{"id":90942,"date":"2019-07-01T16:26:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T23:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=90942"},"modified":"2019-07-01T16:27:17","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T23:27:17","slug":"some-questions-to-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/07\/01\/some-questions-to-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"SOME QUESTIONS TO EU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sug<\/em>ath Samarasinghe\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

We read in an editorial in \u2018The Island\u2019\nnewspaper of this country that the Colombo Office of the EU had stated that:\n“We are deeply concerned by political and religious pressure being\ndirected at Sri Lanka’s Muslim community which is undermining peace and\nreconciliation in the country.\u201d We believe that the EU office referring here to\nthe incident of suicide bomb explosions committed by some Muslim extremists on\n21st<\/sup> April in this country in 9 different places such as Catholic\nchurches and Tourist hotels that resulted in an unprecedented over 250 deaths\nof men women and children in churches and over 500 other people who have been\ninjured some of whom are still under treatment in hospitals. We are curious to\nknow why the EU is not accusing the Muslim extremists in this country for\ncausing such horrendous crimes on the rest of the communities by way of political\nand religious pressure\u201d. How are these crimes committed on the other\ncommunities by the Muslim extremists be ignored by EU? When such incidents\nhappen in EU countries too, do you arriange your comments that way? Could you\nplease tell us which of these incidents did not undermine peace and\nreconciliation going on in this country?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that you have shown concern on the\n\u2018political and religious pressure directed at the Muslim community in Sri\nLanka, tell us whether following freedoms provided to Muslims here, is afforded\nto them in your countries?        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • The Muslims in this\ncountry who comprise a mere 10% of the population enjoy the facility of calling\ntheir flock to prayer daily, five times a day over the public address system\nfitted on top of the mosques though some people among the other 90% sometimes\nconsider it a public nuisance. We are curious know whether any of your\ncountries provide such a facility?<\/li>
  • The Muslims in this\ncountry stop their work in work places at noon on Fridays and rush to mosques\nto pray. That is not counted against their leave. Do they enjoy that kind of\nfacility in your counties?<\/li>
  • The Muslims here enjoy\nfood stuffs classified as \u2018Hallal\u2019 which only is considered wholesome food for\ntheir  consumption, marked so on packets,\navailable in our supermarkets etc. Do you have such a facility available to\nthem in your countries?<\/li>
  • Do you have as Public\nHolidays in your countries, days that are considered Holy by Muslims such as\nRamadhan, Haj Festival and Prophet Mohamed\u2019s Birth Day etc. where the 90% of\nthe rest of the community also enjoy a holiday? \n<\/li>
  • Is it possible according\nto the common law prevailing in your countries for Muslim males to take more\nwives than one which facility is not provided to males of the other communities\nwho constitute 90% of the population though it is discriminatory against them?\nIf they afford themselves such a facility it is construed as polygamy which is\na criminal offence here.  As a result,\neven some members of the 90% rest of the community who wished to enjoy such\nfreedom started converting to Mohamedism. Curiously, this practice was ruled as\nillegal. More curiously no body challenged this ruling as discriminatory or as\nunequal treatment of one section of the community! Yet more curiously, no such\nfreedom is made available the Muslim women!!<\/li>
  • Similarly, does the law\nprevailing in your EU countries permit males to marry girls under 12 years of\nage even without their express consent? If not, are you devastated to know that\nthis is possible exclusively under the Muslim Marriage Law in this country? Do\nyou know that if any other member of the 90% of the community do such a thing,\nhe will be arrested, charged and convicted for a criminal offence of rape\naccording to the prevailing criminal law of this country? Do you know that this\npractice is not challenged as cruelty to children or a violation of children\u2019s\nright or even discriminatory against them for the fear of bringing undue\npressure on them endangering peace and reconciliation? Very strangely, this\nissue is not an issue for Human Rights groups in this country or outside our\ncountry, even in spite of the fact that we have an Independent Commission for\nHuman Rights? Does that offend the righteous sentiments prevailing in your\ncountries? <\/li>
  • Do you have in your\ncountries, separate courts called Kathi Courts to settle disputes among\nMuslims, which other communities do not have? We do have.<\/li>
  • Do the Muslims have in\nyour countries a variety of schools called \u2018Madrasas\u2019 to teach the Quranic\ndoctrine to Muslim Children? We have. In fact we have allowed our Muslims to\nimport some 600 foreign teachers to teach religion in these schools. Will our\ncountries allow such facility?  <\/li>
  • Quite apart from that, do\nyou have Schools exclusively for Muslim children run by the state as we do\nhave?<\/li>
  • If so are such schools\ngiven holidays for three months when the students are required to observe\n\u2018fasting\u2019?<\/li>
