at the NGO\u2019s recent  second\nmeeting. What did they achieve for the country by having this sort of thing\norganized? What is more important?National dignity need not be relinquished in\naccepting charity offered in friendship. National sovereignty was debased and\nnational security compromised under president Sirisena. Should that evil legacy\nbe allowed to continue into the future indefinitely? Unfortunately, there has\nbeen no clarity in this department of governance in the wake of the yahapalana\nmaladministration, a situation worsened by the choppy waters of humanity\ndenying geopolitics amidst the still rampant the Covid-19 pandemic. The MWL, on\nother hand, should be careful not to be misled by the local promoters of\nIslamist extremism that caused the Easter Sunday attacks to take place two\nyears ago.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The solution lies mainly with the mainstream Muslims <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I\nwish to conclude this piece with the following part of the Cardinal\u2019s appeal to\nhis dear Muslim brothers and sisters\u201d during his commemorative statement on\nApril 21 aforementioned, which makes oblique reference to the interventionist\nglobal powers that instrumentalise<\/em> Islamist fundamentalism in pursuit of\ntheir geopolitical agendas:  ………Please understand the global\nmovement that becomes a cat\u2019s paw of other individuals and groups who have\nnothing to do with your deep faith and your sincere desire to live your\nreligion to the fullest to reach their selfish goals. Be brave enough to reject\nextremism. Rise up against schools and organizations that brainwash (the\nfaithful) to kill people in the name of religion. \u2026.\u201d    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Rohana R. Wasala  ………Please understand the global movement that becomes a cat\u2019s paw of other individuals and groups who have nothing to do with your deep faith and your sincere desire to live your religion to the fullest to reach their selfish goals. Be brave enough to reject extremism. Rise up against schools and […]<\/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-113773","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\/113773","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=113773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}