{"id":121213,"date":"2021-12-15T17:19:24","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T00:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121213"},"modified":"2021-12-15T17:19:24","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T00:19:24","slug":"down-with-the-225-who-have-failed-to-agree-on-united-response-to-the-sialkot-barbarism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/15\/down-with-the-225-who-have-failed-to-agree-on-united-response-to-the-sialkot-barbarism\/","title":{"rendered":"Down with the 225 who have failed to agree on united response to the Sialkot barbarism!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The\nlesson taught by the failure of our parliament to register a prompt united\nresponse of unqualified condemnation against the occurrence of the Sialkot\nsavagery committed in the name of religion should never be forgotten by all\npatriotic Sri Lankans. My hunch is that ordinary Sri Lankans whose hearts bled\nfor Priyantha Kumara, the victim of that sadistic barbarity, would have\nreasonably expected all the MPs to unite against murderous Islamism that led to\nhis ordeal, following the example of all Muslim MPs having stood by their\nfellow Muslim MP Rishad Badiuddeen who was suspected by some to have  had\nlinks with the suicide bombers who carried out the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.\nThe lesson that can be derived from the collective dereliction of a vital\nnational responsibility by the MPs is that the present ruling elite (fully\nrepresented in parliament in the form of the government and the opposition) has\nneither the will nor the ability to resolve the problems of political and\nideological extremism that have been unnecessarily assailing the nation for a\nlong time, in the characteristically peaceful nonviolent and enlightened way so\nwell illustrated in our dominant, almost identical, Buddhist and Hindu\ncultures. Relentless pursuers of conflicting geopolitical agendas in our\nneighbourhood exploit these issues of externally imposed political and\nreligious extremism in their own interest, but to the great detriment of our\npeople (as His Eminence the Cardinal has so often emphasized in the recent\npast).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s\nalmost two weeks since an innocent  Sri Lankan expatriate employee\nPriyantha Kumara Diyawadana was set upon, beaten to death, and burned on a main\nroad in a most despicable, inhumanly cruel manner by an Islamist lynch mob,\narbitrarily and maliciously accusing him of blasphemy, at Sialkot in the\nnorth-east of the Punjab province of Pakistan on Friday, December 3, 2021. The\nsickening details of the appalling incident are now well known, and so we can\navoid the pain of repeating them. If the horrendous outrage fails to galvanize\nthe civilized world to resolve to root out forthwith the diabolical crime\n(against humanity) of killing in the name of religion, nothing will. Not that\nthis kind of extremist brutality is an uncommon happening in the Islamic\nRepublic of Pakistan; probably, though, no religious atrocity committed there\npreviously could rival what our unfortunate compatriot was subjected to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Pakistan\npremier Imran Khan tweeted his utmost concern late Saturday(4) about the brutal\nlynching episode of the previous day, which he had earlier condemned as\n\u2018horrific\u2019; it was a day of shame for Pakistan, he said. Imran Khan\u2019s twitter\nmessage ran: Spoke\nto Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today in UAE to convey our nation’s\nanger & shame to people of Sri Lanka at vigilante killing of Priyantha\nDiyawadana in Sialkot. I informed him 100+ ppl arrested & assured him they\nwould be prosecuted with full severity of the law\u201d. (Both the presidents were\nthen in Abu Dhabi for the recent Indian Ocean Conference held there.) The online wionews.com<\/a> later reported (December 5) that\nafter the Pakistani premier\u2019s order to initiate a concerted probe, more than\n800 suspects had already been booked, including the principal assailant Farhan\nIdrees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nmy mind, the Sri Lankan government\u2019s response has not at all been commensurate\nwith the enormity of the outrage. Hardly a handful of the 225 in parliament\n(most of whom are eating and drinking zombies<\/em>, i.e., will-less and\nspeechless human corpses claimed to have been magically raised from the dead\nand used in African witchcraft) were courageous enough to utter anything that\ncontradicted or questioned the Pakistani government\u2019s judicious, but\nduplicitous stand on the lynching of a lone, completely helpless, Sri Lankan\ncitizen. Priyantha was no ordinary Sri Lankan citizen. He had served the\nPakistan nation with exceptional professionalism in a senior position in its\nindustry field for eleven long years away from his home country and from his\nbeloved young