{"id":87683,"date":"2019-04-25T15:31:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T22:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87683"},"modified":"2019-04-25T15:31:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T22:31:46","slug":"muslims-undermining-national-interests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/25\/muslims-undermining-national-interests\/","title":{"rendered":"MUSLIMS: UNDERMINING NATIONAL INTERESTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The small communities of Tamils and Muslims\nliving in Sri Lanka, amount to a total of about 24% of the country\u2019s total\npopulation. These communities are descendants of groups of individuals,\nexclusively males, who initially arrived in this island at different times in\nthe past for various purposes, and later settled down among the Sinhala people.\nThe Tamils came from southern India and observe the cultural traditions of\nTamilnadu which is their homeland where the Tamil culture and Tamil language\noriginated. Initially Tamils came to the island as invaders and mercenaries and\nlater, especially in the 19th century and thereafter, the British brought South\nIndian Tamils to Sri Lanka to work as labourers in British-owned commercial\nplantations. This was the time when our country was under the British invaders.\nMost of this Tamil labour community stayed behind and  were accorded citizenship in later years\nafter the country attained political independence. Tamils in general, therefore\nare settler communities in the island with the rights and privileges enjoyed by\nthe indigenous Sinhala people.  It is\nimportant to note that Tamils are indigenous to the Tamilnadu which is the\nbirth-place of the Tamil culture and language. For all purposes, the national\nand cultural homeland of the Tamils is Tamilnadu.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a good part of the past four decades,\nTamil terrorists of the LTTE, took away from the indigenous Sinhala majority,\nwhat they valued and cherished most as a nation \u2013 their freedom and peaceful\nlife.  During this time, the large\nmajority of Tamils living within and outside Sri Lanka were openly or discreetly\nsupportive of terrorism and separatism propagated by the racist LTTE terrorists\nunder Prabakaran, their ruthless leader. The overwhelming majority of Sri\nLankan Tamils living overseas, were providing  assistance, both directly and indirectly, often\nusing deceitful means to the Tamil terror movement in Sri Lanka thereby\npromoting gruesome, hideous and horrifying  terrorist activities against\nthe nation, its Sinhala leaders, Bhikkhus, military and police personnel.. They\nprovided assistance to bomb and destroy reputed historically significant\nBuddhist monuments and sites in our country, and other public property of value\nand took action to disrepute and undermine the legitimately elected government\nof our country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sinhala nation is eternally grateful to\nthe Ranaviru Sinhala sons and daughters for eliminating from our nation, this\ntreacherous racist terrorist menace in the year 2009. Sinhala leaders at the\ntime understood that for the emancipation of our nation, there can be no\ncompromise with terrorists and their cohorts both local and foreign. The\nterritorial integrity and sovereignty of our motherland is of fundamental\nimportance to us, and the nation is ever grateful to those who led our military\nforces to eradicate Tamil terrorism and for restoring our nation for the\npresent and future generations. Thousands of true sons of the soil sacrificed\ntheir precious lives while serving in the military forces. The nation will is\ngrateful forever for the sacrifices they made to bring peace to our people<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our heroic military personnel who were making untold\nsacrifices to protect our people and the territorial integrity of our country\nwere subject to extreme forms of indignity, insult and disgrace by these\nTamils, especially during the period of conflict, using most deceitful and\ndishonest accusations. Our illustrious national culture and our Buddhist Sangha\ncommunity  responsible for nurturing, promoting and uplifting our\noutstanding national culture for some two thousand three hundred years, were\nsubject to debase and disrespect by these treacherous Tamil racists and\nextremists. Buying over and using the international media and other means,\nthese overseas Tamil extremists were involved openly in a widespread campaign,\nusing the basest forms of falsehoods and blatant lies of unimaginable proportions,\nto demean, discredit and destroy the good image of our country<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average Sinhala\nperson has nothing against anyone who wishes to shed extremist feelings and\njoining them to build a nation that is peaceful and prosperous, a nation which\nshuns extremism and terrorism. The Sinhala people want all\nother communities to join them, just the way how minority communities are\nexpected to do in other countries of the world, especially Canada, Australia,\nUSA, and UK.  