Turning The Country Into A Permanent Killing Field And The ‘Halal’ Bomb

March 8, 2013 | Filed under: Colombo Telegraph,Opinion,Popular | Posted by: COLOMBO_TELEGRAPH

Latheef Farook colombotelegraph 1

Latheef Farook

Unless BBS is contained and persecution of Muslims stopped country will be heading towards a catastrophe

Muslim parliamentarians should either get their government to stop the persecution of Muslims or leave the government if they have an iota of sell respect

Time for Jamiathul Ulema to confine to preaching and leave the community alone.

Isn’t it time that responsible Sinhalese wake up and save the country from the unfolding disaster unleashed by the Jathika Hela Urumaya, Bodu Bala Sena, Sinhala Ravaya (JHU- BBS –SR) combine.

What is the ultimate goal of this disastrous hate Muslim campaign? What lesson they learnt from the three decades of carnage caused by this very same racism? It is unlikely that those who refuse to learn lesson from the recent past will ever learn any lesson .Under the circumstance isn’t it up to mainstream Sinhalese to contain these elements and save the country from a July 83 type bloodshed.

Obviously their immediate target is to crush the Muslim community in keeping with their long established dream of wiping out Muslims after crushing the Tamils. The question is at what cost and for whose benefit?

They have already succeeded in poisoning the minds of substantial section of Sinhalese community. Encouraged by the government’s refusal to bring them to book they may even, perhaps, attack Muslims, kill couple of thousands, destroy Muslim owned businesses and properties and turn the country into a permanent killing field.

What would be the outcome? Will they be able to wipe out the Muslim community from the island? Will they be able to produce a better Sinhala society on the misery of Muslims? Is it in the interest of the Sinhalese? Aren’t they bringing Sri Lanka to its knees and destroying Buddhism and Sinhalese society within? Aren’t they tarnishing the image of Sri Lanka in the international scene?

Mahara mosque – 03rd March Mahara mosque – vandalised

Mahara mosque - vandalised

Who are the beneficiaries of this hate Muslim campaign especially at a time when the government’s alleged war crimes against one minority, Tamils, is discussed by the world community in Geneva. Under such circumstance whose agenda the JHU-BBS-SR combine is implementing to the detriment of all in the island.

Only a year ago Muslims protested the unjust treatment of Sri Lanka at the United Nations. Months later the BBS which appeared from nowhere and vigorously claiming to be guardian of Buddhism and Sinhalese began a well-orchestrated hate Muslim campaign in violation of the very Buddhist teachings which they vow to protect.

Aren’t the JHU-BBS-SR combine serving the interest of the enemies of Sri Lanka?

The All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema, an association of religious preachers, and its leadership which brought the Muslim community to the brink of disaster, made representation after representation, meeting after meeting and plea after plea with the power that is to stop the persecution of Muslims and bring the perpetrators to the book.

All these pleas fell in deaf ears while the persecution of Muslims continues unabated with BBS emerging as a government within a government.

Disgusting state of affairs is such that a three wheel driver early this week spat at with chewed betel leaves on the clothes of a Muslim woman in Kotahena, niece of a very senior government Muslim politician. In yet another incident Muslim Students of a Buddhist school in Panadura were summoned by the Principal to be instructed to go down on their knees and worship their class teachers every morning when they come and leave the school.

Helpless Muslims living scattered all over the island live in fear and spend sleepless nights. The threat to the community remains the most talked about topic these days.

The shameful violent hate Muslim campaign is not something unexpected. Many predicted an attack on Muslims when Israel, international pariah expelled time and again from the island during the past five decades, managed to sneak into the country after the LTTE war ended in May 2009.

For more than a year and half, in many of my articles, I warned of the threat to the country posed by the by Israeli presence here. As expected, many suspect that the Israelis together with Norway have been behind the ongoing hate Muslim campaign. Some suspect that they picked up racist elements, trained and finance them to set the Sinhalese against Muslim as part of their global anti-Muslim agenda implemented by United States and Europe in active collaboration with Israel.

Justifying this belief it is worthy to note that the New Delhi based fortnightly “The Millie Gazette” of 1-5 December 2009, disclosed that Indian Information Ministry report (2008) stated that foreign money worth Rs 7877 cores was received by Hindu communal organizations in India to cause riots against Muslims. These organizations got money from Israel via Europe, instead of getting them direct from Israel. Similarly tours of leaders of Hindu organizations to Israel have also increased very much. They are brainwashed in Israel and used as tools against Indian Muslims. Hindu organizations use the foreign money on anti-Muslim riots, bomb blasts and other such activities. Investigations give credence to the belief that Hindu terrorists are poisoning the socio-political atmosphere in India and Israel is helping them through financial means”.

Isn’t this happening in the island now? Aren’t the ultra-nationalists and ethno religious fascists frequent visitors to Israel? So finally Israelis have brought Islamophobia to Sri Lanka and political leaders flock to Israel to shake hands with Zionists soaked in Palestinian blood.

If these extremists are genuinely interested in the Sinhala society they should start a campaign to close down the flourishing liquor industry, gambling, casinos, dealings in drug and fight against crime and corruption wreaking havoc in the country.

They are not interested, as their agenda is political, perhaps, to serve their local and foreign masters without realizing the harm they cause to the country. Halal issue, a non-issue, is a pretext to hoodwink the majority community. If there is a problem with the ACJU deal with it and leave the community alone.

They failed to understand the sacrifice Muslims made to preserve the territorial integrity of the country. Had the Muslims supported the separatist call at the early stage when the country’s armed forces were ill equipped to face the challenges posed by the LTTE the history would have been different and certainly there wouldn’t have been a united Sri Lankan for ultranationalists to claim as their exclusive property.

It was Muslim community’s fierce opposition to LTTE call for separate state prevented the creation of Tamil Eelam. Do they realize the sufferings Muslims were subjected to?

Even today Muslims remain a sidelined community under the overall Sinhalisation program underway in full swing while talking of unity. For example hardly any Muslim is recruited to armed forces, police and rarely one could see a Muslim employee in government departments and other state institutions. Even mercantile sector seems to have closed their doors to Muslims who are, by and large, excluded from Government contracts, tenders and all such activities.

Indifference towards Muslims remains open and around 130,000 Muslim refugees from north continue to languish in refugee camps in appalling conditions almost four years after the war.

The reality is that this is a multi religious, multi-racial, multilingual and multi-cultural and unless this reality is accepted peace and progress will remain a distant dream despite all out drives to promote the majority community. There is also no need for any Muslim to produce” certificate of patriotism” as demanded by few chauvinists as this country belongs to all citizens.

As constituent members of the government, Muslim parliamentarians remain party to this persecution against Muslims. The mood among the Muslim community is that Muslim parliamentarians should either get the government to stop the persecution of Muslims or leave the government-IF THEY ARE LEFT WITH AN IOTA OF SELF RESPECT.

It is time that the ACJU, a body not elected by the community, realizes its limit and confines itself to preaching instead of hob knobbing with politicians and insulting the community.

Hate Muslim campaign started around three years ago with an extremely venomous website campaign describing Islam and Muslims as uncivilized barbarians in the typical Zionist Jewish style of anti-Muslim propaganda. The strategy is to prepare the minds of the people for a violent anti-Muslim pogrom.

Muslims repeated appeals to the government to block these websites and check the anti-Muslim campaign bore no fruit.

In the midst from nowhere there appeared the BBS, in the same line as Hindu fascist Shiva Sena in May 2012. The unanswered question is who are these BBS ethno fascists and from where do get their financial resources?

The BBS occupies one of the most expensive newly built high-rise buildings in the city, seems to be having enough of money and a well-organized network of cadres covering many parts of the country to implement their designs. Some are even asking whether these cadres were the very same 300 Sri Lankans sent to Israel for what they described as “agricultural training” but, some believe, were trained by Israeli spy agent Mossad to cause anti-Muslim havoc in the island.

They commit crime after crime under the watchful eyes of the police.

Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara told the cabinet that men in three-wheeler scooters in some villages had gone around inviting people to gather at temples to be told to boycott Muslim business houses. Notices had been distributed in classrooms in schools in Colombo South requesting students to carry out a similar boycott. The irony is that some temples, meant for spreading Buddha’s message of peace and harmony, are used to sow seeds of hatred.

UNP parliamentarian Kabir Hashim said “the government is promoting BBS to divert the country’s attention from the numerous problems it is facing now.

JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe accused multi- billionaire Sinhalese businessmen of being behind Buddhist – Islam ‘bomb’. He said there are no conflicts between poor Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. It is the forces that want to maintain the vile capitalist system that are behind such conflicts.”

He added that “Sri Lanka is a country where Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and others live peacefully. Their beliefs should be respected. What is behind this issue is a business war. The government should comprehend this clearly and act accordingly. The ‘Halal’ bomb is about to explode in the country. The dominance is unleashed in various ways due to their economic interests. We should carefully identify the forces that kindle these clashes”.

Dropping a bombshell opposition parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera said Defense Ministry is secretly doling out monies to Buddhist monks from it slush fund to promote the BBS’s terrorism against Muslims. He accused the BBS of manufacturing problems to create tension between the Sinhalese and Muslims. As a result thousands of innocent Muslim families were living in fear.”

He accused the government of conspiring to divert the nation’s attention by stoking religious hatred and fanning the flames of racism. What is most repugnantly noteworthy is, this conspiracy is targeting our own section of Sri Lankans. The country is fast heading towards a holocaust against Muslim community.

Island wide campaign pasting anti-Muslim posters, running various websites and sowing seeds of racial hatred and protests have been underway. Moreover, it is learnt that the police too is not giving adequate protection to the Muslims and in some instances, the police had not even taken down the complaints. They are a blind eye.

He thanked the Muslim community for being patient amidst these provocative actions. But if this is to continue, this can constitute a serious threat to the Sri Lankans across the globe .This can have an adverse impact not only on the Sri Lankans in the middle east who are a mainstay of our economy, but even the High Commissions abroad and the staff.

Hence I implore these BBS extremists in this country not to play with the lives of the innocent Sri Lankans. Extremism feeds on itself, and begets extremism. Because of this country’s Buddhist lunatics, Islam extremists can be spawned. Today, the need is to reinforce the Lankan identity being a multi religious and multi-racial society. Just because we Buddhists have become the majority, the whole country does not belong to us. It belongs to Tamils ,Muslims, burghers and others said Mangala.

He added that while safeguarding our Sri Lankan identity, all of them have a right to carry on their traditions and customs, religious observances and protect their cultural heritage. In this country there should not be second class citizens. All should be equally protected. Specially, as Buddhists that is our responsibility. That is the best way we can serve Buddhism which was founded on the cornerstones of compassion, sympathy and non-violence.

Addressing the UNP parliamentary group on 19 Feb UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the Norwegian ambassador in Colombo makes secret visits to the BBS headquarters and BBS cadres also invited Norway at various times for discussions and given financial assistance. He alleged the government was not taking concrete action to diffuse rising tensions between religious groups in the country.

148 Responses to Turning The Country Into A Permanent Killing Field And The ‘Halal’ Bomb

The trend should be visible – a Douglas for the Tamils, followed
by a Hakeem for the Muslims. The stage is set for a slave drive.

punchinilame - March 8, 2013
8:29 pm
- Don’t trivialize the issue in order to score a punchi point.
  
  The Muslim people are facing a grave situation due to right-thinking people not speaking against the madness of BSS and stupid people like you saying unwanted things. I agree with Mr. Farook that foreign hands are involved. Otherwise there is no reason for this Islamaphobia to suddenly appear from nowhere. Norway has an axe to grind against the government. The monks who are with the BSS are enemies of Buddhism and the country at large. They are working hand in glove with all those forces today trying to undermine the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. The government should take stern action against the BBS-JHU-SR combine without worrying about it’s voter base. Sri Lankan society is undergoing rapid change due to neo-liberal economic policies, globalization, foreign travel and social media. Sinhala Buddhist people, especially the younger generation, are gradually becoming more cosmopolitan like the rest of the world. If the government demonstrates it has the political will to crackdown on Buddhist fanaticism – just like what it did to Eelam fanaticism – then the majority of the Sinhala Buddhist people will speak out against the raving maniacs who are damaging the image of Buddhism and the country. Now the people are afraid to talk. So the government must act before it’s too late and alienate the extremists. The Muslim leaders too should denounce extremists and fundamentalists in their community. Don’t let them speak for your community.
  
  Rambler - March 8, 2013
  10:32 pm
- I am a supporter of Bodu Bala Sena and I can very proudly say that our Sinhala-Buddhist Nationalist Patriotic government and specially our defense secretary are with us. We will not demand or do anything without our Sinhala-Buddhist Nationalist Patriotic government’s blessings. We are grateful to our Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who opened the new Buddhist Leadership Academy to train our Bodu Bala Sena members. The Buddhist clergy in the Eastern countries is well known for martial arts. They learned it for self defense. As long as the present Defence secretary is with us we have no fear but to defend ourselves in Sri Lanka in the future, we may have to form our own Bodu Bala Sena regiment/saffron brigade, a separate army to protect the Sinhala-Buddhists from non- Sinhala-Buddhists who gets help from several countries that are hostile to us. Our Sinhala-Buddhist clergy entered into politics in order to protect Buddha’s blessed Country and the Sinhalese people whom he chose to protect his doctrine (Dhamma).
  
