Sri Lanka: Holy places for minority religions attacked

Photo courtesy: Sri Lanka Mirror

JDS News
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Religious minorities in north western and north central provinces of Sri Lanka were in fear after a powerful minister and Sinhala supremacist organisations attacked Muslim and Hindu holy sites within a week while police were looking on.

On Saturday the 10th of September, a Muslim shrine in the predominantly Buddhist town of Anuradhapura was demolished by a mob led by Sinhala Voice National Organization, Buddhist Defence Foundation and the Dhamma Vijaya Foundation. On Tuesday, the 13th, Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva along with a group of followers forcibly entered the Munneswaram Bhadrakali Hindu temple in Puttlam district and disrupted an annual religious festival.

Muslims and Hindus targeted

Both attacks were carried on in broad daylight while police teams accompanied by senior police officers looked on. The police spokesman who has told media that the Munneswaram festival has been banned by courts due to the slaughtering of animals as offerings to deities, denies any knowledge of the Anuradhapura attack. In Anuradhapura the mob uprooted the Muslim shrine close to the monument where Sinhala warrior king Dutugemunu's ashes are believed to be cremated.Muslim leaders in Anuradhapura say that the shrine demolished by the Buddhist organisations has been in place for over one and a half centuries.



In Munneswaram, the annual offering of domesticated animals to the temple, has been a centuries old ritual attended by Buddhists as well as Hindus. Minister Silva who came with a group has forcibly taken the animals away with the help of police. While police claim that the magistrate courts in Chilaw has ordered to stop the slaughter, appeal courts in Colombo has refused to ban the ritual.

Police inaction

However, in both incidents police who were present have not intervened to maintain law and order.



Several powerful ministers in the Rajapaksa government from the Hindu and Muslim communities have not made their position public on these attacks. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakim is also the justice minister while the ministry of religious affairs comes under Prime Minister DM Jayaratne

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