The Sinhala people want\nothers who live among them to help build the country as one nation, a\nnation founded on the noble principles of non-violence,\ntolerance, compassion, where peaceful co-habitation has been the\ncornerstone from historic times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HISTORY OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY OF SRI LANKA   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Muslim community\nin Sri Lanka is a small non-indigenous minority settler community amounting at\npresent, to about 9% of the total population of the country. They are the descendants of small groups of\nindividuals, exclusively males, who came to the island at different times in\nthe past, basically as traders. Trade relations with the Indian region was started by the\nnewly Islamized Arabs in the early 7th<\/sup> century CE. (According to\nElliot and Dowson book , The History of India as told by its own\nHistorians<\/a>\u201d,\nthe first ship bearing Muslim travelers was seen on the Indian coast as early\nas 630 AD.  According to H.G. Rawlinson,\nin his book: Ancient and Medieval\nHistory of India, the first Arab Muslims<\/a> settled on the Indian coast\nin the last part of the 7th century AD. \nHowever, it was much later, in the 9th<\/sup> and 10th<\/sup>\ncenturies that the Arabs expanded eastwards towards India and China in search\nof trade and dominated  overseas trade.\nThey initially established trading posts which eventually became permanent\nsettlements. By the late 13th<\/sup> century, such settlements were common\nalong the southern coast of India and later on the western coast of Sri Lanka.\nIn the 15th<\/sup> century, increasing numbers of Muslims from the Muslims\nsettlement on the coastal region of South India, came and settled in coastal\nregions of Sri Lanka. They were the descendants of earlier Arab traders who had\nsettled in South Indian ports and married local women who spoke Tamil. By the early\n16th<\/sup>  when Portuguese vessels\nfirst arrived in Sri Lanka, Muslims were well settled in the coastal regions.\nThey represented  a mixture of Sinhala,\nArab and Tamil blood, and speaking Tamil with Arabic overtones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nSri Lanka, as everywhere they went, the Portuguese made a special point of\nruthlessly persecuting Muslims, their business rivals. As a consequence, many\nMuslims fled the western littoral which had passed under Portuguese control,\nand settled in the north and east of the island.  The Dutch were no different during their\nperiod of occupation of the coastal areas. During the Portuguese period,\nMuslims had to seek refuge in interior areas among the Sinhala people. Sinhala\nkings such as Senerath and Rajasinghe-II, provided safety and shelter to\nMuslims in the Sinhala kingdom among the Sinhala people. Large numbers of\nMuslims were settled in the hill country and in Eastern Sri Lanka, saving them\nfrom harassment by the Europeans and providing opportunities for them to\nimprove their livelihoods and practice their religion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPECIAL PRIVILEDGES AND\nOPPORTUNITIES  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Muslim community\ncontinued to benefit from various forms of special opportunities privileges\nmade available to them by the Sinhala-led governments, after the country gained\npolitical independence. Not only were they given opportunities to improve their\ncommercial activities, but were accorded important Ministerial and professional\npositions in the government. Also, although forming a small segment of the\nnation\u2019s  population (09% in 2013),\nMuslims have been accorded special privileges, some examples being   Muslim religious holidays being declared as\npublic holidays in our country, and the representation of Muslims in the\nnational flag of the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims are well known\nto be running successful businesses in predominantly Sinhala majority areas with\nthe Sinhala people as their customers. They are involved in wealth generating\nemployment connected with tourism and travel. The per capita income of the\nMuslim community is far higher than that of the Sinhala majority community. A\ngood part of buildings and land in most urban areas in the country, especially\nin predominantly Sinhala areas are owned today by Muslims. Most importantly,\nthere are no restrictions in Sri Lanka for the construction of mosques in\npredominantly Sinhala areas, in spite of the fact that no Muslim country\npermits even the display of a Buddha image, let alone building Vihares. In\nMosque activities such as prayers using load speakers in predominantly\nnon-Muslim neighborhoods, the Muslims are causing a great amount of discomfort\nand irritation to non-Muslims. The Sinhala people have been overly tolerant\nabout this unhealthy situation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No comparable minority\nin any major country in the world have been given such preposterous benefits,\nwhich are not rights but ridiculously high privileges enjoyed by the Muslims\nand Tamil settler minorities. Since the privileges of one person can only be\nhad at the expense of the rights of another, this shows that, in fact, it is\nthe indigenous Sinhala  who account for\nmore than 75 of the population, who are discriminated against in Sri Lanka.