  Whether the others like it or not, Sri Lanka is a SinhalaBuddhist country and the SinhalaBuddhists are the majority. If you are living in SinhalaBuddhist country like Sri Lanka then you should follow the SinhalaBuddhist way of life. Buddha blessed Sri Lanka not once but thrice before introducing Buddhism to Sri Lanka (a Buddhist country). It was none other than Buddha himself who chose the Sinhalese as the sustainers of Buddhism. That is because he knew that only SinhalaBuddhists can protect it from others. Therefore the Sinhala-Buddhists should always be the majority in Sri Lanka and only a Sinhala-Buddhist should rule Sri Lanka (King/President).
  
  As SinhalaBuddhists who follow the Buddha’s teaching, we are always very peaceful and compassionate towards others and that is the reason why we allowed others to live in our country but they are also supposed to be calm and compassionate towards the SinhalaBuddhists. They should Never Ever even dream of retaliating under any circumstances if we try to discipline/moralize them to our way of living. We will not tolerate if they do not obey us.
  
  All the ancient archeological artifacts found in Sri Lanka are only Buddhist and Hindu. Only the Buddhist and Hindu statues are found in all our ancient places of worship such as the Kandy Dalada Maligawa, Anuradapura Sri Mahabodi, Katharagama, etc. The others such as the Muslims and Christians are aliens to Sri Lanka. The colonial invaders forced the Buddhists and Hindus and converted them to Christianity. Similarly, the Arab traders who came to Sri Lanka married Buddhist and Hindu women and converted them to Muslims and even today they are doing the same. There are several cases of Sinhala-Buddhist women marrying Muslim men; they are forcefully converted to Muslims.
  
  Our main problem today is the Muslims. If you see the population growth in Sri Lanka from 1981 to 2012, the Sinhalese have a growth of 38.2% and the Tamils have a growth of 20.3% where as the Muslims have a growth of 78.6%. The Tamils were only asking for a piece of land by waging a war (it was open so we very easily crushed them) but the Muslims will take over the whole country very secretly and peacefully if we allow them to grow at this rate. We cannot allow the Muslims to become a majority in Sri Lanka. At any cost we have to stop it. We SinhalaBuddhists sacrificed our lives in tens of thousands in freeing our country from the LTTE not to hand over to the Muslims on a platter. Birth control should be enforced only for the Sri Lankan Muslims and it should be banned for the Sinhala-Buddhists. In this regard, the government agreed to ban family planning methods that control birth. We have also started a programme to educate the SinhalaBuddhists the importance of being the majority and the advantages of producing as many children as they can. We are working on introducing new laws to legalize Polygamy so that there will be no legal restrictions for Sinhala-Buddhist men and women in taking multiple partners with the objective of producing more and more children. It is Buddha’s wish that we Sinhalese should multiply to be the sustainers of Buddhism in this world.
  
  Muslims have been living in this country since 7th century and now only they want to have Halal food in Sri Lanka. Population wise they are only 5%. If we allow Halal, next time they will try to introduce circumcision on us. We have to nip these in the bud before it becomes a custom. We should never allow the Muslims and Christians to control anything in Sri Lanka. What is Halal to Muslims is Harem to SinhalaBuddhists. Slaughtering cow and eating beef should also be banned in Sri Lanka. Instead, we should promote pork. We are glad that the parliament has re-introduced pork in their menu. Hijab, burqa, niqab and purdah should be banned in Sri Lanka. The law and the legislature should always be under the control of the Sinhala-Buddhists and our Nationalist Patriotic president. After all, Sri Lanka is a gift from Buddha to the Sinhalese. We know what the Muslims have done to countries that were Buddhist once upon a time (Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Malasiya, Indonasia and so on). We do not want that to happen in our land. This is the only way we can protect our SinhalaBuddhist country, our SinhalaBuddhist religion and our SinhalaBuddhist race from these aliens.
  
  We are very grateful to the present Nationalist Patriotic government for giving us full support and strength to carry out our programmes very smoothly.
  
  Bodu Bala - March 10, 2013
  5:05 pm
  - “If we allow Halal, next time they will try to introduce circumcision on us. We have to nip these in the bud before it becomes a custom.”
    
    Oh! For heaven’s sake please do not use the words “circumcision” and “nip in the bud” in such close proximity ever again. It gives me the creeps.
    
    You have too good a spelling and grammar to mean what you say.
    A not too subtle attack on the government by a frustrated Christian-NGO-civil-society-UNP type of gentleman leading a comfortable but boring life.
    
    Rambler - March 10, 2013
    10:43 pm
    - If we give up Halal you will ask us to eat Pork!
      
      Nabil - March 11, 2013
      6:05 am
    - Do not worry there are a number of Buddhists who crave for Halal meat and there are several who circumcise themselves and they know the benefits. If the Sinhala Buddhists want to increase their population they are welcome and one step they take in that direction is to allow the 40000 odd Monks to get married. That will also prevent them from having illegal sex.
      
      Mohamed Marzook - March 11, 2013
      11:13 am
      - We should promote Jhatka meat. Its style preferred by Ashoka the great. And listen Sinhalese and Hindus make less babies so that they can give best education to them and make Lanka prosperous.
        
        You are stateless fellows, Muslims dont belong to any country.
        
        Rajat Chakraborty - March 18, 2013
        10:07 pm
  - A good cut and paste job…I see u having typing the same BS on all Halal related articles…I will tell you again…The actions that these BBS thugs in Safron robes are taking will eventually lead SL to be split…If you want to promote Buddhism..live the values it preaches..What bigots like you are doing at the moment will only drive away people from Buddhism…
    
    Hamas - March 11, 2013
    6:34 am
  - Dont let this vein talk distract you from the fact LTTE operates in Sri Lanka under the name Bodu Bala Sena. BBS has 3 tasks, they have succeeded in one and FAILED in two.
    
    1. Provoke the Sinhalese to attack Muslims to make sure Sri Lanka loses the voting in Geneva and gets slapped with economic sanctions: FAILED.
    
    2. Destroy Sri Lankan economy by banning Halal which will result in reduction of 75% of Sri Lankan tea and other food exports and 40% tourism. FAILED
    
    3. Convince the Western governments that the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is not over in order to stop expulsion of the Tamil asylum seekers from the West: SUCCESSFUL.
    
    And finally Mr. Bodu if Bodu Bala Sena is so concerned about the Sinhala jaathiya they should be Geneva now, where the whole country is facing a massive danger.
    
    Palitha Heenthotuwa - March 16, 2013
    1:57 am
  - Either you are a grade 8 educated moron or an educated fool who has learned the art of CNTR+C and CNTR+V. All your arguments are naive, stupid and not warranting any reply from anyone who has a brain!
    
    mahanama - March 20, 2013
    8:35 am
Dear Mr. Farook,

I read similar article in Tamil, save your Israel notion, at Sonakar.com, written by one Mr. Nisthar. He dictates the ACJU to refrain from politics and the Muslim ministers to get out of parliament in protest, if they are not in a position to deliver anything meaningfully to the community and the country.

Why do not you both put your thoughts together and work to save our community as well as our country in this time of need.

Anyway this is not simply a very good article, but right guidance for right minded people to think and act. Will they do?

Ahmed Nadvi - March 8, 2013
9:41 pm
When a minority community was slaughtered you took the side of oppressor not to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country but for the political gains.As you claim you worked over time to cover up the largest genocide in the world of this century.
Now the Tamils are completely done and they want fresh enemies to keep the masses churned.

Religious understanding should be mutual and reciprocal.Muslims will never eat meat products offered to other gods or deities.How can they expect the non Muslims to eat the meat which was slaughtered and sacrificed in the name of another religion. Every non Muslim has the right to reject the halal food as Muslims do.

Newton - March 8, 2013
9:57 pm
- Now the minorities feel that majority suppress minorities, actually the majority Sinhalese are also suppressed by a handful of political goons, all the fundamental rights of Sinhalese taken away by suppressing the independence of the judiciary.
  
  Never blame the majority community. Politicians have destroyed the entire nation. Future generation is without any rights. This should come to an end very soon. It is a blessing for the majority community and the entire nation that UNHRC resolution is referred to the UN Security Council.
  
  Kanishka A - March 9, 2013
  12:30 am
  - I have to agree with you. The past sixty-years and on-going political culture should be brought to an end.
    
    Mohamed Marzook - March 9, 2013
    9:22 pm
- Don’t overplay this issue. I feel sorry for the Muslims. But to put it in perspective this is nothing compared to what the Tamils underwent. The Muslims were partners in those atrocities. Even during and after the 2009 war Muslims benefited hugely by being the brokers and perpetrators. Some Muslim ministers did more damage to the Tamils than the Sinhalese. But now the Sinhalese have begun to understand the dirty game of the Muslims. What the Muslims want is a permanent conflict between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. Unlike them the Tamils are not going to take advantage of this situation. That is why they have been always loosing. Muslims to are people but they are not special people. In Sri Lanka Tamil wants to be “equal people” Muslims wants to be “special people” Sinhalese want to be “only People”.
  
  Lanka Liar - March 9, 2013
  7:03 am
  - Your name “Liar” is the only bit of sense in your comment. In your attempt to denigrate the Muslims in Sr Lanka, and your ugly effort to poison minds, you have overlooked one small point that makes your comment weak and meaningless – It is not the Muslims who are picking on the Buddhists, their places of worship or they way they dress. It is not the Muslims who object to eating what the general population has been eating for decades. It is the fact that the minority Muslims are being deliberately targeted by devious elements, with the sole intention of causing communal problems in this small country.
    
    As for you laughable claim that Muslims wants conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamil is sheer garbage – the Muslims have been victims of the LTTE and displaced by them, and a high number of them were killed as they prayed in their Mosque. So don’t make ridiculous, unsubstantiated comments, and suggest they were perpetrators. The problems here is trouble makers like you spread the hate and the ignorance with Islamaphobic garbage.
    
    Mimi - March 9, 2013
    1:13 pm
    - Mimi said “It is not the Muslims who object to eating what the general population has been eating for decades.”
      
      Are you sure? To be honest, I cannot remember ‘halal’ badge in any of our food products even ten years back. But Muslims lived eating canned, packed and other food with no halal badge all this time. So what is this Muslim renaissance for them to have food only with halal badge now. Did all Muslims that ate such food ended up in hell?
      
      noble - March 10, 2013
      2:41 am
      - Ten years back we were faced with the Muslims had to face the ignominy of having a halal stamp on pork sausages. Bearing of the halal stamp was completely unregulated.
        
        And the halal process does not include reciting a prayer of conducting a Pooja before the product before it gets the stamp. The process just insures that no najees (dirty things according to Islam) plays a role in the packaging, manufacturing and transportation phases of the product cycle.
        
        The only place where a prayer is recited is before slaughtering an animal, if a non Muslim is uncomfortable with that, don’t buy any halal meats, that’s it.
        
        Halal issue is a non issue, any adversity against the issue is based on idiocy
        
        Thambiya - March 18, 2013
        8:16 am
    - Your comments are well supported. The comments of lanka liar and the likes are self explanatory of the nature of their respective mind set. We could do well without such individuals in our society. It is not a matter of sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or any other community,people like lanka liar should be done away with. It is simply a matter of jealousy and being ignorant of an immovable long standing, growing world culture,which sooner or later each and everyone will succumb to.
      
      Nihar - March 10, 2013
      3:53 pm
    - Thanks for the comment on my name. As you suggested this is the only word that makes sense in Sri Lanka now.Yes Muslims too suffered because of the war in the hands of LTTE. But just because they suffered they don’t become saints or can be exonerated them from what they did to the other communities. Some of the Muslim politicians cleverly played the Tamil Sinhalese card to get much more benefit than the two communities. The introduction of standardization by Dr.Bud Udeen Mohamed benefited more Muslims even the Colombo Muslims were treated as special people. This is the case every where.Religious rights freedom and human rights are to be upheld but we also must be intelligent enough to identify the foxes who loiter to pray on the dead corpses. Can a Buddhist Christian or a Hindu build a place of worship in most of the so called Islamic counties. If they try they will lose their head. Haven’t we seen it? It is time the Sri Lankan Muslims send this message across to the other Muslims to treat other religions as they have been treated in Sri Lankan except for the few recent incidence. Saw what happened to the house maid. See what is happening in Pakistan for the Christian community. See the bombings of churches in Nigeria. If killing Muslims in Mosque is wrong Killing Christians in Churches is also wrong. When Muslims are killed in Mosque all religious leaders Hindu Cristian Buddhist everybody condemn it and speak out. Can you sight one example of one Mulsim condemning a Church bombing. they only say we are investigating. Unless the Muslims speak out and condemn these atrocities rather than hiding behind some religious law tradition or culture they want to be treated and become “special people”
      
      Lanka Liar - March 10, 2013
      4:32 pm
      - Lanka Liar
        
        On this comment I totally agree with you.
        
        kattakarawala - March 12, 2013
        1:11 pm
- The non-Muslims can see the Halal label on the food/drink item. So if they do not want the item they can be without buying it. Are the Muslims or the ACJU forcing the non-Muslims buy Halal items.No. It is the producers who want to attract Muslims to their produces want Halal labels. Is that not the simple fact.
  
