{"id":90645,"date":"2019-06-22T00:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-22T06:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=90645"},"modified":"2019-06-21T17:00:11","modified_gmt":"2019-06-22T00:00:11","slug":"arabified-muslim-bombs-ticking-under-ranils-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/06\/22\/arabified-muslim-bombs-ticking-under-ranils-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"Arabified Muslim bombs ticking under Ranil\u2019s chair"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The shock of the Easter Sunday bomb blasts shattered\nwithin minutes the comforting beliefs of a nation that had settled down to\nrecline smugly in peace for generations to come. Lulled by the sense of\nsecurity that restored confidence in the dawn of a new era at the end of Tamil\nTiger terror in May 2009 no one expected Muslim bombs to blast our faith in a\nnon-violent society fought and won in a 33-year-old war (i.e., from the\ndeclaration of war in the Vadukoddai Resolution in May 1976 to Nandikadal in\nMay 2009). The impression created before Easter Sunday was that the nation was\nmoving towards reconciliation and peace. Ranil Wickremesinghe-NGO combination\nwas marketing reconciliation\u201d as their latest trump card to publicise their\nbrand of politics as a great success. Consequently, the word \u201dreconciliation\u201d\ntripped off the lips of all the political pundits to explain the good, the bad\nand the ugly in the Yahapalanaya regime. It is a word that gained currency at\nnational and international levels to justify the betrayal of the overall\nnational interests to the extremist demands of the minorities. In fact, Muslim\nextremism gathered momentum under the soothing cover of reconciliation\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil-NGO combo believed that their much-publicised\nprogramme of reconciliation\u201d, like the flopped Sudu Nelum Movement of\nCBK-Samaraweera, or the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) of 2002, had restored\nnormalcy and stabilised the nation. Anyone opposing their failed politics was\naccused of sabotaging reconciliation\u201d, or being provocateurs of racism. Even\nthe EU is justifying their attack on the local media by accusing the latter of\nharming reconciliation and peace\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They accuse the media of provoking incendiary racism\nignoring the explosive ground realities, as revealed in the Parliamentary\nSelect Committee (PSC). The grim reality is that there was no need for the\nmedia to demonise the Muslims. The Muslims had done it themselves by going\nalong with the suicide bombers, wittingly or unwittingly, not expecting the\nideological fanatics to go the extreme of pressing the button to meet instantly\nthe 72 virgins in heaven by creating hell on earth. The Muslim leaders had been\na part of the process of establishing brain-washing madrassas that mushroomed\nin every available nook and corner, along with the importation of hundreds of\nradical preachers inculcating politicised Islam to make Sri Lanka a part of the\nglobal caliphate. They prepared the ground\nfor Zahrans to emerge and grab power. Predictably. when the non-Muslim majority\nreacted, as any majority would, to the violent and destabilising consequences\nof such radicalisation the blame came down on them for violating the rights of\nminorities. In other words, in their book of values and rights only the\nminorities have rights. And the only right of the majority is to accept the\nright of the minority to violate whatever rights that are left for the\n majority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media, for instance, doesn\u2019t have to provoke\nanti-Muslim hatred at all. That work was done with precision inside the\nmadrassas by radical preachers and outside in the electorate by\nmulti-billionaire Zahran and his terrorist gang. Following their terror attack\non Easter Sunday the Muslim witnesses at the PSC exposed the machinations of\nrival Muslim sects fighting each other and propagating extremism and\nintra-ethnic and inter-ethnic hatred. When the groundwork was done, with the\nstate looking the other way under the pressures of the Muslim leaders and the\nMuslim leaders going on their bended knees to suck up to Zahran and their\nArabic agents abroad, media didn\u2019t have to cook up stories against the Muslims.\nPSC has heard enough and more stories of Muslims demonising their rival\nMuslims. The role of the media is to report those stories. And if Islamaphobia\nhas reached a new level of intensity, which is inevitable given the horrendous\nslaughter of Christians at prayer, it is stupid to blame the messenger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without anyone\u2019s help the actions of the Muslim\nextremists were sufficient to generate instant antagonisms against the whole\nMuslim community. Take, for instance, the role of M.L.A.M HIsbullah, the former\ngovernor of the Eastern Province. His attempt to spin yarns to cover up his\ntracks is hilarious. His record indicates that his political goal was to\nexploit the rising Muslim radicalism to be the new Muslim messiah in the East,\nwith prospects of rising to be the first caliph of Kathankuddy. In one way or\nanother the Muslims leadership was giving a nudge-and-wink to Islamic\nradicalism hoping to gain by riding on the back Muslim fanaticism to power. The\nMuslim leaders did not gather round Zaharan merely to get a share of 2,000 odd\nvotes, as stated by Hisbullah. They were at his feet to benefit from the rise\nof radical Islam as a political force to confront the state and the\nSinhala-Buddhist majority. It was when politicised Islam backfired on them on\nEaster Sunday that they tried to distance themselves from Zaharan. Now that\nZaharan is not there they are quite brave in denouncing him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arabification of the East was the first step.