\nWhenever Muslims held ministerial positions, they made sure that members of\ntheir  community were accorded\npreferential treatment in employment. That accounts for the large number of\nMuslim employees in Ministries and related public agencies such as Education,\nthe Ports Authority,  Justice, and  Foreign Affairs which had prominent Muslim\nMinisters.  The important Ministry of\nEducation in Sri Lanka was held by Muslims Ministers for many years under\ndifferent governments. During this time, the Muslim children and youth were\ngiven preferential treatment in the area of education and admission to\nuniversities.  Also, it was during this\ntime that several well- equipped exclusively Muslim schools were established in\npredominantly Muslim areas. After securing so much from the country, and from\nthe majority Sinhala community who had all along provided them with hospitality\nand generosity, it is disappointing to see many Muslim leaders and Muslim\npeople of today, especially those living in the Eastern province having the\naudacity and ingratitude to claim autonomy for the lands that they are\noccupying in predominantly Muslim areas. Do they realize that some of these\nlands were given to them by Sinhala kings and governments led by Sinhala\nleaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FURTHERING  COMMUNITY \nSELF INTERESTS                                                   \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was much\nmedia attention in recent months, to undue exploitation and destruction of the\ncountry\u2019s natural resources by Muslims under the direct initiative of a Muslim\nminister. This involves the illegal clearance of a part of the Wilpattu\nNational Wildlife Sanctuary for a housing scheme exclusively for Muslims. Similar illegal and\nanti-national actions on the part of Muslims have been reported most recently\nin the Yan Oya valley, Thiriyaya and Pulmuddai national forest conservation and\nin Kalpitiya. These are instances of encroachment and illegal development of\nexclusively Muslim housing schemes, with funds from Muslim countries and Muslim\nINGO\u2019s operating in this country. Muslim leaders and community leaders in\ngeneral, appear to show a greater interest in furthering the interests of the\nMuslim community rather than the welfare of the public in general. It is a well\nknown fact that Muslim establishments refrain from hiring non-Muslims for\nresponsible positions in their establishments where the main clients are\nSinhala people.  Also, the media has\nhighlighted several allegations of various covert practices by Muslims to\nincrease their population at the expense of the Sinhala population. The direct\ninvolvement of Muslims in the illicit drug trade has often been reported in the\nmedia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ENCROACHMENT OF \nHISTORICALLY IMPORTANT BUDDHIST SITES                             <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is clear evidence of\ndisregard and disrespect for the Buddhist cultural heritage of the country. During the past\ntwo decades in particular, Muslims have illegally and forcibly encroached upon\nland that rightfully belongs to Buddhist temples on the eastern and southeast\ncoast, THE Pottuvil region in particular. It was not long ago that Islamic\nfundamentalists and armed Muslim extremists were inciting violence against\nlegitimate Buddhist activities in the East – Pottuvil region.  Muslims were forcibly encroaching upon land\nthat rightfully belongs to Buddhist temples on the southeast coast. In addition\nMuslim encroachment of Kuragala archeological site near Balangoda  which is one of the oldest Buddhist historic\nsites of Sri Lanka has led to serious confrontations in recent years. Also in more recent years\nsites in the Northwest have been deceitfully encroached upon by the Muslim\ncommunity, and archeological remains and ancient Buddhist monuments in these\nareas have been destroyed. It was not long ago that the exclusively Muslim, racist political party –\nthe Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and several Muslim civil society groups opposed\nthe construction of Buddha\u2019s statues on the southeast coastal areas which have\nlong been places inhabited predominantly by Buddhists.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

THREAT TO THE NATIONAL UNITY AND CULTURE                                                     \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From their attitude and actions, it is noticeable in recent years, that\nthe Muslim         community in the\ncountry has posed a threat to national unity and territorial integrity of the\ncountry. They have resorted to actions that undermine the national cultural\nheritage and to the way of life of other communities, and in a covert manner to\ndemocratic principles and rule of law of the country, especially with the\nadoption by them of the Sharia law. These Sharia rules of Islam appear to\ngovern politics, marriage and the day-to-day lives of its followers. Islam is\nassociated with a political ideology where the church and state are not\nseparate. Under the circumstances, one cannot expect Muslims to develop a sense\nof patriotism and national pride in a predominantly non-Muslim country such as\nSri Lanka. In recent years, it is well evident that most Muslims do not appear\nto be interested in integrating with other communities, perhaps because\nassimilation is not permitted under the Islamic Shariah law. They rarely if at\nall participate in national events. They do not participate in the singing of\nthe National Anthem in public events. They do not observe the traditional way\nof greeting by placing both hands together in the form of worship. Muslim\nchildren are taught not to worship their teachers which is a common practice\namong other non Muslim school children.