family. Actually, it was his commitment to his work that brought\nhim this fate. Some workers under him were unhappy about the expat senior\nmanager\u2019s no-nonsense approach to work. They were looking for an opportunity to\nhave him punished. The poster removing incident gave them the chance to invoke\nthe blasphemy allegation, and physically eliminate him. However, we cannot\nblame the Pakistani premier or his government too much in connection with the\nlynching. It must be as abhorrent to them as it is to all civilized people of\nthe world. Yet it is up to the Pakistani rulers to put an end to blasphemy laws\nin order to prevent future crimes like this. The civilized Pakistani citizens\ndo not approve of what happened, but they know the PM\u2019s constraining dilemma,\nand would excuse him for his dubious stand on the matter; but they will not\nthink very highly about Sri Lankan MPs\u2019 chickening out of a more robust\nrejection of violent Islamism on this occasion.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be\nthat as it may, with justice and humanity on our side, we have all the reason\nto have expected of our politicoes a non-militant, but nationally more\ndignified and more engaged response to the tragedy. It looks like they are too\ndumb to realize that, probably, their own accustomed parochial politicking even\nwhile the whole country is being devoured by the monster of  geopolitics\nin the region also served to precipitate this obviously premeditated attack on\na poor unsuspecting citizen of a country that the Jihadists have been\nbrainwashed  to identify as an infidel nation that persecutes Muslims.\nThis unsavoury image of Sri Lanka has been created through relentless\nanti-Buddhist false propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nlooked as if both the government and the opposition were more concerned with\ndealing with the political fallout of the Sialkot incident than with assuaging\nthe suffering of the bereaved family. When minister Bandula Gunawardane\nannounced in parliament the planned award of the  derisory sum of 2.5\nmillion in the debased SL currency to Priyantha\u2019s family as interim relief\nuntil proper compensation is arranged, opposition and SJB leader Sajith, gave\nthe family 2.0 million rupees for the educational welfare of Priyantha\u2019s\nchildren. Probably, they were both more concerned about the political capital\nthey were individually making out of the family\u2019s inexpressible suffering than\nabout helping them to cope up with the tragedy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLanka must demand that premier Imran Khan keep his word in this case, and as\nProfessor Pratibha Mahanamahewa urges, Pakistan ought to tender an\ninternational apology for failing to protect a defenceless individual\u2019s basic\nhuman right to live; it is ironical that this happened so close to December 10,\nthe International Human Rights Day. The Pakistan PM\u2019s apparent attempt to\nmitigate the atrociousness of the lynching episode as a case of vigilantism\n(i.e., law enforcement by a self-appointed group of people without legal\nauthority, especially in a situation where relevant authorities are not\navailable or cannot function) is not an encouraging gesture (Please see his\ntwitter message quoted above). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times<\/em>  of December 8, 2021,\nPakistan\u2019s defense minister Parvez Khattak has made a more explicit attempt\nthan prime minister Imran Khan to rationalize the lynching. Khattak was\nreported as having made a shockingly unapologetic statement: Murders take\nplace when young people get emotional over Islam\u2026..They are emotional kids with\nIslamic understanding; they act under Islamic understanding, they act under\nIslamic sentiments\u2026. At Sialkot, these boys converged, shouted slogans and\ntermed manager\u2019s action against Islam\u2026..They became emotional and the murder\ntook place suddenly, but that doesn\u2019t mean everything has got ruined\u2026..Please\nmake people understand that they are youngsters who become emotional for Islam\n\u2026.I too can become emotional for Islam and do something wrong but that doesn\u2019t\nmean Pakistan is heading towards destruction.