{"id":90215,"date":"2019-06-11T16:49:26","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T23:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=90215"},"modified":"2019-06-11T16:49:26","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T23:49:26","slug":"political-aftershocks-of-the-easter-sunday-terrorist-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/06\/11\/political-aftershocks-of-the-easter-sunday-terrorist-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Political aftershocks of the Easter Sunday terrorist attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Translation of a speech made by the Leader of the Opposition Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday, 11 June 2019 at his official residence on Wijerama Mawatha Colombo.)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Venerable\nmembers of the Maha Sangha, clergymen of all other faiths, citizens of Sri\nLanka and friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nterrorist attack that took place on the 21st of April is a watershed in the\nhistory of this country. Today, a fear of terrorists who murder those who do\nnot subscribe to their religious ideology, has spread throughout the country.\nEconomic activities have been adversely affected. As was the case during the\nwar, parents are once again guarding schools. Today, religious observances have\nto be performed under tight security \u2013 a situation that we did not experience\neven during the war. We are unable to celebrate Vesak and Poson as we used to.\nDevotees are searched before being allowed to enter places of worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis now mutual mistrust between the Muslim community and the followers of other\nreligions. This mistrust is now developing in a dangerous direction due to the\nallegation that a Muslim medical specialist attached to the Kurunegala hospital\nhad due to extremist religious ideology, rendered women belonging to other\nreligions infertile. At a time like this, the leaders of the country and of the\nMuslim community, should act in a very responsible and circumspect manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Two or three weeks after the bomb attacks, we saw\norganised groups of people attacking Muslim owned business establishements in\ncertain areas obviously with a view to igniting a countrywide riot. But those\nincidents ceased almost as quickly as they started due to resolute opposition\nfrom the general public. There was strong opposition to these acts of violence in\nthe social media as well. We saw similar incidents taking place around 2014 in\nthe run up to the 2015 presidential election. On the 9th January 2019, we found\nthat both the perpetrators and victims of those incidents, were with the common\ncandidate. This time too they seem to have been aiming at a similar stunt, but\ntheir attempt failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nof us should understand that everything that we see happenning now, is directly\nconnected to the presidentail election that is due to be held in a few months.\nThe present government is seeking to retain for the next presidential election\nas well, the Muslim vote base that they organised around themselves using\nvarious stratagems before 2015. Opposition MPs tabled a no-confidence motion\nagainst one Cabinet minister on the grounds that he had connections with the\nterrorists responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks. No confidence motions are\nan integral part of the parliamentary tradition and a right exercised by the\nparliamentary opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\na no confidence motion is tabled in Parliament, it can either be debated and a\nvote taken, or the Minister concerned can resign and resume his portfolio if he\nis cleared of the charges. That is a tradition that applies to all members of\nParliament regardless of their ethnicity or religion. In years past,\nno-confidence motions had been tabled against Muslim Speakers like M.A.Barkeer\nMarkar and M.H.Mohamed but at that time, nobody looked at them in religious or\nethnic terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ntime however, when a no confidence motion was tabled against one Muslim\nMinister, all All Muslim ministers in the government resigned. This seems to be\nploy on the part of the UNP government to organise and line up all Muslim\npoliticians on one side and to obtain the Muslim vote at the forthcoming\npresidential elections.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nany case, the en mase resignations have resulted in the opposition\u2019s\nno-confidence motion being rendered void. Since public attention has been\ndistracted by the mass resignations, the government has managed to sweep many\nother issues under the carpet. The Central bank bond scam has been forgotten. The\ndebt crisis has been forgotten. Some of those injured in the Easter Sunday\nattacks are still in hospital but they too have been forgotten. There is now no\ntalk about extremists. The searches have stopped. The discovery of weapons has\nceased. There is no talk of the steps being taken with regard to the terrorist\nsuspects arrested. Thus, the government has killed about a hundred birds with\none stone.