  Mohamed Marzook - March 9, 2013
  9:20 pm
Lateef Farook finds fault with the Sinhalese, the Tamils, the LTTE, the Israelis and almost everybody else. But has neither the decency nor the courage to admit the provocation, to a large extent, came from the other side. The raw truth is BBS is a direct response to the creeping fear the majority felt all around them for sometime now, which is probably why the Rajapakse Govt is reluctant to take action against them.

Quoting from the BBS, these are (1) the mystery of the sudden and large proliferation of brand new mosques all over the country in the past 2 decades or so. Who financed them and are they necessary in such large numbers (2) the incredible baby boom – notably in the Eastern Province from where come more MPs and more Ministers now than all other areas combined in the country. They have now come out with the numbers to demand a Provincial Council all of their own – in demarcated territory – once the home of Tamils (3) this Halal Certificate is the first of many economic instruments engineered to harm the wider majority interest country-wide, with the help and on instigation from sources planning a global Islamic conquest using local agent-provocateurs (4) there is an insidious conspiracy to outnumber the Sinhalese over a period of time resulting in Islamicising the entire South of the island – like the fate that overtook nearby Maldives.

Farook’s ire predictably is against the Israelis “international pariah, provocative..sneaked in” His vituperative language lacks in taste but certain packs a lot of venom. It is strange almost all Muslims in the country are mentally conditioned to hate anything connected with Israel and the Jews. It is a fact the other two major communities do not share this prejudice. Many Muslims do not understand the meaning of Zionism or Zionists except the venom that is fed to them from their pulpits and through vitriolic literature.

Farook, in the fear of attacking the Sinhalese and the BBS directly, finds it convenient to pour his hatred against the absent Israelis more by innuendo. It may be noted Islamic Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the PLO, Hamas – all neighbouring Israel – enjoy and maintain good relations with the Israeli government. This information is kept away from our Muslims by their leadership and Mosques. It is the local lot that is taught to hate everything Israeli. Still, he tries the congenital form of deception in asking “are these same 300 Sinhalese who were sent to Israel to learn agriculture” now donning the floak of the BBS? The man is unlikely to go far with this light ammunition.

If GoSL was wiser they should have maintained as good a relationship with Israel as they do with our Arab friends. We should have taken the wiser lesson from the Indians – who have throughout maintained the equilibrium. JRJ’s government were on the right course in the early 1980s when they were in the process of upgrading the Israeli presence here. But then Foreign Minister ACS Hameed – full of anti-Israeli arsenic sabotaged this. A divided JRJ Cabinet then – with hawks like Premadasa, Cyril Mathew, Athulalathmudali, Gamini Jayasuriya et al – threatening the stability of JRJ’s administration – took the path of least resistance. The brilliant Civil Servant Douglas Liyanage was made the sacrificial lamb then. To President Mahinda Rajapakse’s credit (more perhaps due to Gothabaya’s) the good that can come to this country from Israel and its friendly people is now in place. Looks like the “Buddhist lunatics” (Farook’s expression) are coming of age.

Farooks uncontrollable rage blinds him to the history around him as he claims “it was the Muslim community here that prevented the coming of Eelam” ??? A lame claim which surely is a first to an experienced and well-informed journalist-writer.

This threat of our losing our Tea market in the Arabic countries and the fear of lose job opportunities in the Gulf are all hollow claims to scare the Rajapakse regime. The new oil-rich countries cannot manage without the dirt cheap labour from the present suppliers of human resources – including Sri Lanka. They find it in their interest to spread the supply sources in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Phillipines, Bangladesh, Indonesia etc., As to Tea they will buy Tea or anything else from anywhere if the price is right. The advantage to our tea is the Arab consumer is used to Ceylon Tea and is unlikely to move away from this established habit. That our Muslims do not enjoy any particular love with the Arabs was adequately proved when they ignored the years long plea from our Muslim leaders in the matter of that poor girl Rizana Nafeek.

Farook should invest his time and effort more usefully by advising his community to live in peace and harmony with the majority instead of
creating fear and unnecessary apprehension of the fear of challenge in them.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 8, 2013
11:34 pm
- Your defense of Israel is touching. EIther you are naive about Israel’s capabilities for trouble, or deliberately trying to make us believe Israel is that helpless victim that is constantly picked on by the entire world and blameless. You know the Israel that called us Sri Lankans “monkeys” , trained our troops, while training the LTTE at the same time? You know Israel that have hundreds of UN resolutions agains them for using bombs against the neighboring civilians, uses fake passports for Mossad to go into other nations to assassinate scientists, leaders (in Dubai), and kidnaps Iranian scientists? Israel that steals lands, water, and holds the Palestinian people under siege? Israel controls the US (and they know it), and has vicious pro Israeli servants like Pamela Geller who is backed by millions of Jewish money to propagate hate against the Muslims, by putting up posters in subways, and who protests the building of mosques in the US. Your naive claim that Israel has good relations with it’s neighbors is just a load of nonsense. The US has to pay Jordan and Egypt to be “nice” to Israel. Syria just found Israeli spying devises in their shores. Israel is constantly bombing it’s immediate neighbors. Where do you write from? Sounds like Tel Aviv.
  
  Why should the Sinhala people be intimidated by the building of mosques in Sri Lanka? There are far too many temples all over the country, and the present effort to build more should ease insecure minds that the Mosques will take over a Buddhist dominated country.
  Sri Lanka can do without mischief makers that have evil agendas not with the best interests of our nation.
  
  Mimi - March 9, 2013
  1:30 am
  - @Mimi
    I have been reading the comments of sengutuvan for a longer period no doubt he hails from TelAviv like many other agents who have traveled there, Sometimes he is anti Rajapaksa, whenever Israel is pulled he gets hurt, any way you nailed him right on his head.
    
    Fine article at the right time, kudos Lathif farook.
    
    Hade Sheriff - March 9, 2013
    11:06 am
- Bleeding hearts, licking the wounds of tiger defeat. A Zionist sympathizer on the dole preaching the values of BS (Corruption, Injustice, Indecency. Every community has the right to strengthen their faith and progress towards the parameters set by the law of the land.
  
  maghribi - March 9, 2013
  7:05 am
- Senguttuvan,
  
  You seem erudite and I state the following with with much respect.
  
  1. Farook’s premise about Israel is trite. I agree with you.
  2. Having said this, Israel is not, for want of a better phrase, a constructive partner. Read this: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/john-mearsheimer/the-israel-lobby.
  3. The reason JRJ shied from full diplomatic relations was because Sri Lanka was active in the Non Aligned Movement and its grant of full diplomatic status would have been detrimental at that (valued) forum. Bear in mind Iran gave us fuel back then because of NAM. Your logic that it was anti Muslim is overly simplistic. When Reagan bombed Libya and transgressed Muslim opinion countless times Sri Lanka did little.
  4. I agree that Muslims in Sri Lanka need to embrace multiculturalism, lets hope this can be settled in a safe, constructive way.
  
  archie.midas - March 9, 2013
  7:34 am
- You’re making a fool out of yourself ShitGooTavern. You try to dress your worthless thoughts with flowery english but in summary you make no sense at all. Keep sucking up to your terrorist masters but narrow minded bigots like you have no place in a decent society.
  
  mahanama - March 20, 2013
  8:44 am
Mr. Farook you are at your best. I salute you for bring this issue in this manner so the decent people of mother Lanka would understand that they are fighting with fire. If they go on this path there would be no salvation for them and the country.

Thank you. I was a regular reader of your column for many years when you were at Khleej Time and Gulf News in Dubai. Please keep it up until there is a good solution for this issue for the people of the country to live in peace and dignity irrespective of religion and language. All religions teach love and peace not hate and vengeance.

Ainie - March 9, 2013
12:20 am
While thanking Mr. Farook for his well-researched write-up, which may or may not be agreeable, I would like to specially point out the assertions made against the Jamiathul Ulama. They are very true and and the Jamiathul Ulama should take cognizance of it.

Zulkifli Nazim - March 9, 2013
2:17 am
Senguttavan, even if LF has gone overboard with his apparent fear-mongering, would it not be fair for the government to inquire into his serious allegations?

In recent times, in many parts of the world there seems to be an orchestrated anti-muslim campaign. And SL has just caught up, by design or otherwise.

Even if halaal certification is outlawed in SL,I am sure the local Muslim community will manage to comply with their dietary edicts as they had done for centuries before that. Hence it is obvious that “halaal” is a non-issue and is only used as a smoke-screen by those extremist elements in pursuing their subterranean agenda.

As for the Muslim population over-running this country in due course, that seems to be a very tall order. Further, irrespective of community, all of us are undergoing serious economic hardships and as such it would be foolish to add to our misery by bringing forth more children! Despite this economic imperative, its a great scare-story for the BBS and its ilk.

I am of the view that despite perceptions/allegations against the government, it will not allow the anti-muslim wave to proceed beyond manageable levels both for national and international reasons.

The Muslims have to simply accept the fact that, just like their Tamil brethren, they have publicly been unofficially relegated by these extremists to the status of “second-class citizens” in this Sinhala-Buddhist paradise. The accident of your birth in SL does not make you a full citizen!

If you are a “good boy” you will be allowed to enjoy the largesse of this “miraculous” country, but only in moderate dosages. Don’t try and get too big for your boots, okay?

Stick and Carrot Management at its best!!!

MNZ - March 9, 2013
2:43 am
The feelings expressed by BBS / JHU / SR against the muslims are not new. In the past they have been expressed in various ways against the other minorities like the Tamils and Muslims as well.

The Burghers who were a very talented race saw the writing on the wall and migrated to Australia in the 60′s. So did many Tamils after the 83 pogrom. Muslims too have faced difficulty in educating their children, finding employment etc and have migrated in significant numbers. So the minorities are relatively better off due to the foreign exposure and income.

What we are seeing with BBS / JHU / SR is a vain attempt to blame their backwardness on the muslims and other minorities. They wish to be the sole owners and benificiaries of the national wealth on the country. Minorities can live here but according to their terms and conditions. Govt is silent because they are dependent on these extremist factions for their votes. They have to feed the monster otherwise it might devour the master.

So it is expected that no major action will be taken against such extremist groups. It is left to the muslims to look after themselves and their own people. This threat should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen and unite the community.

ACJU should devise an alternate method of certifying Halal for muslims only. As stated by the author they should not venture into commercial activities which are best left to the proffessionals and entrepreneurs of the community. Care must be taken that the activities of muslims do not infringe on the rights of other communities and vice versa.

Safa - March 9, 2013
3:53 am
MNZ – I am with you the State must look into reasonable fears expressed by Muslims – as Mr Farook does. Muslims have a right to expect the State/Constitution to protect them. The harassment we hear from many parts of the country directed towards Muslims shames all of us. They are human beings. Their women and children are subject to fear and protection to their persons and property – like all of us. Where is the law if thugs go into a Muslim shop and walk away with goods – refusing to pay. This is the law of the jungle
and unless stopped now will come to haunt other communities too.
None of us can feel safe or comfortable until all Muslims are made to feel safe – whatever the real or perceived provocations are.

Why has not the President and the Kandy Mahanayakas come out with strong and unambiguous statements calling for the protection of Muslims
at this juncture?

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 9, 2013
4:02 am
Viola Farook, you nailed it. Forthright and outright. No one said it any better. The ordinary Sinhalese folk are extremely friendly and get along well with Muslims, sharing and caring, until this bombshell that came from nowhere. Now there is an undercurrent of doubt, suspicion and distrust amongst the same people of both communities. We all know this BBS clan acting on their accord tried to attract people’s attention on several purported inconsistencies in Management of Temple properties, Examination Dept., Law College entrance exam, Archeological Dept, but nothing registered on the public mind so much, until this ‘Halal’ bomb. Now it has become the common fodder for stoking the embers of racism. Prayers and patience are all that Muslims have, to safeguard themselves, their families, businesses, properties and dignity against this onslaught, until they ride out this storm.

Marwan - March 9, 2013
4:16 am
Every being on earth has to pay for their sins,no one is exempted,not even
the kings and queens,why oh why do the evil minded not realize that?
They are collecting their clothes to go to hell.

Karuna - March 9, 2013
6:04 am
The muslims should !earn lessons from the experience of the Tamils.

Make sure you do not alienate the ordinary Sinhala people. They are your major allies, as a very decent people. Do not confuse and confound the Sinhala rabble with the Sinhala community. Cultivate your relationship with the ordinary Tamils. They are your kin by language and a large share of culture. You have rights to being what you are, as long as you do not exaggerate your grievances and exacerbate the existing problems. However, cherish your Sri Lankan identity .

Change your politicians,if needed, but continue to work with the governments to defend the rights of Muslims as a constituent community of Sri Lanka. Demand that your politicians pursue your interests, without subverting the interests of others or selling your community in their self interest. Pursue your traditional culture, in dress and appearence, which was prevalent for hundreds of years and was consonant with the culture of the other people’s here, while also complying with the requirements of Islam. The Arab mode of dressing is not yours. Seek to defend your rights as a community within the Sri Lankan identity. Forget pride and self righteousness , while seeking solutions. Do not permit outside forces to poke their fingers into your affairs. Most of all remember the innocent majority amongst you will pay the price for the intemperate words and actions of those who lead you and want to lead you. Please do not run away from this country, because of reasons connected to your communal identity. You will be playing into the hands of those who want you to do so. Please also do not be provoked into violence for whatever reason.