\u201d These murdering \u2018kids\u2019 that Pak\ndefence minister Khattak idolizes are no doubt products of the Islamic madrasas\nin that country, 30,000 of which PM Khan himself planned, as reported in early\n2019, to bring under state control  in response to allegations that they\nturned out youngsters indoctrinated with violent Jihadism, that led them to\ncarry out attacks in neighbouring India and Afghanistan. The Islamist suicide\nbombers who carried out the 2019 April 21 Easter Sunday attacks were educated\nat local non-traditional madrasas that teach Wahhabism. Prof. G.L. Peiris, as\neducation minister of the new government vowed to streamline those madrasas,\nobviously completely ignorant of the problems involved, without any serious\nsense of commitment to carry out what he promised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\npublic security minister Sarath Weerasekera in parliament questioned the\nPakistani defence minister\u2019s utterances, government MP Shantha Bandara of the\nSLFP rose to the latter\u2019s defence. TNA MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam tried to\nsuggest that the majority community, to which Priyantha Diyawadana belonged,\ndeserved even worse treatment on account of similar acts of vicious violence\nthey have allegedly inflicted on the Tamil minority since 1956. The show of grief to the\nbereaved family by the highest of the land was also subdued, probably in\ndeference to the local sympathizers of the jihadist lynch mob with whom they\nstruck deals to maintain the required two thirds majority in parliament for\npassing 20A. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile\nthe Sri Lankan people and the leaders (of both the government and the\nopposition), no doubt, appreciate the Pakistan PM\u2019s resolve to mete out justice\nto the perpetrators. They may be thought to be similarly determined to prevent\nany spillover effect of the tragic affair flowing into Sri Lanka. Pakistan is\nand has always been one of Sri Lanka\u2019s staunchest friends. That friendship at\nthe government to government and the people to people levels should not be\ndamaged, though we have to recognize the fact that the Pakistani society today\nseems to be far more radicalized than in the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless,\nsocial media including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc are flooded with\nexpressions of shock, sorrow, and shame by thousands of outraged ordinary\nPakistani citizens who share our grief with the utmost sincerity. All our\npolitical, civil and religious leaders are sure to unite in fulfilling their\nobligatory national responsibility to convince the leaders of friendly Islamic\nnations not to be misled by certain opportunistic Sri Lankan Muslim politicians\nwho maintain treacherous links with suicide-bombing extremists for personal\npolitical advantage, while creating an illusion of a non-existent\nBuddhist-Muslim conflct or disharmony in Sri Lanka through false\npropaganda. \n\n\n\nPakistan is one of the\ntwelve Muslim majority countries where blasphemy against Islam or its founder\nis punished with death. Journalist Khundar Khuldune Shahid working and living\nin his native Pakistan, a Muslim himself, who is a correspondent to the\nWashington D.C. based online current affairs magazine The Diplomat<\/em>,\nbelieves that Islamist fundamentalists in his country commit murder with\nimpunity because of the blasphemy law that operates in the country. It was\nbecause of the fact that the concept of \u2018death for blasphemy\u2019 is included in\nPakistan\u2019s penal code that the crowd including the few policemen who were there\nor arrived too late to stop the lynching looked on passively, while the lawful\nproceedings were going on. But Priyantha\u2019s Pakistani colleague Malik Adnan made\na heroic effort to save him from the mob, risking his own life in the process.\nPM Imran Khan expressed his and the nation\u2019s appreciation of Malik Adnan\u2019s\nattempt to rescue the victim by honouring him with a special award. Malik has\nnow dedicated it to Priyantha and Sri Lankans.  Hundreds and thousands of\nordinary Pakistanis have already expressed their outrage from both within and\nfrom outside Pakistan at the hideous murder of Priyantha Kumara. This unfortunate\nincident should not be allowed to have the least negative impact on Pakistan\nSri Lanka bilateral relations. At the same time, Sri Lankans should not\ndishonour the memory of their murdered compatriot by opting not to demand an\nadequate apology from Pakistan for failing to ensure the physical safety of the\nSri Lankan citizen. This is not too much to demand from a friendly Muslim\nnation. The last thing our leaders could do to continue our prevailing\nexcellent relations with Pakistan without undermining them is to unnecessarily\nact as if these relations depend on their tolerance of the barbaric Islamist\nexcesses inflicted on our citizens on its soil, condemned as creatures unworthy\nof human dignity.  \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala The lesson taught by the failure of our parliament to register a prompt united response of unqualified condemnation against the occurrence of the Sialkot savagery committed in the name of religion should never be forgotten by all patriotic Sri Lankans. My hunch is that ordinary Sri Lankans whose hearts bled for […]<\/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-121213","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\/121213","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=121213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121213\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}