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are schools that operate with government assistance, where not only\nthe Principal and academic staff, but all students are Muslim. Some of these\nschools have been elevated as National Schools enjoying special privileges.\nMuslims have established many private International schools in several towns,\nwhere the student population and majority of staff are almost entirely Muslim.\nThe most threatening of all is the recent establishment of the so-called\nMadrasas or Islamic schools, similar to those found in Muslim countries such as\nSaudi Arabia and Pakistan, where the curriculum is focused on the teaching of\nthe Koran and Shariah law. Saudi Arabian sources have funded the establishment\nof most of these Madrasas. Here, the younger generation of Muslims are being\nstrongly exposed to the Saudi Arabian fundamentalist Wahhabi form of Islam\nimported from Saudi Arabia. Scholarships are awarded to Muslim youth of these schools\nto continue their Wahhabi Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim\ncountries such as Pakistan, where Wahhabism predominates. This type of\nexclusive Islamic education and indoctrination is having a well-evident\ndivisive effect in our nation and is beginning to disrupt national efforts to\nbring about overall unity and togetherness among communities that have made Sri\nLanka their home. Their new male and female attire displays the desire of\nMuslims to look different and to be exclusive and separate from the nation\u2019s\nmainstream. This polarization tendency and divisive spirit of the Islamic\ncommunity is self-imposed. It is definitely not because they feel marginalized.\nThe Koran forbids Muslims to closely associate non-Muslims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long term implications of these extremist trends are highly\nundesirable for the maintenance of peace and stability in the country. What is\nwell evident from the several Muslim instigated, disruptive, illegal and often\nviolent incidents that occurred in some places in the country in recent times,\nis how these extremist trends are impinging upon the traditional cultural base\nand integrity of this country, in particular on the wholesome Sinhala norms and\nprinciples upon which this nation is built, and also on the rule of law of this\ncountry. One should not overlook the fact and take for granted the\nlong-standing opportunity for peaceful cohabitation of different communities,\nprovided by the traditional cultural foundation established by the Sinhala\npeople of this nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HALAL\u201d\nPRACTICE AND ANIMAL WELFARE                                                           \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been much discussion in recent times about the deceitful and\nexploitative nature of the halal\u2019 business venture of Muslims. Halal is a most repulsive and horrendous\npractice that involves extreme form of abuse and cruelty towards animals?  It is a gruesome method where animals are\ntied down and their throats slashed, letting their blood ooze out slowly from\nthe animal\u2019s body and making animals die on their blood, a slow, lingering and\nagonizing death.  What is most horrendous\nis that this torturous practice takes place while the animals are desperately\nstruggling for their lives. It is a well evident fact that these animals are\nconscious of what is happening to them. This is a most sickening and inhuman\nway of killing animals. It is a practice that should not be tolerated in any\ncivilized society. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a society such as ours where Buddhists\npredominate, and where non-violence      \ntowards all living beings is a fundamental tenet, criminal practices of\nthis nature cannot and should not be tolerated under any circumstances.  Animal welfare has been a tenet of the rulers\nof our nation from very early times, from the 3rd<\/sup> century BCE.  