\nEither through acts of commission or omission Hisbullah had thrown his weight\nbehind it. But he fronts up before the media and the PSC pretending to be the\nmuch misunderstood Sri Lankan patriot who is vilified for discovering the\nscience of cooling the sun-scorched earth in the East by planting date trees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So who is provoking racial antagonisms? Is it\nHisbullah saying that the global Muslim community will drop everything and come\nrushing to save the Muslim minority from the Sinhala-Buddhist majority? Or the\nmedia reporting it? In any case, if the EU has any evidence of the media\ninciting racial hatred it should take the case with substantial proof to the\nPress Council instead of regurgitating the bull dust fed to them by the NGOs\nthey finance for their benefit. Why is the EU rushing into places where\nknowledgeable angels fear to tread? Reconciliation and peace cannot and will\nnot come because EU blames the media. It is merely using the current jargon of\nreconciliation\u201d in the absence of substantial evidence. It is the buzz word of\nreconciliation\u201d that has become the sword and the shield to cut down the\nSinhala-Buddhist majority and defend their anti-Sri Lankan politics\nrespectively.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil, as usual, has misread the subterranean forces\nundermining his euphoria. He is in the same smug, self-congratulatory mood that\nintoxicated him after signing the CFA with Prabhakaran in 2002. Then he thought\nthat appeasing Prabhakaran was the way to end the war. Now he thinks that\nappeasing minoritarianism is the way to achieve reconciliation\u201d. But the\nhistory of ethnic politics has proved that the more you appease the minorities\nthe more they escalate their demands and\/or  violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reconciliation\u201d, in fact, has become a dirty word. In\nthe post-Prabhakaran period, reconciliation\u201d has become a convenient tool to\nput pressure on the government to promote and extract concessions to the\nextremist demands of minorities. And the Yahapalana-ya-kos seems to be ever\nready to go along with those demands, of course, in the name of reconciliation\u201d\nwhich means giving in to ever escalating demands. The Ranil-wing of the\nYahapalanaya government was obliged to give in to the demands for one reason:\nthe evidence of the former Governor of the Eastern Province, M. L. A. M.\nHisbullah, has proved that the Ranil-NGO Yahapalanaya government rode into\npower with the votes and backing of Zahran Hashim. And Ranil hopes to do that\nagain in the coming elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hisbullah\nconfessed that Zahran had the power to summon the entire Muslim leadership and\ndictate terms to them. The Muslim leaders signed an agreement not to even play\nmusic at their meetings. This makes it clear that at the peak of his of power\nZahran and politicised Islam radicalism was the source driving Muslim politics\nin the mainstream. Either directly or indirectly the Muslim leadership was in\ncahoots with the rising tide of Islamic radicalism. And they rushed to Police\nstations to lodge complaints against Zaharan and the radicals not to save Sri\nLanka but to save their own skins. They saw the radicals rising as a rival\npower challenging their supremacy. Radical Islam was a serious threat not only\nto traditional Islam but also to the power base of the Muslims in the\nparliamentary mainstream. The young radical Islamic Zaharans were emerging as a\nformidable threat to their vote banks. They rushed to the Police stations\nhoping that the state would step in and crush the Muslim youth gathering\npopularity and votes in the electorate. . At the same time, they had no\ncompunction in rushing to sit at Zahran\u2019s feet and agree to his radical demands\nand even signing agreements with him. They wanted to have it both ways.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They not only\nwanted to plant the date palms but also eat the fruits of it. Islamic\nradicalism could not have grown to the peak of Easter Sunday without the\nblessings of the conventional Muslim leadership using their influence to\nanesthetize the state into believing that they were their boys\u201d who were\nmerely toying with Chinese crackers. Of course, they did not go as far as the\nTamil leadership that embraced the Tamil terrorists as their boys\u201d. But they\nwere near enough especially with the funds pouring in from the Middle East to\nconsolidate the power of radical Wahabism. They joined heartily and\nbecame  an integral part of the Arabification of the East. And there was a\ndegree of pride in the Muslim community heading in the direction of\nArabification. It meant abandoning the Sri Lankan identity and identifying\ntotally with the Arabic identity. For instance, their argument at the PSC was\nthat they had the right to learn Arabic to understand and study the Koran just\nas much Buddhists had the right to learn Pali to study Buddhism. Plausible,\nIndeed! But the fact is that Buddhist didn\u2019t learn Pali to establish a\nBuddhistan. But the Muslims were learning Arabic to prepare for a Bagdhadidstan\n\/ caliphate, excluding all other communities. Conventional Muslims were content\nin going to Mecca and returning as Al Haj. But politicised Islam was bent on\ntransforming the East into the first caliphate this side of the Suez.  Sri\nLanka was faced with the proverbial camel who crept into the Arab\u2019s tent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil was\nresponding to the Arabification of the East as if\nit was an anodyne variation of Buddhism. He was not inclined to confront\nthe Arabification of the East because\nMuslims, by and large, were with him. His calculation would have been simple: a\ngrowth in Muslim votes would be a growth in UNP votes.  It is, of course,\na known fact that the mainstream Muslims were mainly with Ranil. And the Muslim\nleaders in his camp had the power to directly influence and manipulate\nRanil.