{"id":88164,"date":"2019-05-04T23:15:53","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T05:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88164"},"modified":"2019-05-03T19:17:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T02:17:30","slug":"racial-blame-card-behind-the-anti-campaigns-following-eastersunday-attacks-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/04\/racial-blame-card-behind-the-anti-campaigns-following-eastersunday-attacks-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Racial blame-card behind the \u2018anti-campaigns\u2019 following #EasterSunday attacks in Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The usual culprits are doing what they do best \u2013 stir the pot of trouble. They do not help in the least except point fingers that too at only targeted groups. So the immediate narrative even before investigations commenced was that \u2018Sinhala Buddhists\u2019 were responsible. Goebbells theory continues \u2013 tell a lie repeatedly & it is believed. Nonetheless, with Easter being a Christian\/Catholic event and the bombers being Muslims the mainstream media were quick to denounce the Muslims and then immediately realizing the likely outcome of that the narrative quickly changed to Sri Lanka adopting an \u2018anti-Muslim\u2019 campaign because there was opportunity there as it entails media, NGOs, UN, foreign envoys to plug their two cents and make a noise further pressurizing a feeble and clueless Government. Let\u2019s just call a spade a spade & take these issues head on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Tamils are not LTTE but all LTTE were Tamils<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When LTTE extremisms were\nvisible, majority of people continued to say All LTTE are Tamils but all Tamils\nare not LTTE. That belief continues to this day. Nevertheless, what is also\ntrue is that there were a small number of Tamils who disagreed with what LTTE\nwas doing and were not only helping the armed forces as informants but\npreferred to live with the Sinhalese. These were however small in number. Sadly,\nthey were hated by Tamils for doing so. No different to how defeated LTTE\ncombatants are today treated by Tamils you losers\u201d not because they lost the\nwar but because as a result of the defeat the avenues that some Tamils were\nmaking comfy lives through came to a halt. This is why many LTTE combatants\nwere seen crying at the departure of an army official because he gave them love\nand compassion that their own people did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many Tamils openly opposed\nJaffna University commemorating LTTE & its dead combatants?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many Tamils took the side of\nthe Tamils victimized by LTTE or the Tamil families whose children were\nkidnapped and turned into child soldiers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At another level, though all\nTamils were not LTTE some of these Tamils found opportunity in the LTTE. LTTE\u2019s\ncamouflage was that they were representing Tamils against Sinhala\ndiscrimination. So many Tamils used \u2018Sinhala discrimination\u2019 to apply as asylum\nseekers and went to live in the West. Many of these applicants were happily\nliving with the Sinhalese but inspite of that the desire to live in the West\ndid not stop them from using the tag line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinhalese hold no grudge against\nthis except feel sad that they have been used and even after 30 years not many\nwish to openly say that July 1983 riots was a UNP govt planned riot and that\nthe Sinhalese gave them refuge and protected them in their homes! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At another level LTTE became what\nit was because it had plenty of non-Tamil supporters including Sinhalese,\nMuslims, foreigners, NGOs even UN. LTTE ground force was defeated but LTTE\nnetwork that supplied the arms, carried out the propaganda and run illegal\n& legal businesses remain very much alive even today. The terror arm is\nmissing but the political and economic arm of the LTTE still thrives and is\nconnected to a plethora of networks that connect with narcotics, human\nsmuggling, illegal arms smuggling and contract killing on targeted people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So while tsome Tamils that\nsupported LTTE are no longer supporting the fighting unit as it is now\nobsolete, they continue to support the other branches as they are indirectly\nconnected to them \u2013 their relatives may be working with them, they may be\nholding portfolios in these foreign fronts, they get a lucrative income from\nthe LTTE businesses etc\u2026 so we are talking about a very powerful group of\npeople who do not wish to completely allow LTTE Inc to be terminated because it\naffects their livelihoods. These are the one\u2019s running to Geneva, pumping money\nto the political wing and other campaigns to keep alive the original campaign\nfor it affords many opportunities to them in many ways. And Sinhalese are the\nready-made bait for tarnishing campaigns. Anything happens to a Tamil and the\nconclusion is, the perpetrator is Sinhalese. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never brought to the table are\nthe faults of the Tamils, their scheming, their unfair demands, the validity of\ntheir claims, the hypocrisies or their lies. A good example is the manner TNA\npoliticians have gone round the world ridiculing our Armed Forces, funding\nbogus stories about them, hiring con artists to write reports, setting up bogus\n\u2018witnesses\u2019 and using a well -funded campaign in Geneva and among the\ndiplomatic community to demand removal of the military since 2009 and now after\nthe Easter Attacks the same TNA MPs are now saying to not only keep the\nmilitary in the North but to increase their presence. What hypocrisy and these\nare what we have to digest every day because the media the key outlet that is\nsupposed to place the facts before the readers for them to decide play games\ntoo by taking sides and quite openly too and again it is always the Sinhalese\nthat are projected as the culprits for anything & everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Muslims are not Islamic terrorists but all Islamic terrorists are\nMuslims<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An oft-spread notion among\nminorities is that they must keep together whatever internal differences as\nthat is the only way to consolidate their power. This is why extremist minority\nleaders have