It was at this time that the world\u2019s first\nbird and animal sanctuary was established in Sri Lanka. From ancient times, the\nprinciple of animal welfare prevailed in our country until the arrival of\nEuropean colonial powers, starting with the ruthless Portuguese invaders, at\nthe beginning of the 16trh century. Besides hunting animals as a sport, the\nslaughtering of animals as a vocation started with the entry of Christianity\nand Islam to Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONFORMING TO NATIONAL CULTURAL NORMS AND VALUES <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The non indigenous settler communities such as\nthe Tamils and Muslims are expected to conform to the norms and values of the\nHela Nation to which they belong today. They may have brought various ethnic,\ncultural and religious customs, traditions, traits and values from their original\nnation and homelands where their cultures evolved and consolidated. They are\nfree to maintain these cultural norms as long as they do not conflict with the\nnorms and practices of the Sinhala Nation of which they are now a part. Once\nthe non-indigenous persons become a part of the Sinhala Nation it not only\nbecomes their national obligation, but more importantly, it is to their\nadvantage to become a part of the nation by learning and understanding the\nnorms of the Sinhala nation where they now belong, and where they have been\naccepted as non-indigenous nationals by the indigenous Sinhala people. When a\nforeigner or a person not indigenous to a particular country migrates into the\ncountry, and decides to make it his home, it is incumbent on that person to\nlearn about the history, norms and traits of the new country and its people.\nThe new immigrant is expected to acknowledge, subscribe to and integrate into\nthe new nation of which he now is a part. The same applies to all descendants\nof non indigenous immigrants, who may have been born and raised in the new\nnation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATIONAL RIGHTS AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indigenous Sinhala nationals or the Sinhala\npeople are the founders of the Sinhala or Hela Nation, and are entitled to\nspecial national rights. Important in this regard is the promotion, protection\nand preservation of their culture, language, social system and values that\ncharacterize their Sinhala Nation. \nSinhala should be restored as the sole national and official language of\nthe country.  Promotion and preservation\nof the Sinhala Buddhist culture as the national culture, should receive\npriority attention. It should be made a mandatory subject in the school\ncurriculum.  The national anthem of the\ncountry is sung in the Sinhala language. The minority communities are not\nentitled to such special privileges, because the Sinhala nation was founded by\nthe Sinhala people and is the legitimate home of the Sinhala people. Sinhale is\nnot the home of other cultures and languages. These cultures and languages did not\noriginate or evolve in this land  unlike\nthe case with the Sinhala culture and Sinhala language. Therefore, the cultures\nand languages of minority communities cannot and are not entitled legitimately\nto be accorded national or official recognition at par with the Sinhala culture\nand language. However, these communities are free to observe and preserve their\ncultural activities and their languages within their communities. As far as\nordinary human rights are concerned, members of minority settler communities\nare entitled to the same human rights as those enjoyed by members of the\nmainstream Sinhala community.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a nation with a\nhistoric cultural tradition that extends to over 2200 years, where the founding\nprinciples have been freedom, compassion, tolerance and accommodation of people\nof all faiths and ethnicities, it is necessary that the true patriots of\nSinhale, the Sinhala nation, get to the forefront, mobilize themselves and  take legitimate actions to protect and uphold\nthese wholesome cultural traditions, and thereby reinforce the Sinhala\nnation  – Sinhale.  All\ncitizens of the country who subscribe to the Sinhale Nation and respect the\ncultural norms and values that characterize this nation, will find acceptance\nas members of the Sinhale nation, irrespective of their ethnic and religious\naffiliations and differences. The Sinhale Nation incorporates the tremendous\ncultural wealth of the Sinhala people recognized the world over for its\nrichness and uniqueness. This should be preserved and promoted for posterity.\nThose who undermine the nation\u2019s cultural heritage, sovereignty and territorial\nintegrity are enemies of the nation and should be confronted and subdued\nforthwith, for the welfare of the nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

STRENGTHEN AND REVITALIZE THE SINHALA NATION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the patriotic and caring nationals of this\nisland, especially those of the Sinhala community, irrespective of their\nreligious affiliations, there is one moral law that stands above everything\nelse, and that is to do everything possible to strengthen their Sinhala Nation\nand to curb the efforts of anti-national elements both local and foreign,\nengaged  in violating and undermining\nSinhala Buddhist national interests. It was with such an attitude and approach\nthat enabled our valiant Sinhala soldiers to wipe out anti-national, separatist\nTamil terrorists who were hell-bent on destroying the integrity of this\nnation.