http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p025ynjz Sri Lanka Massacre Duration: 10 minutes On September 9, 1990, 184 Tamil refugees were killed by the Sri Lankan army at Batticaloa in the east of the island during the civil war between the Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority. Farhana Haider has been speaking to the Bishop of Batticaloa, Kingsley Swampillai, who was… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Religion
CPA: Attacks on Places of Religious Worship
CPA Attacks on Places of Religious Worship INFOGRAPHIC: Religious Violence in Post-War Sri Lanka 16 September 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Religious tensions have been exacerbated in post-war Sri Lanka, contrary to claims by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that attacks against places of religious worship are isolated incidents. In Mach 2013, the Centre for… Read more »
A Reflection on Just Reconciliation
by Bishop Duleep de Chickera, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, September 4, 2014. History concealed An acquaintance returned from a recent visit to Jaffna to announce it as one of the best holidays she had ever had. The hotels were good, the food delicious, there were numerous places to visit and of course the roads were excellent…. Read more »
Destruction of Christian Churches in Sri Lanka
If the reader has more accurate information, please submit… 1.) Tamil Centre for Human Rights, Paris, France, “World Heritage in Sri Lanka – Buddhist Sites Only,” June 1, 2012, but original list dated 2/12/2004 http://www.tchr.net/pr_on_religious_freedom.pdf a.) For full list of damaged and destroyed churches – http://www.tchr.net/religion_churches.htm (Entire list copied below) or from 2004 TCHR_Christian_Hindu b.) Christian Churches attacked/destroyed/damaged and assaults by… Read more »
Destruction of Hindu Temples in Sri Lanka
If the reader has more accurate information, please submit… 1.) M. Neiminathan, “Destruction of Hindu Temples in Sri Lanka,” March 28, 2014, published by the Federation of Saiva (Hindu) Temples U.K. 288, Haydons Road, Wimbledon, London SW 19 8JZ, Source World Hindu News http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/destruction-of-hindu-temples-in-sri-lanka/ “Since 1977 the number of Hindu temples damaged, desecrated or destroyed by the bombing, shelling,… Read more »
India’s Sri Lanka Policy Must Include Caution
New Delhi’s foreign policy towards Sri Lanka so far has been characterized by oscillation and inconsistency. It had been unduly defined by Tamil Nadu in the 1980s and is now being increasingly influenced by hazy notions of South Asian integration and “Hindu Buddhist unity”, the latter fuelled by ill-informed sections of the RSS. The latter… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Downward Spiral
The government continues to use international pressure to rally its Sinhalese base (Sinhalese people are the overwhelming ethnic majority in Sri Lanka), and the recent rise in repression in the country’s Northern Province, coupled with baseless claims that the LTTE is regrouping within Sri Lanka, are designed to serve those ends.
Sri Lanka’s Agony
Hate-mongering Buddhist extremists in Sri Lanka have set off the country’s worst wave of anti-Muslim violence in years. A bloody rampage on June 15 in and near the southern city of Aluthgama left four Muslims dead, at least 78 people injured, and Muslim homes and businesses destroyed. The attacks followed an anti-Muslim rally organized by… Read more »
Red Pottus, Black Burqas
by Nimmi Gowrinathan, “The Washington Post’ Monkey Cage, June 16, 2014 Kim Yi Dionne: This guest post by political scientist Nimmi Gowrinathandraws from her earlier research and ongoing analysis of gender and violence in Sri Lanka. **** Muslim or not, women are hiding indoors in many parts of Sri Lanka today. Rumors that a bus full of members… Read more »
Buddhist-Muslim Unrest Boils Over in Sri Lanka
“They finished the Muslims in this area,” said M. Farina, who added that the police watched impassively Sunday evening as Buddhist mobs attacked Muslim shops and homes…
The Rajapaksas are hoping to consolidate the Sinhalese majority vote, which is about 75 percent of the country, by demonizing minority Muslims and Tamils, said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu,
USTPAC Condemns Violence Against Muslims
USTPAC Press Release Attack on Muslims June172014 USTPAC condemns the violence against the Muslims in Sri Lanka Stronger international oversight urged to ensure accountability and protection of ethnic and religious groups Washington, DC, June 18, 2014: The United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) strongly condemns the attack on the Muslims in the town of… Read more »
US Commission on International Religious Freedom 2014 Report
Sri Lanka report at http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/Sri%20Lanka%202014.pdf USCIRF is increasingly concerned about the religious freedom situation in Sri Lanka. In the last year there have been numerous attacks against religious minority communities, including Muslims, Hindus and Christians, by extremist Buddhist monks and laity affiliated with Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist groups such as Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and Sinhala Ravaya…. Read more »
Asian Buddhism’s Growing Fundamentalist Streak
* In Sri Lanka, where about 70 percent of the population is Theravada Buddhist, a group of monks formed the Bodu Bala Sena or the Buddhist Power Force in 2012 to “protect” the country’s Buddhist culture. The force, nicknamed BBS, carried out at least 241 attacks against Muslims and 61 attacks against Christians in 2013, according to the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.
Sri Lanka Countries with High Religious Hostility
In some countries, violence toward religious minorities intensified from the levels reported in previous years. In Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, for example, monks attacked Muslim and Christian places of worship, including reportedly attacking a mosque in the town of Dambulla in April 2012 and forcibly occupying a Seventh-day Adventist church in the town of Deniyaya and converting it into a Buddhist temple in August 2012
Towards Reconciliation and Rebuilding of our Nation
Catholic Bishops Conference Sri Lanka Pastoral-Letter Dec 2013 Sri Lanka is at the cross roads of a possible new beginning after a disastrous 30 year conflict which did bring much suffering and pain to all our people of every race and religion, the effects of which are sƟll being felt and causes the emergence of… Read more »
External Development cannot Substitute the Settling of the Basic Unresolved Issues
by the Commission of Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna, October 18, 2013, courtesy TamilNet.com, October 21, 2013 Fr_Mangalam_JPC_131018 To: His Excellency Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Spiteri, Apostolic Nuncio Apostolic Nunciature 220 Bauddhaloka Mawatha Colombo 7 Your Excellency, Greetings to your Excellency from the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic… Read more »
Some Notes On Moors Religious Exlusivism
Dr.Imtiyaz Razak I would like to sketch some points about Moors to help readers to understand the trend. Note that I am neither hired by external forces, as some alledged, to criticize Moors nor do I hate my own community so I criticize it. As I pointed on my facebook wall “We need to be critical of… Read more »
Sri Lankan Mosque Closed as Religious Tensions Mount
“Each one on its own is not a big issue, but taken together it seems to be part of a bigger picture in which the majority is increasingly intolerant.”
Extremism Rises Among Myanmar Buddhists
“Myanmar monks are quite isolated and have a thin relationship with Buddhists in other parts of the world,” Phra Paisal said. One exception is Sri Lanka, another country historically bedeviled by ethnic strife. Burmese monks have been inspired by the assertive political role played by monks from Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority.
Why Christian Persecution is Worrisome in Sri Lanka
Moreover, the government appears to be desperate to garner popular support – on which the survival of some top officials depends in the post-war scenario – by aggressively pursuing Sinhala Buddhist nationalism.
If the propaganda against Christians and Muslims carries on unabated and the government continues to provide impunity to Buddhist groups, the space for religious minorities to practise their basic freedoms is likely to shrink much further. The International community needs to act sooner than later.