Dr.Rajasingham Narendran

Dr.Rajasingham Narendran - March 9, 2013
6:11 am
- Dr. Narendran – The Arab mode of dressing is only for comfort as we sit on the ground in the Masjid. Decency should be the criteria on any dress code. We appreciate the wisdom behind your advice. Thank you.
  
  Ceylonese - March 9, 2013
  1:08 pm
- Other than saying not to do “the Arab mode of dressing”, Narendran is telling you Muslims to become the Majority and do like Saudis do asap.
  
  noble - March 9, 2013
  1:09 pm
- Dr
  
  I dont know which planet your are on when you say dont alienate ordinary Sinhalese as they are your allies. Without wishing to get involved in the argument that is raging in the country I would tell you this the vast majority of the Sinhalese are racists. It is sad but true and there are very few decent and fairminded Sinhalese who will come to yours or muslims rescue. They will rather sit at home and watch and will not take to the street to protest. We have had so many race riots since independance during which thosands of Tamils were slaughtered and where all these allies as you call them.
  Any one who plays the race card will be swept to power and how do you think SWRD got into power and it was by promising to bring Sinhal only over night. Why do you think Ranil is out in the wilderness for so long
  and will be elected to lead the country except the UNP.
  Be a realist and accept that the Sinhalese are never going to grant you FREEDOM JUSTICE AND EQUALITY without outside intervention. It is nearly 63 years since independance and we are still figthing for F J & E.
  Gotha says that he took to arms as he couldnt reach any agreement by talks. Do you know what he is talking about as I dont. We tried to talk for 63 years look where that has got to.
  
  kali - March 10, 2013
  6:29 pm
Using foreign influence for one side and not the other is a tested practice of blame. As much as I despise Israel for its mistaken notion of homeland, I also despise the BBS coterie of the mistaken notion of this being a Buddhist homeland.

Foreigners of all types try to buy their religious influence as a practice, and we must just be careful who/how/why/how much to keep tabs on the level to protect our country not just the existing religions.

For example Wahabiism is a fundamentalist version of Islam, which the Muslim community should have prevented from undue influence but failed. Sri Lankans of whatever religion must stand strong to protect their beliefs from being hijacked.

I wish all religion and race based parties are banned as it leads to divisive behavior in this case both by the Buddhist and Muslim parties.

The majority community must not live in this minority skin of theirs, and the minority community must respect majority customs to live and let live.

Both parties are being led by more fundamentalist thought and there lies the nub of the problem.

We must be a multicultural/multicultural society, with a little more allowance given to Sinhala (not Buddhist) as this is the only country that is home to the Sinhala people. Therefore the latters customs require appreciation and respect.

Remember worshipping one’s parents is NOT buddhist, it is a Sinhala custom, and most Muslims also followed it till recently when the fundamentalists started saying it can only be done to God!

So in small ways try and make allowances, as has been done by Muslims who have the same genes as the Sinhala people, but who decided to generally speak Tamil at home only in the past 200 years.

Read one’s history and learn to appreciate the country we live in, and behave as ONE nation not separate.

If Mother Teresa’s nuns can wear sari, why do Muslims have to wear Arab dress? Yes they have freedom to wear whatever, but look at its impact on the host community. That is called compromise for good neighborliness.

Something to think about for national unity. You would do it in America, why not in Sri Lanka?

Patta Pal - March 9, 2013
6:33 am
I have no idea whether Israelis are the perpetrators of the current hate campaign against Muslims, but one thing is absolutely clear, this hatred is damaging ‘TRUE’ Buddhism much more than the grief it is causing the minority races in Sri Lanka. Politicians will only be asking the question how many votes can I win using any situation. I commend those who ‘really’ know Buddhism such as Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero and Dambara Amila Thero for the stands they are taking against the short sighted action of BBS against Buddhism.

Walter - March 9, 2013
8:03 am
- Walter – The Zionists view conflicts around the world as business opportunities. The Sinhellists are enticed into it and eventually lose their robe. The mayhem in the Arab world should be the lesson to learn.
  
  Ceylonese - March 9, 2013
  1:19 pm
- Walter,
  So you think Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero and Dambara Amila Thero are the greatest scholars of Buddhism in this country. I think they are more like experts of opposing the government but make all aspirants to power guinea pigs and pack them to extinction.
  
  noble - March 9, 2013
  1:24 pm
May be this is what they deserve for what they did at the time the SLG was against the similar minority Tamils. Being a minority themselves, the muslims then took a side with the SLG for personal and community benefits and grants from the SLG. In fact some carrots were shown to the muslims which tempted the muslim leaders who gathered their supporters to betray the other minority Tamil community. NOW, IT IS THE RECEIVING MOMENT FOR THESE MUSLIMS.

kaputakukula - March 9, 2013
8:32 am
- All Muslims should abhor terrorism in all forms of shape and size. We as a community never supported the tigers either financially or morally. However we support the Tamils to fight for their rights as equal citizens of Sri Lanka through diplomatic and peaceful means. Time for all peace loving people to join forces and eliminate the threat Zionist trained Sinhellists.
  
  Ceylonese - March 9, 2013
  1:42 pm
  - You Muslims have a ..
    
    This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy
    http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2/
    
    kaputakukula - March 10, 2013
    7:02 am
- You’re wrong KAPUTAKUKULA..
  It wasn’t the Muslims who Turned against the Tamil Hindu’s It was the Tamil Hindu’s Untold atrocities.. and to make their Ealam purely for Tamils… which caused the Muslims to Turn away from them..
  
  I hope you’ll get some facts..
  
  Peace..
  
  Concerned - March 9, 2013
  4:30 pm
- What would you expect from Muslims after expelling by LTTE (Tamil proxy) from the own homes, businesses and properties sans money, personal jewellery and valuable belongings injust 24 hours. Do you still expect graciousness from them? We will fight our own battles because we believe Allah is sufficient for us.
  
  Marwan - March 10, 2013
  6:13 am
The grievous pain of a self inflicting wound is to undermine our elders and the learned people. This is against the precept of Islamic value. The author was; well respected in his views for a number of years however, lately the attack on the learned people whether they are good or bad should be carefully examined before accusations are pointed/printed at them. There is always two or more version to a story and that’s why Islamic shariah is very very strict on slander and back biting. The criteria for accusation is very stringent and only a Islamic Judge could pass give a verdict with relevant evidences. I hope the author and the critics will take note of this. Let’s remember we are all accountable for our actions.

The Sinhellists (BBS/JHU/SR) are a group trying to cash in with rage of Islamo’phobics around the world. They are just a bunch of losers and we should not give them any prominence; instead identify them as enemies of humanity. The good people in the country out number the evil minded saboteurs. Their ultimate destiny is fire Insha’Allah. We can see the Zionist’s contribution and the impending collapse of their evil financial system, the war mongering, the debt crisis, the dysfunction of social order to name a few.

The practicing Muslims around the world have a clear goal in life. Their objective is to depart this world with a currency known as merits. The Prophet (peace and blessings are upon him) said verily the bankrupt person from my nation is the one who will come on the Day of Judgment with good deeds the size of a mountain (meaning a lot of good deeds). So he will come with these good deeds but he has oppressed this person and he abused this person and he hit this person and he took the wealth from this person. Therefore this person he oppressed will take from his good deeds and that person will take from his good deeds and this person will take from his good deeds and if his good deeds run out before he repays that which he owes then he will be given the sins of those he wronged and their sins will be flung on top of him and then he will be flung into the fire.

“Verily, that which is lawful is clear and that which is unlawful is clear. And between the two of them are doubtful matters about which many people do not know. Thus he who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honour. But he who falls into doubtful matters [eventually] falls into that which is unlawful, like the shepard who shepards [his flock] around a sanctuary, he is certain to pasture [his flock] in it. And verily, every king has a sanctuary, and verily, Allah’s sanctuary is His prohibitions. And verily, in the body there is a lump of flesh, which, if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and which, if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart.”

Maghribi - March 9, 2013
9:52 am
- Maghribi,
  What I cannot understand is why at least learned Muslims not think impartially and weigh up PBUH Muhammad’s good deeds against his bad deeds rather than self-justifying all his action out of sheer fear.
  
  noble - March 9, 2013
  1:33 pm
  - Noble – All our deeds are accountable and we will receive judgement accordingly. All Muslims strongly believe.
    
    Maghribi - March 9, 2013
    1:50 pm
  - Well Mr Noble..
    There wasn’t any bad deeds.. to weigh up against…
    
    Concerned - March 9, 2013
    4:33 pm
    - Concerned: If you say all deed by PBUH Muhammad is nothing bad, I as a person who read his life and work from Muslim side as well as the opposite side can only imagine your mental standing.
      
      noble - March 10, 2013
      2:51 am
      - Why don’t you assess the mental standing of the following personalities.
        
        IT (ISLAM) REPLACED MONKISHNESS BY MANLINESS. IT GIVES HOPE TO THE SLAVE, BROTHERHOOD TO MANKIND, AND RECOGNITION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL FACTS OF HUMAN NATURE.
        
        CANON TAYLOR, PAPER READ BEFORE THE CHURCH CONGRESS AT WALVERHAMTON, OCT. 7, 1887, QUOTED BY ARNOND IN THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, P.P. 71-72.
        
        SENSE OF JUSTICE IS ONE OF THE MOST WONDERFUL IDEALS OF ISLAM, BECAUSE AS I READ IN THE QUR’AN I FIND THOSE DYNAMIC PRINCIPLES OF LIFE, NOT MYSTIC BUT PRACTICAL ETHICS FOR THE DAILY CONDUCT OF LIFE SUITED TO THE WHOLE WORLD.
        
        SARONJINI NAIDU, LECTURES ON “THE IDEALS OF ISLAM” SEE SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF SAROJINI NAIDU, MADRAS, 1918, P. 167.
        
        HISTORY MAKES IT CLEAR HOWEVER, THAT THE LEGEND OF FANATICAL MUSLIMS SWEEPING THROUGH THE WORLD AND FORCING ISLAM AT THE POINT OF THE SWORD UPON CONQUERED RACES IS ONE OF THE MOST FANTASTICALLY ABSURD MYTHS THAT HISTORIANS HAVE EVER REPEATED.
        
        DE LACY O’LEARY, ISLAM AT THE CROSSROADS, LONDON, 1923 P.8.
        
        BUT ISLAM HAS A STILL FURTHER SERVICE TO RENDER TO THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY. IT STANDS AFTER ALL NEARER TO THE REAL EAST THAN EUROPE DOES, AND IT POSSESSES A MAGNIFICENT TRADITION OF INTER-RACIAL UNDERSTANDING AND CO-OPERATION. NO OTHER SOCIETY HAS SUCH A RECORD OF SUCCESS IN UNITING IN AN EQUALITY OF STATUS, OF OPPORTUNITY, AND OF ENDEAVOURS SO MANY AND SO VARIOUS RACES OF MANKIND… ISLAM HAS STILL THE POWER TO RECONCILE APPARENTLY IRRECONCILABLE ELEMENTS OF RACE AND TRADITION. IF EVER THE OPPOSITION OF THE GREAT SOCIETIES OF EAST AND WEST IS TO BE REPLACED BY CUPERTINO, THE MEDIATION OF ISLAM IS AN INDISPENSABLE CONDITION. IN ITS HANDS LIES VERY LARGELY THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM WITH WHICH EUROPE IS FACED IN ITS RELATION WITH THE EAST. IF THEY UNITE, THE HOPE OF A PEACEFUL ISSUE IS IMMEASURABLY ENHANCED. BUT IF EUROPE, BY REJECTING THE CUPERTINO OF ISLAM, THROWS IT INTO THE ARMS OF ITS RIVALS, THE ISSUE CAN ONLY BE DISASTROUS FOR BOTH.
        
        H.A.R. GIBB, WHITHER ISLAM, LONDON, 1932, P. 379
        
        I HAVE ALWAYS HELD THE RELIGION OF MUHAMMED IN HIGH ESTIMATION BECAUSE OF ITS WONDERFUL VITALITY. IT IS THE ONLY RELIGION WHICH APPEARS TO ME TO POSSESS THAT ASSIMILATING CAPACITY TO THE CHANGING PHASE OF EXISTENCE WHICH CAN MAKE ITSELF APPEAL TO EVERY AGE. I HAVE STUDIED HIM – THE WONDERFUL MAN AND IN MY OPINION FAR FROM BEING AN ANTI-CHRIST, HE MUST BE CALLED THE SAVIOUR OF HUMANITY. I BELIEVE THAT IF A MAN LIKE HIM WERE TO ASSUME THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE MODERN WORLD, HE WOULD SUCCEED IN SOLVING ITS PROBLEMS IN A WAY THAT WOULD BRING IT THE MUCH NEEDED PEACE AND HAPPINESS: I HAVE PROPHESIED ABOUT THE FAITH OF MUHAMMED THAT IT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE TO THE EUROPE OF TOMORROW AS IT IS BEGINNING TO BE ACCEPTABLE TO THE EUROPE OF TODAY.
        
        GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, THE GENUINE ISLAM, VOL. 1, NO. 81936
        
        THE EXTINCTION OF RACE CONSCIOUSNESS AS BETWEEN MUSLIMS IS ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS OF ISLAM AND IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD THERE IS, AS IT HAPPENS, A CRYING NEED FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THIS ISLAMIC VIRTUE.
        
        A.J. TOYNBEE, CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, NEW YORK, 1948, P. 205.
        