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nUNP is making good use of the Muslim community for their political purposes. The\nUNP needs the votes of the moderates as well as the extremists within the\nMuslim community. They don\u2019t care where their votes come from. The Muslim leaders\nfor their part, want a government they can manipulate at will. But this\nconfluence of interests will not solve the problem that the ordinary Muslims of\nthis country face today. The ordinary people of this country want protection\nfrom extremists terorists. The ordinary Muslim folk in this country want to\nweed out the terrorists from their midst and to resume their normal lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today,\na brutal terrorism that targets the followers of other religions has emerged\nfrom within the Muslim community. Buddhists, Hindus and Christians are joining\nhands in a common endeavour against that terrorism. Moderate Muslims should not\nbe isolated from this unity of purpose that is being forged. Muslim religious\nleaders and intellectuals have admitted that as a result of the extremist\nideologies that came into this country from outside, the Sri Lankan Muslim community\nhad gradually isolated themselves from the rest of Sri Lankan society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due\nto the emergence of exclusively Muslim political parties from the 1980s\nonwards, Muslims isolated themselves in the political sphere as well. The en\nmasse resignation of Muslim Ministers marks a high point in this process. When\nthe former ministers who resigned came to explain matters to me in my capacity\nas the Leader of the Opposition, I raised this issue with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend Mr\nM.H.M.Ashroff who was the first to form an exclusively Muslim political party,\nlater realised his mistake and towards the end he formed a political party that\nwas open to all communities called the National Unity Alliance. But after his\ndeath, this trend towards integration stopped and the isolationist trend gained\nmomentum.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the fact that Muslim political leaders are\ncompletely dependent on the Muslim vote, they need the votes of the extremists\nwithin their community as well. Muslim extremism spread throughout this country\nbecause the Muslim leaders were unable to oppose it. There is the oft heard\ncharge that the Muslim leaders speak of reconcilation in Sinhala but spread the\nmessage of communalism in Tamil. Islamic extremism has gained traction in this\ncountry due to that kind of politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spread of extremist ideologies among the Muslim\npopulation in this country did not take place all of a sudden. It took place\nover a number of years, in the midst of heated debates, threats, exchange of\nfisticuffs, the burning of mosques, the burning of houses and even murder. Even\nin the midst of all that, Muslim political leaders provided patronage to the\nextremists and allowed them to flourish. After the Easter Sunday bombings,\nMuslim leaders said that they never thought something as serious as this would\nhappen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be\nthat as it may, we now have to find a solution for what has happened. The\npeople of this country will never tolerate terrorism. This extremist terrorism\nwill have to be destroyed by whatever means necessary. Due to the JVP\u2019s\nterrorism, Sinhala persons were arrested, Sinhala homes and temples were\nsearched. Due to LTTE terrorism Tamil persons were arrested, Tamil homes and\nkovils were searched. If a terrorism that has emerged from within the Muslim\ncommunity is to be crushed, Muslim individuals will have to be arrested, Muslim\nhomes and mosques will have to be searched. Anyone who says that terrorism can\nbe crushed without such measures, is not being truthful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terrorism based on religion may be a new thing to us,\nbut it\u2019s a very familiar menace in all Muslim majority countries. The vast\nmajority of Muslims in the world are moderates. In all the Muslim majority\ncountries from Indonesia and Malaysia through Oman, Dubai and up to Morocco,\nthe vast majority of Muslims live ordinary lives like we do. Adherents of other\nreligious live in large numbers in most Muslim majority countries and they are\nsecure to the extent that religious extremism has been suppressed in the\ncountry concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nin the case of Sri Lanka, religious extremism is the biggest enemy of the\nworldwide Muslim community. This is the main tool used by imperialists to\ndestroy Muslim countries. Imperialist powers have already destroyed\nAfghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libiya and Yemen by promoting religious extremism in\nthose countries. The extremist terrorism that has now come into this country\nwill not do the local Muslim community any good. I hope the danger of isolating\nlocal Muslims from other communities in this country would have dawned on our\nMuslim leaders at least at this late stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nother communities must get together and protect the moderate Muslims at this\njuncture. Every Muslim for his part should use his own reason and eschew narrow\nreligion based politics. That change should come from within the Muslim\ncommunity. When the people of different communities in this country are uniting\nagainst terrorism, we expect the moderate Sri Lankan Muslim community to join\nthem, following the example set by the vast majority of the global Muslim\ncommunity. I wish to emphatically state before the people of Sri Lanka that terrorism\nwill not be allowed to exist in this country under a government led by me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May the blessings of the Triple Gem be upon you, God\nbless you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Translation of a speech made by the Leader of the Opposition Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday, 11 June 2019 at his official residence on Wijerama Mawatha Colombo.) Venerable members of the Maha Sangha, clergymen of all other faiths, citizens of Sri Lanka and friends, The terrorist attack that took place on the 21st of April […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mahinda-rajapaksa","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90215","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=90215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}