a field day during elections chanting all sorts of vituperative\nattacks against the majority and securing the minority vote thus becoming\nking-makers in parliament. Again, some Muslims have come to realize that these\nMuslim politicians are only using Muslims to come to power and enjoy personal\nperks for their families and friends. But being a close community, everyone is\nrelated to the other in the major towns and cities especially as Muslims are\nkey players in the business community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the power of petro-dollars a\nglobal program to create an extremist political identity vis a vis cultural\nidentity, business, social, legal came to be spread among countries that had\ntheir guard down or countries where politicians could easily be compromised. No\ndoubt Sri Lanka was an easy choice. Hand over money & Sinhalese politicians\nwould look the other way. Very little attention was paid to policy, laws or\nprinciples. Tragically incrementally incursions were subtly taking place\nthroughout the island especially in Buddhist sacred site areas where the\noverall counter plan was to scream \u2018racism\u2019 \u2018FR violation\u2019 \u2018anti-Muslim\u2019 and\nsilence those that were highlighting the unfair incursions. The tactic was to\nmake illegal demands, create a scene of objection, pay both sides to stir\nracial trouble, highlight the issue across media, project the Sinhalese as the\nguilty party & then pretending to be fair, agree to reach a compromise\nwhereby they legally achieve something more than what they legally did not have\n& should not achieve. This was the modus operandi that has won them much\nterritory in the past and the framework is likely to continue. The legality of\nthe issue, the validity of the claim is never put on the table \u2013 Muslims are\nmade to believe that anything the Muslims demand is fair & legal. Only a\nhandful of Muslims come forward to disagree but they too are ridiculed by their\nown people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a few Muslims came forward\nto inform authorities about Muslim extremisms, many Sinhalese highlighted the\nexact nature of these extremisms and warned that if these were not legally\ndealt with we would face repercussions in the future \u2013 it was suggested that the\nState declare that no minority cultural laws can be considered above the\ncountry law, the authorities were asked to ban halal food labeling \u2013 a new\nbusiness model simply to create two forms of taxes for a food license issued by\na private Muslim organization annually based on a minority religion which was\nunfair by all others, Islamic\/Shariah banking \u2013 why should a minority have a\nbanking system based on their religion only, how fair was it by the others? Daily\nazan played throughout the day which was becoming an increasing nuisance to\nresidents as influence of municipalities allowed illegal mosques to emerge few\nfeet apart from each other. The mushrooming madrassas where children were\nstopping school to attend these, the increasing number of women wearing burka\nwhich even the ISIS banned in 2016. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these were highlighted to\nshow these were anti-social, not contributing to peaceful coexistence,\nself-segregating and fostering seeds of animosity given that these were not religious\nrights but new political Islam trends purposely introduced to foster animosity &\ndivision by those promoting it because they had bigger plans in mind which even\nthe Muslims were really not aware of. Easter Day attack was a good example of\nthe extent of extremist ideology that had brainwashed even rich & educated\nMuslims, some family members to become suicide bombers and kill people in the\nname of their religion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extremism that entered via\npetro-dollars backed by powerful preachers, politicians, businessmen was\nnothing that ordinary Muslims could go against \u2013 the lobby was too powerful and\nthe mosque every Friday had the last say in how Muslims behaved. Only a handful\nof Muslims who preferred to live like the majority community while practicing\ntheir faith for personal development and not political advantage were the real\nminority fostering peace. Unfortunately, they too are cornered by their own\njust like the handful of Tamils going against the trend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The manner that the suicide\nbombers & their networks had Rs.5000 notes and the money found across the\nisland showed how money can silence people \u2013 rich or poor. Today, principles are\novertaken by the power of money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again immediately after the\nsuicide bombings, the usual culprits that flog the Tamils are discriminated\nsong began an anti-Muslim drive as the majority of media are Christian-owned and\nChristian influenced (the 1964 Press Commission Report amply provides evidence\nfor this) The same players reversed their story to single out Sinhalese as\nbeing responsible for an anti-Muslim initiative and now that is taking global\nstage with the usual statements asking Sri Lanka\u2019s majority to be sensitive to\nminority rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Completely forgotten is that\nIslamic terrorists attacked Catholic churches no doubt but they also attacked\nhotels that killed 42 foreigners and non-Catholics including Muslims too. Over\n250 are dead. But the paid narrative is always \u2013 Sinhalese are responsible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinhala Buddhists will forever be\neveryone\u2019s scapegoats \u2013 it is fashionable to always point fingers at the\nSinhalese. It is unlikely that this narrative will ever change. As Sinhalese\nBuddhist we can only say truth will come out one fine day and justice will\nprevail. Lies do not last forever. If lies sustains livelihoods \u2013 so be it.\nEarn a living telling lies. Your conscience will know the truth! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The usual culprits are doing what they do best \u2013 stir the pot of trouble. They do not help in the least except point fingers that too at only targeted groups. So the immediate narrative even before investigations commenced was that \u2018Sinhala Buddhists\u2019 were responsible. Goebbells theory continues \u2013 tell a lie repeatedly & it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88164","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\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}