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present generation of Sinhala nationals\nhas a moral obligation to protect, preserve and promote the greatest of their\ninheritance, their unique nation, for the survival of their Buddhist cultural\nheritage and for the benefit of future generations. Concerned Sinhala nationals\nwill under no circumstances allow the sovereignty, the distinct territorial\nintegrity and the all-pervasive Sinhala Buddhist cultural character of the\nisland be subject to any form of disarray or disintegration. They will not\npermit any force, internal or external, ethnic or religious, to subjugate or\nundermine the integrity of the Sinhala Buddhist culture of this island nation.\n. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinhala history is replete with valor and\ncourage in battles against overly superior forces. The struggle against\nextremism and the looming division of this Sinhala island nation of ours\ndemands our full national strength. Let all Sinhala nationalists rise to the\noccasion, forgetting for a moment their \u2018other\u2019 differences, and swear\nallegiance to the unity of this country by giving unswerving support to those\ncommendable organizations that have emerged in recent times to save the nation\nfrom undesirable elements. The renewed loyalty that is fast emerging among the\nSinhala nationals, particularly among the contemporary youth, is most\nencouraging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VIOLATION OF SOVEREIGNTY AND NATIONAL INTEGRITY  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinhala nationals should not tolerate any\nindividual or community who, whilst living in the Sinhala Nation and\nconsidering it their home, deliberately misusing such a privilege by scheming\nand adopting extreme means or contributing to such actions, in violation of the\nsovereignty and territorial integrity of this only nation of ours. This\nincludes both direct and indirect efforts on the part of these extremist\nelements living among us, with ridiculously unfounded claims to carve out\nethnic and religious enclaves within our country, merely because some of them\nhad lived in specific places for extended periods of time. These individuals\nand communities with self-serving attitudes and objectives should be considered\nas traitors or enemies of our nation and should be dealt with accordingly.\nThere  is no place in our nation for such\ntraitors, double crossers, renegades, turncoats, collaborators of enemies,\ncriminals and terrorists, conspirators, connivers, schemers and emissaries,\nspies, secret agents, undercover agents and double agents of the enemies of\nthis Sinhala Buddhist Nation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUDDHIST\nMONKS, SINHALA SCHOLORS AND PATRIOTS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of present day monks are\nbetter educated and possess a broader outlook. Our monks are fully capable of\nproviding the necessary leadership, patronage and helping in the organization\nof Buddhist cultural pursuits. Our Buddhist scholars have stayed too long in\nthe background. It is time that they came forward and jointly with our monks\ntook the initiative to counter the negative forces harming Buddhism and Sinhala\nculture. They owe it to their children and youth. Buddhist cultural pursuits\nshould be encouraged and receive increased patronage. The mass media should be\nused to the utmost in the accomplishment of these pursuits.  In spite of all the challenges of recent\ndecades, our monks continued to be accorded attention and respect by our\npeople. On their part our monks have continued to be close to people and\nparticipate at all notable events in people\u2019s lives. This should continue with\nmore vigor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent times, movements and organizations have sprung up\nunder the initiative of some concerned Bhikkhus and members of the Sinhala\ncommunity across the country, with an increasingly large following of the\nnation\u2019s youth, to highlight and draw attention to the vital and pressing need\nfor necessary action to restore, protect and uphold the legitimate national\nrights and privileges of the Sinhala people and the traditionally and\nconstitutionally accorded foremost place to Buddhism, which in recent times appear\nto be subject to threats and challenges from both local and foreign sources.\nThere is evidence of attempts both direct and indirect, overt and covert, to\nundermine these legitimate rights and privileges by extremist elements,\nespecially of the minority Muslim and Tamil communities evidently with the\ninvolvement of extremist, racist, uncaring and unpatriotic politicians with\ntheir own vested interests and ulterior motives.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane The small communities of Tamils and Muslims living in Sri Lanka, amount to a total of about 24% of the country\u2019s total population. These communities are descendants of groups of individuals, exclusively males, who initially arrived in this island at different times in the past for various purposes, and later settled down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-daya-hewapathirane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87683","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=87683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}