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to\nHisbullah\u2019s statistics Zahran was in command of around 2,000 votes. But Zahran\nwas more than that. He was gathering momentum and becoming a force to reckon\nwith. It was a force that the Muslim leaders could not ignore. They were, of\ncourse, pushed into a position of kissing the hand they could not cut. Besides,\nZahran power was not confined to votes. He had money. Tons of it!  Police\nestimate that his asset amounted to Rs 7 billion. He had Rs 140 million in cash\nalone. In other words, National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) had the resources to\nbuy a majority in the Parliament at Jayewardene Pura, if they had planned to do\nso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, the Muslim leadership had acquired\nenough power, through electoral and parliamentary votes and money \u2013 tons of it!\n— to manipulate the Ranil-wing at the core of the Yahapalanaya regime. They\nhad aligned themselves to Ranil Wickremesinghe partly because he had enhanced\nhis constitutional power after the 19th<\/sup> Amendment. The hidden agenda\nof this Amendment was to devolve Presidential power to the Premier\u2019s office.\nRanil was hell bent on transferring Presidential powers to the Premier\u2019s office\nbecause he knew that his chances of becoming president are as great pigs\ndeveloping wings to fly. And more importantly because the Muslims knew they\ncould easily manipulate Ranil who was dependent on their votes to stay in\npower. There was a quid pro quo arrangement.\nYou-scratch-my-back-and-I\u2019ll-scratch-yours was the name of the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ranil-wing was only too willing to let the\nminorities get away with their extremist acts and demands just to stay in\npower. Muslims could get away with raping the Wilpattu forests. Neither the\nPresident nor the Prime Minister knows who raped the forest to this day. In\nfact, the Ranil-NGO reconciliation\u201d programme was so successful that Mullahs\nwere packing their Mosques with swords to cut grass! Ranil must have thought\nthat it was the Muslim equivalent of Christians turning swords into\nploughshares!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Muslim leaders who are with Ranil can be\ncategorised, to some extent, as proxies of Zahran. It is obvious that Ranil was\nunder pressure from the Muslim leaders who were under pressure from Zahran. So\nreconciliation\u201d was another name for pushing the violent extremism of Zahran\nwho dictated terms to the Muslim leaders. When Hisbullah told the Parliamentary\nSelect Committee pointing a finger at former Minister Rauf Hakeem, who is now\nsitting as a member of PSC, that even he signed the agreement with Zahran,\nHakeem could only wriggle in his chair and grin sheepishly, virtually\nacknowledging his guilt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the tragic and pathetic state of power play in\nSri Lankan politics today. Altogether they are wallowing in the same putrid\nswamp. The word reconciliation\u201d has lost its force and meaning because the\nminorities are using it as their tool to dictate terms to the majority.\nReconciliation is a two way thing. But Ranil is using it as a one-way\ninstrument to appease his Tamil and Muslim vote base and his Western and Indian\npartners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is his last gamble. On the one hand, he has lost\nhis traditional Catholic base. The Catholic Church is coming out strongly\nagainst Ranil. Even his Cabinet Minister knew what was going to happen on East\nSunday but no one informed the Cardinal who would have closed the Churches that\nday. More than that, Ranil has galvanised the sleepy Buddhist electorate which\nwas reconciled to accepted reconciliation\u201d (Ranil\u2019s version of it) as the next\nstep. Ranil was also on high after his Supreme Court victory on the\nconstitutional issue of the President sacking him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the Muslim bombs. Rightly or wrongly, it has\nblasted the image of the Muslims as a trustworthy community willing to live in\npeace with the other communities. More importantly, it has blasted Ranil\u2019s\nchances of contesting as a candidate at the coming Presidential election. His\nimage is aligned too closely with the Muslims. This image has magnified\nmanifold in the post-Zahran days. Even sections of the Tamils too are not pleased\nwith the rise of Muslim fanaticism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is the instant and instinctive reaction of the\nmajority to Easter Sunday that has sealed the fate of Ranil. Ranil and UNP are\nnow at the same point as Sir. John and the decadent UNP was in 1956, facing S. W.\nR. D. Bandaranaike. Ranil seems to be aware of it. He is desperately trying to\nwrap himself round the national flag. The background to his TV appearances is\ncovered from wall to wall with a row of Sri Lankan flags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can he fool the people with his optics?  Can his\ncheap cosmetics beat the renewed power that radiated from the bed of Athuraliye\nRatana Thero fasting at Dalada Maligawa? Ranil will try. But it is clear that\nanother 1956\u201d is on the way if the opposition can pick another Bandaranaike\nwith national security, national identity and national prosperity on the\nagenda. . <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala The shock of the Easter Sunday bomb blasts shattered within minutes the comforting beliefs of a nation that had settled down to recline smugly in peace for generations to come. Lulled by the sense of security that restored confidence in the dawn of a new era at the end of Tamil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90645","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=90645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}