        THE RISE OF ISLAM IS PERHAPS THE MOST AMAZING EVENT IN HUMAN HISTORY. SPRINGING FROM A LAND AND PREVIOUSLY NEGLIGIBLE PEOPLE, ISLAM SPREAD WITHIN A CENTURY OVER HALF THE EARTH, SHATTERING GREAT EMPIRES, OVERTHROWING LONG-ESTABLISHED RELIGIONS, REMOULDING THE SOULS OF RACES, AND BUILDING UP A WHOLE NEW WORLD – WORLD OF ISLAM.
        
        THE CLOSER WE EXAMINE THIS DEVELOPMENT THE MORE EXTRAORDINARY DOES IT APPEAR. THE OTHER GREAT RELIGIONS WON THEIR WAY SLOWLY, BY PAINFUL STRUGGLE AND FINALLY TRIUMPHED WITH THE AID OF POWERFUL MONARCHS CONVERTED TO THE NEW FAITH. CHRISTIANITY HAD ITS CONSTANTINE, BUDDHISM ITS ASOKA, AND ZOROASTRIANISM ITS CYRUS, EACH LENDING TO HIS CHOSEN CULT THE MIGHTY FORCE OF SECULAR AUTHORITY, NOT SO ISLAM. ARISING IN A DESERT LAND SPARSELY INHABITED BY A NOMAD RACE PREVIOUSLY UNDISTINGUISHED IN HUMAN ANNALS. ISLAM RALLIED FORTH ON ITS GREAT ADVENTURE WITH THE SLENDEREST HUMAN BACKING AND AGAINST THE HEAVIES MATERIAL ODDS. YET ISLAM TRIUMPHED WITH SEEMINGLY MIRACULOUS EASE, AND A COUPLE OF GENERATIONS SAW THE FIERY CRESCENT BORNE VICTORIOUS FROM THE PYRENEES TO THE HIMALAYAS AND FROM THE DESERT OF CENTRAL ASIA TO THE DESERTS OF CENTRAL AFRICA..
        
        A. M. L. STODDARD, QUOTED IN ISLAM – THE RELIGION OF ALL PROPHETS, BEGUM BAWANI WAQF, KARACHI, PAKISTAN P. 56
        
        I AM NOT A MUSLIM IN THE USUAL SENSE, THOUGH I HOPE I AM A “MUSLIM” AS ONE ‘SURRENDERED TO GOD’, BUT I BELIEVE THAT EMBEDDED IN THE QUR’AN AND OTHER EXPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAMIC VISION ARE VAST STORES OF DIVINE TRUTH FROM WHICH I AND OTHER OCCIDENTALS HAVE STILL MUCH TO LEARN, AND ‘ISLAM IS CERTAINLY A STRONG CONTENDER FOR THE SUPPLYING OF THE BASIC FRAMEWORK OF THE ONE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE’.
        
        W. MONTGOMERY WATT, ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY TODAY, LONDON 1983, P. IX.
        
        Maghribi - March 10, 2013
        8:14 am
        
        Superb quotes…You could also add the Michael H Hart’s stating our as no 1 in the 100 Most Influential list of all time..
        
        Hamas - March 11, 2013
        7:19 am
        
        AND WHAT PRINCE CHARLES SAID ABOUT ISLAM IN HIS LECTURE AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY IN JUNE 2010:
        
        Follow the Islamic way to save the world -
        
        Mohamed Marzook - March 11, 2013
        10:09 pm
        
        Islam ia Joke
        
        It justifies violence against kafirs.
        
        It killed millions of Indians in past 1000 years. It dissolved ancient egypt and mesopotamia and made them arab terrorists.
        
        In 1000 years Muslims have not made a university in India.
        
        Buddhists made Nalanda, Taxila which were broken by Muslims.
        
        Muslim brotherhood is only brotherhood of Muslims not all people of the world.
        
        And Peace means killing others till they accept Islam.
        
        Dont Confuse People
        
        Islam kills
        
        Jews Worldwide
        Hindus in Bangladesh and India
        Christians worldwide
        Buddhists in thailand
        Atheists Worldwide
        
        Islam is shit
        
        Rajat Chakraborty - March 18, 2013
        10:15 pm
I would like to propose a different System to resolve the Halaal Issue.

Firstly, the ACJU must stop the issuing of Halaal Certificates and the Halaal Logo with immediate effect and not wait for the Government to take-over this System. The ‘Halaal Issue’ is now a political Hot Potato and it is highly unlikely that the present Government will touch it even with a barge pole. If there was any likelihood of this happening then the Government would have taken over the System at the time this controversy began. It is now far too late. Let us all understand and accept this as a fact. With the cessation of Halaal Certificates & Logos, most if not all the fears and concerns of the Majority Community with regard to the Halaal Issue – the compulsion to consume halaal foods, the enhanced prices of halaal products, the accumulation of enormous profits – will be addressed.

Secondly, If the ACJU is still concerned sincerely about making available Halaal Foods to the Muslims, they should then explore the possibility of introducing a process by which Muslim-owned Businesses will be admitted to a Register of Halaal-Compliant Companies maintained by the ACJU after monitoring and verification. This is not too difficult since basically the ACJU will be doing what it is currently doing for purposes of certification and will be charging the same fee for such services. The only difference being that there is no necessity to issue any halaal certificates or have halaal logos on packs. The reason as to why this service should be confined only to Muslim-owned Businesses is to prevent allegations, that Non-Muslim Consumers do not have a choice and are compelled to consume halaal products, surfacing again in the future.

Thirdly, for the purpose of conveying to the Muslim Community the relevant information regarding the various brands which after monitoring and verification have been designated as ‘Halaal’ by the ACJU, the ACJU should take the necessary steps to publicize the Members listed in the Halaal Register through all Mosques and other Muslim Civil Organizations (eg YMMA’s) on the first of every month. This will enable Muslims in any part of the Island to verify whether a specific brand is halaal or not. Since every Muslim Male visits a Mosque at least once a week, the flow of information to every Muslim Household is assured.

The ACJU should bear in mind that the primary cause of the anti-Muslim stance of Organizations like the BBS and JHU is not the Halaal Certification System itself, but the perceived belief that the Food Consumption Habits of over 90% of the Population are being determined by the Religious Leaders of a Minority Group. This is very similar to the situation where Pork was banned in the Parliament Canteen to suit the demands of the Muslim Parliamentarians.

Bisthan Batcha - March 9, 2013
11:05 am
- Batcha
  
  While your suggestion is practical, and is a good compromise, you are sadly mistaken if they will stop once you compromise on Halal.
  
  They have bigger designs, they want to stop Islamic Banking, Islamic dress, and also want the majority to boycott Muslim business, Azan etc.,
  
  Mark my words Halal is only the tip of the iceberg. There will be no end to the compromises we will have to make and someday we will end up as third class citizens
  
  Nabil - March 9, 2013
  12:13 pm
  - I am sure most Muslims are aware of the fact that the Halaal issue is only the tip of the iceberg that the BBS have targeted in their bid for political power. However, what is becoming painfully evident is that the current words and deeds of the BSB are empowering and emboldening members of the Majority Community in whom extreme racist tendencies have remained dormant till now. The ripples of a fear psychosis are beginning to appear among the Muslims. It is therefore imperative that the charges being leveled at the prevailing Halaal Certification System be neutralized effectively as early as possible before it could snowball into a problem of greater dimensions. Hence my suggestion for a new halaal certification system.
    
    Concomitantly, it is also important that the Muslim Community without any further delay make a determined effort to understand the concerns and apprehensions (if any) of the Majority Community with regard to the behavior and religious practices of the Muslims such as Azan, Abayas, Islamic Banking, Population Growth and the Construction of Mosques. The Muslim Community could then take the necessary proactive measures to nullify or lessen the impact of any BSB-led campaign to create yet another controversial ‘Issue’ like in the case of Halaal Certificates.
    
    Bisthan Batcha - March 9, 2013
    1:54 pm
- It seems that Batcha has not understood what is halal issue. Halal is compulsory for muslim customers and it is voluntary for the business organisation. If any business organisation wants muslim customers, they need Halal certification. If they do not want muslim customers, they do not want to get this certification. Halal certification shouls be issued by Muslims only. They can be ACJU or Any Governemnt body. Now you would have understood.
  The real problem is a hate campaign going on by some elements fully indirectly backed by certain higher authorities in Government. I think the purpose of the body and the government elements would be to divert the attention of public from the issues of Jeneva, High Cost of Living, Unpopularity of Government, etc. The hate compaign of these ad hoc bodies and elements will not prevail for long time as most of the Buddists have already understood the real issues and the intellectuals in the Buddists have welcomed the Halal and they like to live together with muslims as before without any issues.
  
  The problems are 1)I think with ACJU which lack intellectuals(Their moulavies are poor in knowledge and they seemed to be so-call scholars. ). It is evident from their religious verdict issued by ACJU, which are available in their website. The verdict does not have enough references from Holy Qur’an and Hadith. They have not seen a ruling issued by courts where how they give verdict. “Justice is not done, but it appears to be done”
  2). ACJU is now commercialised. Their way of thinking is to collect money from People. Now they started Qur an classes in every mosque to collect huge amount of money (Rs. 500 from a boy or girl) for a month. They changed their approach to collect money and earning body. In general Moulavis are not much educated and that they do not like other educated people to become Moulavis. Their strength is knowing Arabic knowlege and getting a respect from people.
  
  David - March 9, 2013
  3:22 pm
- Binthan, why complicate things when it has already been made very simple to the Muslims. The Quran declares…
  
  So eat of the lawful and good food which Allah has provided for you. And be grateful for the Graces of Allah, if it is He Whom you worship. Surah 6:114
  
  He has forbidden you ONLY Al-Maytatah (meat of a dead animal), blood, the flesh of swine, and any animal which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah (or has been slaughtered for idols etc. or on which Allah’s Name has not been mentioned while slaughtering). But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, and not transgressing, then, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Surah 6:115
  
  And say not concerning that which your tongues put forth falsely: “This is lawful and this is forbidden,” so as to invent lies against Allah. Verily, those who invent lies against Allah will never prosper.Surah 6:116
  A passing brief enjoyment (will be theirs), but they will have a painful torment.. Surah 6:117
  The key word is ONLY. So one need not worry about derivatives of the food that has been forbidden as they have not been forbidden. In fact as per s16 V116 no human being can now give his opinion as to what is haram and what is halal outside what has been clearly defined.
  
  Jamal - March 9, 2013
  4:21 pm
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    Lutfi Jamaldeen
    Please read the verses below
    Mar 2 (8 days ago)
    ISMAEEL MARIKAR
    
    Mar 2 (8 days ago)
    
    to Lutfi, Mohamed, Fazlyn, AGA, Seyed, MOHAMED, Zarook, Mohideen, Faisz, shiblyaziz, Mohamed, Ali, Mulaffer, Mohamed, Iftikhar, Sameem, Ameer, MJM, hilmy, jismail, Sam, Ameena, Latheef, Ameen, Asiff
    
    Inbox
    x
    r
    
    )
    
    to bcc: me
    
    THIS IS FURTHER TO JAMAL’S COMMENT
    QUESTION PERMITTED AND PROHIBITED;
    Answered by ash-Shaykh al-’Allaamah Saalih ibn Sa’d as-Suhaymee
    
    A RESPECTED SCHOLAR AND PRESENTLY CONDUCTS REGULAR CLASSES AT
    THE PROPHET’S MOSQUE IN MADINAH.
    
    Shaykh Saalih as-Suhaymee:
    
    [Why] don’t you allow?! Laa hawla wa laa quwwata illaa bil-Laah! I ask you, O brother, may Allaah give you success: is it permissible for me or other than me to allow or forbid? Is it permissible for us to declare halaal (lawful) or haraam (unlawful) on our own accord?
    
    {And say not concerning that which your tongues put forth falsely: “This is lawful and this is forbidden,” so as to invent lies against Allaah.} [Sûrah an-Nahl (16): verse 116]
    
    Did you pay attention? If we allow on our own accord, then we are liars and forgers. And if we declare lawful on our own accord, then we are liars and forgers. And [likewise] if we declare unlawful, declare lawful, make obligatory or legislate. For the one who makes obligatory or legislates on his own accord, then he is a Taaghoot [1] from the Tawaagheet [2], even if he testifies that nothing has the right to be worshipped except Allaah and that Muhammed is the Messenger of Allaah. Do you understand, O servant of Allaah? So do not blame us and say, “Why don’t you allow us to do this and why do you forbid us from that?” Because if we allow things on our own accord, then we are Tawaagheet! Na’am! The one who declares lawful and unlawful is Allaah! We are not from those whom Allaah said about,
    
    {They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allaah (by obeying them in things which they made lawful or unlawful according to their own desires without being ordered by Allaah), and (they also took as their Lord) Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary)…} [Sûrah at-Tawbah (9): verse 31]
    
    So declaring lawful and declaring unlawful is in the Hands of Allaah, in the Book of Allaah – jalla wa ‘alaa -. So the lawful is that which Allaah and His Messenger declared lawful, and the unlawful is that which Allaah and His Messenger declared unlawful.
    