  • We learn that in 2016 \u2013\n137 mosques were attacked \u2013 60 in France, 54 in Germany, 21 in Sweden & 2\nin Switzerland. Is this true or mere blasphemy? In fact the Muslim Affairs\nMinistry here has reported that there are in this country 180 unauthorized\nmosques already. In such circumstances, how valid do you think your assertion\nthat political and religious pressure being directed at Sri Lanka’s Muslim\ncommunity which is undermining peace and reconciliation in the country\u201d? Or, is\nit the other way about?<\/li>
  • On the other hand we have\nheard some disturbing information about your good countries. It is reported\nthat1700 mosques exist in UK and half of these were attacked since 9\/11. 57% of\nBritish public support burka ban in UK (YouGov poll) in 2016. After the\nManchester attack a mosque was torched in Oldham.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    • We have another curious\nsituation in our country in that an ancient Buddhist temple at a place called Kuragala\nis taken over by some Muslims claiming that it is a Muslim shrine. In another\nplace called Mudu Maha Viharaya, we have a situation where the entrance to an\nancient Buddhist temple is blocked by Muslim encroachers. Does that kind of\nthings happen to ancient churches and other places of worship in your EU\ncountries? If such a thing happens your counties, what will they do? Here\nagain, isn\u2019t it being political and religious pressure directed at Sri Lanka’s\nMuslim community which is undermining peace and reconciliation in the country\u201d\nin the reverse?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      In\nour country hitherto, Muslim women were wearing \u2018hijab\u2019, \u2018niqab\u2019 or whatever\nelse they call such dresses covering their heads and faces, without any\nproblem. After the recent bomb attacks, the Secy. Public Administration ordered\na dress code for public servants, with view to enhance sense of security in\npublic offices. The Secy. was questioned at a Parliamentary Select Committee\nsittings as to how dare he did that apparently violating Human rights. Does that\nkind of thing happen in your EU countries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Again\nwe are told that Netherlands \u2013 bans full face veil in government buildings,\nschools, hospitals and public transport. Party for Freedom declares to ban all\nmosques in Netherlands. Could this be true? Isn\u2019t Netherlands an EU country? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      •  Furthermore, we are told that the European\nCourt of Justice interprets law for the EU and decisions are binding of member\nstates. ECJ allows employers to ban hijab. Accordingly, it is reported that\nFrance was the first EU country to ban burka & niqab wearing in 2011.\nFrance has shut down 20 mosques and prayer halls for preaching radical ideology\nsince 2016. After Paris bombs pigs head were thrown at mosques. Could such\npolitical and religious pressure\u201d be exerted on Muslims in a highly civilized\nand democratic EU country like France? If it is not true, please tell us so\nthat we could disabuse our minds. This information is claimed to have been\nfound in http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/thousands-take-part-in-anti-islam-pegida-protests-across-europe-a6857911.html<\/em>.\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Again, in Italy- in\nLombardy burka ban was approved in local government buildings and hospitals.\nTaken in this light, has our Secy. Public Administration violated any Human\nRights of anybody?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        •  Austria had banned foreign sources of\nfinancing and Imams must speak German. 156 assaults against Muslims in 2015.\nAustria\u2019s new \u2018integration law\u2019 banned full face veil in 2018. Isn\u2019t Austria an\nEU country? Could this information be true?<\/li>
        •  Belgium has banned halal animal slaughter.\nBelgium is the 2nd country after France to ban burka in public in 2011. We\nbelieve Belgium is an EU country? Could they exert such political and religious\npressure on Muslims living in their country? Are they violating any Human\nrights laws?  <\/li>
        •  In Denmark TV2 survey is alleged to have revealed\nthat a third of respondents believed Denmark was at war with Islam – 5 Muslim\nhate speakers were banned and 6 radical Islamic preachers were banned from\nentering Denmark. Halal animal slaughter was banned in Denmark in 2014. Could\nthis, if true, be considered Religious and Political pressure being brought on\nthe Muslims in this country? Isn\u2019t Denmark an EU country?  <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          In view of all this we in\nthis country are confused. Could you please enlighten us as to how we could\nreconcile these confounding positions in EU countries and your comments on Sri\nLanka?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Sugath Samarasinghe                         <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Sugath Samarasinghe\u00a0 We read in an editorial in \u2018The Island\u2019 newspaper of this country that the Colombo Office of the EU had stated that: “We are deeply concerned by political and religious pressure being directed at Sri Lanka’s Muslim community which is undermining peace and reconciliation in the country.\u201d We believe that the EU office […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90942","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=90942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}