    “Verily, that which is lawful is clear and that which is unlawful is clear. And between the two of them are doubtful matters about which many people do not know. Thus he who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honour. But he who falls into doubtful matters [eventually] falls into that which is unlawful, like the shepard who shepards [his flock] around a sanctuary, he is certain to pasture [his flock] in it. And verily, every king has a sanctuary, and verily, Allaah’s sanctuary is His prohibitions. And verily, in the body there is a lump of flesh, which, if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and which, if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart.”
    
    So the unrestricted legislation belongs to Allaah and His Messenger – salla Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam -. And it is not permissible for anyone to legislate or prohibit something which Allaah and His Messenger – salla Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam – have not legislated or prohibited.
    
    ABSOLUTELY CLEAR. THE ACJU TOOK UPON THEMSELVES TO DO
    
    SOMETHING WHICH THEY OR ANY INDIVIDUAL OR ORGANIZATION
    
    CAN NOT DO ACCORDING TO THE QURAN AND SUNNAH,AND CREATED
    
    THE PROBLEMS WE ARE FACING TODAY. WE SEEK PROTECTION IN ALLAH.
    
    AYMAN - March 10, 2013
    5:41 am
Malaysia has decided to vote with the UNHCR resolution against SL for the slow progress in reconciliation, and the attacks on Masjids and minority Muslims.

Marwan - March 9, 2013
11:44 am
I hope other communities will pay sufficient heed to the considered views of Dr. Narendran (6.11 am – March 09) It was because the great thinkers of the Periods of Reason and of Enlightenment in Western Europe (from the 16th century onwards) preached against less religion in civil life that mankind made astronomical progress since then.
Any effort to revert the process is, generally, something that will contribute to efforts to move towards the Stone Age. It is empirical wisdom an unwelcome alliance between State and Religion usually results in blood-shed.

It is so satisfying even the minority armed resistance of the Tamil youth, even at the height of the greatest trials against the Tamil Nation, had the good sense not to bring in religion into its struggle. Any society that treats religion as one that is a private matter of the individual where the State should not take part is not merely the very spirit of secularism but also one that contributes more to peace and unity – notably in plural societies. This is my humble view.

It is best the Sinhala majority overlook the recent irritations – real or perceived – that caused them concern and help allay the fears of the Muslims. The Muslims, in different ways, have sent the message they are prepared to review matters in response to majority concerns.
This is the time for the Sinhala people to display the very essence of the Buddhist credo – Tolerance, Understanding and Compassion.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 9, 2013
1:00 pm
- Senguttuvan,
  Let’s face the truth. No true Muslim can be a secularist. Why? For every verse of tolerance for unbelievers in the Quran there are ten verses that demand to kill, degrade, tax or persecute them. See the hatred Muslims carry against Jews.
  
  noble - March 9, 2013
  1:57 pm
  - noble – Arabs can and have lived with Jews for centuries however they cannot tolerate the Zionists destructive ideology. You are not to be blamed for your ignorance on the interpretation of the verses of the Noble Quran rather the capacity to assimilate the message in the spirit it was understood by the Muslims
    
    Maghribi - March 9, 2013
    3:17 pm
    - Muhammad killed Pagans, Jews of Banu Qurayza himself
      
      Rajat Chakraborty - March 18, 2013
      10:18 pm
  - Have you ever Read/understood the Quran..
    Stop spreading the venom, Go get some real facts.. rather than copy and paste..
    
    Concerned - March 9, 2013
    4:37 pm
  - Why are you so defensive of the Jews here? They have no rights in this country, and should not interfere in our affairs. In fact they should stay the hell out. I do not see any Muslim here attack the Jewish religion – but I can surely see once again the distrust people have for Israel. After all Israel is notorious for being manipulative and devious. It will not come as a surprise, if Israel is at the bottom of anti Muslim sentiment here. They have trained attackers like HASBARA (students and people with time on their hands) trained and even paid, to pounce on such articles world wide, and spew anti Islamic rhetoric, with the sole purpose of lying and exaggerating to make Israel look good and Muslim nations look bad. Unfortunately for Israel this has not helped them. Israel is one of the most disliked countries in the world, for good reason.
    
    Mimi - March 10, 2013
    2:39 am
  - Mimi,
    You said Jews have no right in this country. Is it a right thing to say when Muslims are only 9% of the population. Besides, vast majority may not carry anti-Semitism like Muslim who were genetically anti Jew. I do not agree that Israel is one of the most disliked countries in the world because except for few Islamic countries, India, China, EU, US, Egypt Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, All countries in South America etc continue to have business and diplomatic relationship with Israel. What do you say?
    
    noble - March 10, 2013
    8:58 am
    - Are you Hasbara or one who got brain washed in Tel Aviv while farming in the desert? Seems your loyalty lies with Israel.
      
      Muslims are anti semitic eh? I guessed before long someone trained by the Ministry of Information in Israel would use that worn out anti semitic card. According to Dictionary.com:
      
      Sem·ite [sem-ahyt or, esp. British, see-mahyt] Show IPA
      noun
      1.
      a member of any of various ancient and modern peoples originating in southwestern Asia, including the Akkadians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs.
      2.
      a Jew.
      3.
      a member of any of the peoples descended from Shem, the eldest son of Noah.
      
      Funny Israel is trying to monopolize the semite title to get sympathy.
      
      Israel brings the wrath of it’s neighbors on itself because it occupies Palestine, steal their lands, controls the water, fishing, destroys their orchards, blockades them, precision bombs them, uses while phosphorous on civilians, and cluster bombs the civilians in Lebanon. The neighbors happen to be Muslim, thereby showing that the over 200 UN resolutions against Israel make them ANTI Islamic, needing stooges like you to spew propaganda here.
      
      If like the Muslims in Sri Lanka, the Jews have lived for generations, contributed, participated and are Sri Lankan citizens then they have rights here too. Not those who are sent on devious missions here.
      
      Stop being delusional about the world being in love with Israel. Facts are Israel is one of the MOST disliked nations so try to open your eyes and quit the false propaganda:
      Quote:
      “In the news (from Jpost): “Israel 141st out of 144 in Global Peace Index” Only three countries in the world are less peaceful than Israel, according to Global Peace Index figures released this week… Israel is positioned 141st out of 144 countries, fourth from the bottom, with only Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq ranking below…”
      Not because of Muslims, but because of it’s arrogance and constant breaking of international laws, killing of civilians, Israel deserves to be at the bottom of the pit. People in Tel Aviv should not poke their noses into Sri Lankan affairs.
      
      Mimi - March 10, 2013
      11:14 am
Dr. Raasingham Narendran and Senguttuvan, you guys have my prize for your intellectual engagement of issues current.

I pray, US, the fools will learn from you.
Cheers.

vishvajith - March 9, 2013
1:28 pm
Dear Vishvajith,

You, I and my many friends in these blogs have an important task
imposed on us – to regain the ethnic tranquility and unity that we
lost in the mid-1950s. I don’t blame anyone in particular or political party/ies for this calamity. We, Sinhalese, Tamils and others – must all share the blame. We cannot afford to lose the present and the future for posterity.

Thank you. Take care
Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 9, 2013
2:20 pm
- Senguttuvan
  
  “We, Sinhalese, Tamils and others – must all share the blame.”
  
  Please do blame where blame is due however my people had nothing to do with what had happened in the past 65 years.
  
  Native Vedda - March 10, 2013
  10:22 am
- Thank you.
  
  vishvajith - March 10, 2013
  4:23 pm
Halal bomb, A Western plot ?????????? MI 5 or CIA or Rayappu’s or Chickera’s or Iddamalgoda’s.

Dickie Bird - March 9, 2013
2:51 pm
I really do not understand the problem that our Sinhala brothers have with Halal.
I just asked few of my Sinhala friends about this and they came up with two main Arguements.

1) 90% of the majority do not wan’t Halal which is to satisfy only 10% minority.

Here it should be clearly understood that Halal is only a classification, whether a product is suitable for a Muslim or not.
It doesn’t mean when the product is Halal certified it is Muslimised.

2) Increament of Price.

Really the Second one is logical, but it is a question whether Halal increase the price of Rice,Floor, Sugar, vegetables etc. ? No! But in the recent times the prices of these things are rising without any reason , then why BBS is silent about this.
And it is a well known fact that in the market different products like Biscuits,Milk powder etc have different prices according to their brand, and it is the freedom of the consumer to choose a product wich is compatible for him.

And its obvious that,
All those who Drink Coca-Cola are’nt American.
Like wise All who eat Halal food doesn’t become a Muslim.

Hijas - March 9, 2013
3:29 pm
- You are right – the classification is not an issue for Sinhalese but the cost is.
  
  However, you can not trivialize the cost because the total cost of Halal is significant. Your classification cost, which has value to only about 9% of the entire population, has to be shared by everyone, is that fair?
  
  It is only some Muslims, a lot of NGO’s (who are pursuing another deal to bring in donations to regenerate their dying industry with the end of the war)that are trying to make this look like an anti-Muslim hate campaign, it is not.
  
  There is absolutely nothing wrong with Buddhists protesting against manufacturers forcing them to buy Halal products. Do you agree? Just as you have the right to have Halal food, non-Muslims are entitled to have non-Halal food.
  
  Finally, someone should expose the scam run by ACJU under the disguise of “certification” because the process is a scam, their charges can not be justified and testing has no basis but its the Muslims who should take that fight, not us.
  
  Observer - March 10, 2013
  3:55 am
  - Brother as I said the claim is logical but still there are some loop hole in justifying it.
    eg:1
    some companies have withdrawn the Halal certificate but still their Products have the same price.
    and also companies like Nestle have officially informed that Halal doesn’t effect the Retail Price of their Products.
    
    eg:2
    if there are 2 Brands of the same product X,Y.
    Assume only X-Halal certified
    But according to Buddhists the price of X increases by 5/=(assume).
    so now 10% of the Muslims will buy Product X. But the rest of the 90% CAN buy the product Y which is 5/= less
    so eventually demand of X will go down and the company will decide to withdraw Halal.
    Reality-no. of products getting Halal certificates has got increased.This means Halal certificate does not effect the Price!!!
    
    eg:3
    Halal is just an Advertisement in terms of a company.
    like if there is a Product and it is advertised in both Tamil and Sinhala Channels, so the company has to pay for the Advertisements.
    so can you say that only 30% of the population watches the Tamil advertisement but the cost for these Advertisement is Paid by the rest of the 70% of the Population who do not want it.
    
    And Brother this Halal issue is so simple,and if any one do not want Halal Products then we have ample of non Halal products in the Market.
    
    but if you just observe BBS they first started with the Halal but now they’re moving on and going against the Islamic Dress code.
    So it is obvious as some one said Halal is just the tip of the Ice Berg.
    
    Hijas - March 10, 2013
    3:05 pm
    - Thank you for the reply, lets try to analyze what you have posted.
      
      Your Example 1
      I have not seen/read anywhere about Nestle withdrawing from Halal, maybe i missed it – or did you make it up ?
      
      A question – we all know that ACJU does not provide the certificates (heck, they don’t even allow “certified” companies to issue copies to their buyers, just to make sure that they can milk the next tier as well) free of charge. If a manufacturer obtains the certificate, and if they are maintaining their net profit margin, how on earth can that company say that Halal certificate cost is not factored in??
      
      Your Example 2
      Whats your point? your example has no meaning whatsoever – are you trying to say that Muslim population is growing really fast? or more and more manufacturers are getting Halal certified? or Halal certificate is not increasing the price?
      
      Your population growth is up to you guys but more companies getting Halal is definitely a concern because 91% of the population who does not value the certificate has to pay for it (my original point) – you are proving my point there and it has to be stopped because people who do not need Halal should not have to pay for it. Thirdly, as explained under example 1, Increase in unit price due to the certification is definitely a fact, even ACJU accepts that (they just say that it is a “small” cost per unit).
      
      Your Example 3
      Now this “advertisement” one is a new one – are you saying that this whole Halal thing is just an “advertisement”? If that is the case, why don’t you just scrap it and save all the trouble? lol
      
      I’m sorry to say but your examples are really bad and has absolutely no meaning or relation to the real issues. Let me try to explain this to you in a much simpler way that even you might understand – when a manufacturer obtains Halal, it becomes a fixed cost (set by ACJU). Most companies maintain fixed margins for products they sell and they consider all the costs before arriving at it and that automatically factors in the total cost of Halal, along with all others, in to the unit price, so your examples and stories are baseless.
      
      You have also said that anyone can buy non-Halal products if they wish to – i say no, why? here are a few examples
      
      1. Can i buy Cargils ice cream without Halal ?
      2. Can i buy CBL, Maliben or Cargils biscuits without Halal?
      3. Can i buy Bairaha chicken without Halal?
      4. Can i buy Anchor milk powder without Halal?
      5. Can i buy Edinborough Mayonnaise without Halal?
      6. Can i buy Newdale yogurt without Halal?
      
      There you go brother – you cant trivialize this anymore.
      
      Observer - March 10, 2013
      10:36 pm
All this is just more fear mongering.

A couple of quick points

1. When muslims themselves attack their own mosques over internal rivalries in Sri Lanka ( Beruwala ) and in other countries, Muslims prefer not to publicize those attacks or talk about it. But if some other religion attacks the mosque they will publicize it on print ( like the one we here ) and have TV debates about it.
It is time thy realized that when outsiders (especially the uneducated masses ) see muslims themselves attacking their own mmosques they LOSE the RESPECT they have for Msoques and see nothing wrong in attacking them. So it is a case of “physician heal thyself.”

2. There were some incidents against muslim mosques etc ( Dambulla) led by monks for whatever reasons. That was not the BBS. But NO SERIOUS DAMAGE happened to life or property. Only posturing which was diffused by the police. Had the Muslims NOT got excited & started a big issue by talking about this and other similar incidents these would have gradually died down or decreased.

3. But the FEAR PSYCHOSIS caused by the thought that this was some sort of well planned progrom due to some international conspiracy and that these incidents would lead to a major catastrophe like the July 1983 incident made the Muslims run around protesting etc., and made a minor issue develop into a major issue by attracting nationwide attention to it.

4. Now the cat is out of the bag. ANd politicians on both sides as well as international troublemakers and rabble rousing bottom feeders like attention seeking Muslim journalists, crazy religious fanatics and other odd odd idiots & scaredy cats are all getting into it in a feeding frenzy making a bad situation worse.

5. Just let go and the things will settle down

American Mama - March 9, 2013
4:49 pm
“….they cannot tolerate the Zionists destructive ideology” says reader Magribhi. Tell me, Sir, briefly what this terrible ideology is
all about.

Tku.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 9, 2013
6:39 pm
- My dear Sir, Please watch the destruction caused by occupation of Palestine. It’s out there to see with your very own eyes. Perhaps you should talk to the Peace loving Jews how the Zionists have hijacked them in occupied Palestine. The information is out there. It’s nauseating to describe even briefly this ideology.
  
  “Our race is the Master Race. We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects. In fact, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves.” Menaheim Begin, 6th Zionist Prime Minister of Occupied Palestine.
  
  Does this sound familiar to you? Think Nazi, Tiger, Sinhellist.
  
  Maghribi - March 10, 2013
  8:39 am
  - Maghribi,
    I have read, Muhammad describing (in the Quran) unbelievers as “the vilest of animals” and “losers.” Christians and Jews are hated by Allah to the extent that they are destined for eternal doom as a result of their beliefs. In fact, the Quran plainly commands believers not to take unbelievers as friends.
    
    So, don’t blame just Jews. Look inward. You’ll see that is the legacy of all religions of Abraham’s God. Only thing is Jews are not that strict with their Bible now-a-days where as Muslims believe every word that Muhammad read and done is God’s will. What do you think of all sorts of murderous acts by Muslims all over the world compared to Nazi, Tiger, Sinhellist or Jews?
    
    noble - March 10, 2013
    9:17 am
    - noble – I repeat – You are not to be blamed for your ignorance. Go and sleep and some day your conscience will wake up.
      
      Maghribi - March 10, 2013
      9:37 am
      - He is just a brain washed apologist for the zionists. This is all about Sri Lanka, and creatures like him are instructed to come into these website and spew anti Islamic rhetoric, with the devious intent of turning non Muslims against Muslims and you will find them pretending to be experts in the Quran misquoting verses from it. What are these Lovers of Israel called? They are called Hasbara. Their verbal attacks on Muslims are not only disgusting but garbage, in the US no one can criticize Israel, Jews or their crimes, they are immediately attacked and called “anti semitic”. This is an old trick to silence any criticism towards what they keep doing. All this while they keep insulting Islam.
        
        This is the definition of HASBARA (mostly students, who have been trained to poison these websites with lies and misinformation). I have noticed they have unfortunately come out of the sewers to do the same here in Sri Lanka. It is important the commenters here get familiar with this despicable group. If you read their comments you will see nothing but hatred being spewed and the attempt to cause turn people of other faiths against innocent Muslims, by branding all as terrorists.
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_diplomacy_(Israel)
        
        Mimi - March 10, 2013
        11:40 am
      - Mimi and Maghribi,
        I talk the truth for I am neither a Jew nor a Jew backer. But I know that your acknowledged original prophet of Allah, Abraham was also a Jew. It is obvious then Muhammad a non Jew had high-jacked the God of the Jews. I also understand that reading Hadith and Sira is a must to understand the Quran for it is not written in order of Muhammad’s so-called revelations.
        
        In my opinion there are two ways to approach a study of Muhammad. One is with reverence and the other is with scepticism. I, a non Muslim chose the latter.
        
        Anyway, I have read enough to narrate the entire life and deeds of Muhammad from his birth to his death. Therefore. please do not take me for a copy and paste man.
        
        noble - March 10, 2013
        3:49 pm
        
        Islamaphobes will always take the advantage of articles like this to spew anti Islamic propaganda, ALL with the intent of causing problems and inciting hate. That is what you have been doing comment after comment. Sri Lanka does not need your opinion if it only propagates that hate.
        
        Take a look around the world and channel your hate to nations that resort to apartheid policies, steal lands from its neighbors and break international laws. It will be a good cause.
        
        Mimi - March 11, 2013
        1:59 am
  - Here Maghribi, this will interest you. It gives you the frightening picture of what zionism is capable of. It also supports what you say.
    
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/pdf/The%20Zionist%20Plan%20for%20the%20Middle%20East.pdf
    
    If you google “the shrinking map of Palestine” you will also see how the Palestinian territories shrinking by image. It is sad these Palestinians have to endure this.
    
    Mimi - March 11, 2013
    12:21 pm
- Senguttuvan
  
  Israeli mother Addresses European Parliament.
  
  Dear Friends,
  
  Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan is the mother of Smadar Elhanan, 13 years old
  when killed by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem in September 1997. Below
  is Nurit’s speech made on International Women’s Day in Strasbourg earlier this month. Please listen to the words of a bereaved mother,whose daughter fell victim to a vicious, indiscriminating terrorist attack.
  
  I wish her words will enter the hearts of all peace seekers in
  our troubled and divided world.
  
  For better days,
  Professor Avraham Oz
  Department of Hebrew and Comparative Literature
  University of Haifa
  avitaloz @ research.haifa.ac.il
  
  WOMEN
  by Nurit Peled-Elhanan
  
  Thank you for inviting me to this today. It is always an honour and a
  pleasure to be here, among you (at the European Parliament).
  
  However, I must admit I believe you should have invited a Palestinian
  woman at my stead, because the women who suffer most from violence in
  my county are the Palestinian women. And I would like to dedicate my
  speech to Miriam R`aban and her husband Kamal, from Bet Lahiya in the
  Gaza strip, whose five small children were killed by Israeli soldiers
  while picking strawberries at the family`s strawberry field. No onewill ever stand trial for this murder.
  
  When I asked the people who invited me here why didn’t they invite a
  Palestinian woman, the answer was that it would make the discussion
  too localized.
  
  I don’t know what is non-localized violence. Racism and discrimination
  may be theoretical concepts and universal phenomena but their impact
  is always local, and real. Pain is local, humiliation, sexual abuse, torture and death, are all very local, and so are the scars.
  
  It is true, unfortunately, that the local violence inflicted on Palestinian women by the government of Israel and the Israeli army, has expanded around the globe, In fact, state violence and army
  violence, individual and collective violence, are the lot of Muslim
  women today, not only in Palestine but wherever the enlightened
  western world is setting its big imperialistic foot.
  
  It is violence which is hardly ever addressed and which is halfheartedly condoned by most people in Europe and in the USA .
  
  This is because the so-called free world is afraid of the Muslim womb.
  
  Great France of “la liberte égalite et la fraternite” is scared of little girls with head scarves. Great Jewish Israel is afraid of the Muslim womb which its ministers call a demographic threat.
  
  Almighty America and Great Britain are infecting their respective citizens with blind fear of the Muslims, who are depicted as vile, primitive and blood-thirsty, apart from their being non-democratic, chauvinistic and mass producers of future terrorists. This in spite of the fact that the people who are destroying the world today are not
  Muslim. One of them is a devout Christian, one is Anglican and one is
  a non-devout Jew.
  
  I have never experienced the suffering Palestinian women undergo every
  day, every hour, I don’t know the kind of violence that turns a woman’s life into constant hell. This daily physical and mental torture of women who are deprived of their basic human rights and
  needs of privacy and dignity, women whose homes are broken into at any
  moment of day and night, who are ordered at a gun-point to strip naked
  in front of strangers and their own children, whose houses are
  demolished , who are deprived of their livelihood and of any normal
  family life. This is not part of my personal ordeal.
  
  But I am a victim of violence against women insofar as violence against children is actually violence against mothers. Palestinian, Iraqi, Afghan women are my sisters because we are all at the grip ofthe same unscrupulous criminals who call themselves leaders of thefree enlightened world and in the name of this freedom and
  enlightenment rob us of our children.
  
  Furthermore, Israeli, American, Italian and British mothers have been for the most part violently blinded and brainwashed to such a degree that they cannot realize their only sisters, their only allies in the world are the Muslim Palestinian, Iraqi or Afghani mothers, whose children are killed by our children or who blow themselves to pieces
  with our sons and daughters. They are all mind-infected by the same viruses engendered by politicians. And the viruses , though they may have various illustrious names–such as Democracy, Patriotism, God, Homeland–are all the same. They are all part of false and fake
  ideologies that are meant to enrich the rich and to empower the powerful.
  
  We are all the victims of mental, psychological and cultural violence
  that turn us to one homogenic group of bereaved or potentially bereaved mothers. Western mothers who are taught to believe their uterus is a national asset just like they are taught to believe that
  the Muslim uterus is an international threat. They are educated not to
  cry out: `I gave him birth, I breast fed him, he is mine, and I will not let him be the one whose life is cheaper than oil, whose future is less worth than a piece of land.`
  
  All of us are terrorized by mind-infecting education to believe all we can do is either pray for our sons to come back home or be proud of their dead bodies.
  
  And all of us were brought up to bear all this silently, to contain our fear and frustration, to take Prozac for anxiety, but never hail Mama Courage in public. Never be real Jewish or Italian or Irish mothers.
  
  I am a victim of state violence. My natural and civil rights as a mother have been violated and are violated because I have to fear the day my son would reach his 18th birthday and be taken away from me to be the game tool of criminals such as Sharon, Bush, Blair and their
  clan of blood-thirsty, oil-thirsty, land thirsty generals..
  
  Living in the world I live in, in the state I live in, in the regime I live in, I don’t dare to offer Muslim women any ideas how to change their lives. I don’t want them to take off their scarves, or educate
  their children differently, and I will not urge them to constitute Democracies in the image of Western democracies that despise them and their kind. I just want to ask them humbly to be my sisters, to
  express my admiration for their perseverance and for their courage to
  carry on, to have children and to maintain a dignified family life in
  spite of the impossible conditions my world is putting them in. I want
  to tell them we are all bonded by the same pain, we all are the victims of
  the same sort of violence even though they suffer much more, for they
  are the ones who are mistreated by my government and its army,
  sponsored by my taxes.
  
  Islam in itself, like Judaism in itself and Christianity in itself, is not a threat to me or to anyone. American imperialism is, European indifference and co-operation is and Israeli racism and its cruel regime of occupation is. It is racism, educational propaganda and inculcated xenophobia that convince Israeli soldiers to order Palestinian women at gun-point, to strip in front of their children for security reasons, it is the deepest disrespect for the other that allow American soldiers to rape Iraqi women, that give license to
  Israeli jailers to keep young women in inhuman conditions, without necessary hygienic aids, without electricity in the winter, without clean water or clean mattresses and to separate them from their breast-fed babies and toddlers. To bar their way to hospitals, to
  block their way to education, to confiscate their lands, to uproot
  their trees and prevent them from cultivating their fields.
  
  I cannot completely understand Palestinian women or their suffering. I
  don’t know how I would have survived such humiliation, such disrespect
  from the whole world. All I know is that the voice of mothers has been suffocated for too long in this war-stricken planet. Mothers` cry is not heard because mothers are not invited to international forums such as this one. This I know and it is very little. But it is enough for
  me to remember these women are my sisters, and that they deserve that
  I should cry for them, and fight for them. And when they lose their children in strawberry fields or on filthy roads by the checkpoints, when their children are shot on their way to school by Israeli children who were educated to believe that love and compassion are race and religion dependent, the only thing I can do is stand by them and their betrayed babies, and ask what Anna Akhmatova–another mother who lived in a regime of violence against women and children–asked:
  
  Why does that streak o blood, rip the petal of your cheek?
  
  Maghribi - March 10, 2013
  9:23 am
  - What a great speech from a fair minded Israeli woman. I hope more people like her speak out. Let us also not forget the Palestinian doctor who lost his 3 daughters during Israel’s incursion into Gaza:
    
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/17/izzeldin-abuelaish-plea-for-peace-gaza-isra
    
    Mimi - March 10, 2013
    11:53 am
    - There are more and more women like Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan who cannot close their eyes to the suffering of their Palestinian sisters. Like the journalist Amira Haas (daughter of holocaust survivors), who has spent many years living in Gaza and the West Bank.
      Another such woman emerges in the film THE LEMON TREE. It traces the growing empathy of an Israeli woman for her Palestinian neighbour, who is about to lose (as her parents did their home in 1948) the orchard she has nurtured because its presence offends an Israeli official who has come to reside next to it with the latest expansion of Israeli territory into the disappearing Palestinian lands.
      Not all the thousands (estimates go up to 30,000) of young Israelis who have recently emigrated to (guess where!) Germany (so how long will the excuse of the holocaust hold up for settling and occupying another people’s lands?) have left Israel simply for a better life elsewhere. The same accusations of not being patriotic that are levelled against dissenters from majoritarian views, as here, too, make life difficult for those who have espoused Palestinian rights. Witness this ‘human rights lawyer for Yesh Din, an Israeli NGO that files petitions against illegal construction by settlers on privately owned Palestinian land’, who says: ‘It came to a point where I just felt I had to leave. It’s the way people in Israel treat you; some called me a traitor.’
      As many Muslims know every Jew is not a Zionist, and I do believe that long standing TRADITIONAL (I am NOT referring to mostly white settler colonialist Jews who grabbed themselves a state in another people’s land with the aid of guilt ridden but also eye for the main chance Western powers) Jewish communities in largely Muslim communities in West Asia rarely experienced the pogroms inflicted on Jews in Christian Europe and elsewhere. Sadly, with the implantation of the state of Israel, centuries of relative co-existence took a beating and Jews began to be persona non grata where they had lived with their Muslim brothers and sisters.
      This is just an interjection – not to the main point of the discussion here – but provoked by some of the statements that have been thrown out here and there above.
      
      manel fonseka - March 10, 2013
      2:03 pm
      - A great comment Manel. You have given great points, which I find very interesting and factual.
        Of course not all Jews are Zionists (thank goodness). It is the devious actions of the Zionists that are dangerous to the rest of the world. They have used the holocaust card, and the victim card, long enough, to intimidate other nations into complying with their demands. The US has become a slave to Israel. The US congress continuously does what Israel demands, even against the interests of their own nation. One Israeli leader was supposed to say “we control America and they know it”.
        Such is arrogance. I will look forward to more of your comments on this issue.
        
        Mimi - March 11, 2013
        2:05 am
This post is directed at all Tamils who are accusing Muslims of Betraying the Tamil cause, particularly those who use misleading pseudo names to masquerade as neutral observers.

Why did we not take sides?- We have lived in this country for well over a thousand years; in all of those 1000 years we have forged a separate identity, living amicably among Sinhalese, Tamils and other foreign occupiers of this country.

Why do we wish to maintain a separate identity? – Muslims adopt and speak the language of their adopted country. We immerse ourselves in the culture of the country we live in. Thus we will learn the language of the country. We speak Tamil because the Muslims who settled in Ceylon were converts from Dravidians and adopted their language and culture. When we arrived in Ceylon we continued the practice.
Some others took Sinhala wives when they arrived here and have no issues with learning a new language or culture. Today we learn Sinhala.

While many communities are identified by language, we are unified by a way of life. There lies the conundrum. Thus we don’t not wish to be segregated based on language.
Why we don’t sides.- the Tamil struggle is political, and identity based. Muslims have never had political ambitions and would prefer to work for unity. In lighter vein, we have both Sinhala and Tamil blood in us and taking sides would mean betraying the other! Seriously Muslims have sacrificed life and limb protecting this country. We were pilloried and pillaged for our loyalty. The Portuguese and Dutch hated us, while the British cunningly set us against the Sinhalese, sowing the first seeds of mistrust among the majority.

We did not betray the Tamil cause- though we are sympathetic and supportive, We don’t relate to the Tamil cause because we do not see ourselves as a common minority with the Tamils. That position will not change in a hurry.

The LTTE punished us for this perceived lack of loyalty. Muslims fought the same battles the Sinhalese fought. Tamils think we are complicit; while the Sinhalese think we didn’t do enough.

This is because our Muslim identity means a lot to us and we will do everything to protect it. We have paid a heavy price for taking this stand. We think it’s a price we must pay as we have done for centuries. We will endure this period of difficulty and use restraint.

You can call us names, laugh at our life styles, but we take pride in the fact that we belong to something bigger than what you are willing to concede. And we Muslims in Sri Lanka can take the moral high ground. It is the majority community that has to defend its actions.

And the world is watching.

Nabil - March 9, 2013
7:29 pm
- Critics of Muslims should also take into mind that the Muslims, as one whole community, are politically in a disadvantageous situation when compared with the Tamils as the Muslims live among Tamils and Sinhalese as well and excepting for the East they are a numerically very much lesser in number. The Tamils were able to have a strong political clout because they are the overwhelming majority in the North and a significant number in the East. Although there are a significant number of Muslims who are supportive of the Tamil cause they Muslims are unable to take a political stand on the matter. It must also not be forgotten that although several Muslims joined and were active in the older Tamil Parties like the Federal Party the Tamil leaders did not show any interest on the issues concerning the Muslims and the disappointed Muslims in the Tamil parties had to depart. There are various factors that have contributed for the confused situations in the past and everyone has faltered. So the old faults should not be issues to further the divisions. Now at a time the suppression of rights is becoming alarmingly common unity is needed to confront such alarming situations.
  
  Mohamed Marzook - March 10, 2013
  10:03 am
“We speak Tamil because the Muslims who settled in Ceylon were converts from Dravidians and adopted their language and culture” True. However much one tries to hide the fact the reality remains. Much ink was wasted even in these pages maintaining the deception.

“Muslims who settled in Ceylon were converts from Dravidians” True.
Looked from today’s eyes, it is a pity we lost many from our untouchable grouping to other religions.

“We have lived in this country for well over a thousand years”
False. For God’s sake, don’t quote the trash from Lorna D.
6 centuries will be more in line with the historical data.

Why worry now of Tamils perception of those who “betrayed” them (your description) This is Fait Accompli decades ago. But despite all the bad blood of recent times, Tamils will come to the aid of other minorities under the threat of attack. They are already doing that – loud and clear.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 10, 2013
12:41 am
- Senguttuvan
  
  I was shocked to read your (arrogant?) dismissal of the writer’s claim that Muslims “have lived in this country for well over a thousand years”, saying ‘False. For God’s sake, don’t quote the trash from Lorna D. 6 centuries will be more in line with the historical data.’
  
  Maybe you are better informed than Lorna D who you dismiss so pompously, but of course she is not the ONLY person who has done work in this field. Quite a number of other scholars have worked on relevant material, including INSCRIPTIONS. I am NOT any kind of expert but I thought it was common knowledge that inscriptional (and other) evidence is available about the Muslim presence in this country as least back to the 10th century. I would have to check sources, but I think there is material evidence dating even some centuries earlier. Take a trip to the Nat Museum and ask to see some inscriptions….if they havent been stolen yet.
  
  manel fonseka - March 10, 2013
  4:31 pm
- Senguthuvan
  
  You say “We have lived in this country for well over a thousand years”
  False. For God’s sake, don’t quote the trash from Lorna D.
  6 centuries will be more in line with the historical data.” Are you relying on Sri P Ramanathan?
  
  Instead of dismissing an eminent scholar why don’t you give your sources to discredit Dr. LD’s thesis?
  
  I have multiple sources which lead one to the conclusion that we have lived here long enough!
  
  Nabil - March 10, 2013
  4:42 pm
Farook,

I’m quoting you below-

“Had the Muslims supported the separatist call at the early stage when the country’s armed forces were ill equipped to face the challenges posed by the LTTE the history would have been different and certainly there wouldn’t have been a united Sri Lankan for ultranationalists to claim as their exclusive property”.

IS THIS A THREAT???????????????

Mahadana Muththa (Jnr) - March 10, 2013
3:05 am
- Why misinterpret the statement as a’threat’? It is a statement of fact. With the North being effectively controlled by the LTTE,if the Muslims in the East too supported them the East too would have been a fully LTTE controlled area.
  
  Mohamed Marzook - March 10, 2013
  9:50 am
  - “if the Muslims in the East too supported them the East too would have been a fully LTTE controlled area”.
    
    Are you trying to say that despite the LTTE having chased away all the Muslims from Jaffna, the Muslims in the East would have still supported the LTTE?
    
    What kind of back stabbers are the Muslims of the East? Shame on you and your lot.
    
    Mahadana Muththa (Jnr) - March 10, 2013
    4:16 pm
    - Do you not know the meaning of the word ‘if’. I cannot help if you are so ignorant?
      
      Mohamed Marzook - March 10, 2013
      10:17 pm
- Go back to your paddyfield son
  
  asif - March 20, 2013
  8:55 am
There is strong speculation that the Halal certification will be removed at least temporarily by the ACJU after high level discussions between government. Will removal of Halal upset market equilibrium is the issue now in question. When a Muslim buys fresh meat from a Muslim butcher, the ‘Halal question’ will not arise at any point as both the seller and the consumer are confident about the purity factor in the process. But, on the other hand, it plays a key role when it comes to frozen meat that is being sold at supermarkets as the consumer is unaware of the manner in which the meat is produced. That is why Halal certificate becomes important for frozen meat brands to increase their market shares. By removing the halal certification, the consumption of frozen meat will sharply decline.The Muslim consumer will revert to the butcher who produces fresh meat and that will create a sudden increase in the fresh meat consumption. As a result of this sudden increase in demand, the prices of fresh meat will ertainly go up. As a result, the frozen meat market will get severely affected while the fresh meat market, primarily run by Muslims, will thrive on this. The common Sinhala consumer who doesn’t go to the supermarket and buys lesser amounts of meat from butchers will be hurled from frying pan into the fire by the price increase. Therefore, the major victims of the removal of the Halal certification are not Muslims, but companies who produce frozen meat, super market chains and ultimately common Sinhalese consumers.

Marwan - March 10, 2013
5:38 am
- “The common Sinhala consumer who doesn’t go to the supermarket and buys lesser amounts of meat from butchers will be hurled from frying pan into the fire by the price increase.”
  
  Wow, you are so concerned about the “common Sinhalese consumers”!! News flash – Tamils & Sinhalese make up approximately 91% of the population of this country. Your analogy has no basis. Even if Tamils & Sinhalese (transaction value) buy 1/5 of what you guys consume (meat), what will actually happen is still not what you are predicting but the exact opposite – Non-Halal meat product prices will reduce.
  
  ACJU is charging exorbitant amounts from all the “certified” meat producers and some are forced to employ “Halal coordinators” to maintain their “certificates” (purely to give employment to Muslims) and those coordinators have absolutely no background in food science. Keep this in mind – when 91% of the population stop paying for Halal certificate, its gonna be you lot only, paying for that useless certificate.
  
  Why Halal Certificate in Sri Lanka is Useless?
  1.How does ACJU determine a meat patty or a processed item made of Chicken,Beef, Lamb etc is is free of Pig meat/Pork?
  
  2. How does ACJU determine various food manufacturers who are using local and imported fats, ingredients etc are not contaminated with pig fat/lard? How do they guarantee the purity of the product to justify their fees?
  
  Last but not least – when revenue from Sinhalese dropped in one of the well known (Muslim owned) fashion retail chain, they came out in public complaining and eventually sued some monks. Why? they saw the drastic drop in sales and wanted the Sinhalese to come back. The effect was so hard that they went to the extent of making donations to hospitals with monks in the front and published advertisements (am just happy that something prompted those guys to do some CSR for the country without being communal!!) – so, If “common Sinhalese consumers” are poor and have no real buying power, why make such a deal about them and try to draw them back? Why not try selling only to Muslims and see how a “chain” can be created and operated exclusively to Muslims.
  
  Fact is, these “chains” without limits are in business and doing business to the majority and over 80% of their revenue is coming from the majority, not from Muslims, its simple mathematics. The problem is, you guys do not know how to co-exist, you do not care about the concerns of others, you just want your Halal and you want all of us to pay for it and then keep silent as well.
  
  Fact – We have no issues with your beliefs, we have no issues with your Halal but we have an issue with you guys for forcing all that on us and then point the finger at us for being “racist” for voicing our concerns. Just as you want Halal food – we want non-Halal food, if 91% stop eating Halal, guess which side the manufacturers will take? I doubt that herbal balm mudalali guy will pack Chicken for you so do not let things go that far – issue the Halal “certificate” free of charge, as a service to your own community. With that, even if the process is useless, we wont mind eating Halal food if we don’t have to pay for the “certificate”, so its gonna be a win-win .
  
  Observer - March 10, 2013
  4:25 pm
The common Sinhala consumer who doesn’t go to the supermarket and buys lesser amounts of meat from butchers will be hurled from frying pan into the fire by the price increase. Therefore, the major victims of the removal of the Halal certification are not Muslims, but companies who produce frozen meat, super market chains and ultimately common Sinhalese consumers.

SO IT HAS BOOMERANGED ON THE ANTI- HALAL GROUP.

AYMAN - March 10, 2013
12:42 pm
HERE IS SOMETHING VERY INTERESTING;

Do all Buddhists eat meat?

No. Few Buddhist avoid meat as a principle. Mahayana Buddhists do not encourage meat consumption as that can be of a Bodhisatta a seeker of Buddhahood. Still only a section of Mahayana Buddhists are pure veggies.

Did Gautama Buddha eat meat?

Yes. On multiple occasions. One well known instance is his last meal. `Sukara maddava` as its name suggests is a delicacy made of pork. (There is a debate whether this was poisoned to kill Buddha but let us not get into that.) Similarly there is enough evidence that his disciples, including Arhats, ate meat.

Did Gautama expect his disciples to be pure veggies?

No. Not even when a group of monks led by Devadatta requested for a prohibition. His response was explicit and unambiguous. Killing animals for consumption is wrong. But eating meat per se is not prohibited for his disciples under certain conditions. `Thrice cleaned` meat (thrikotika paarishudhdha maansha) is accepted. This is like making Halal food. A meat is `thrice cleaned` if a monk has not (a) seen, (b) heard or (c) do not suspect the animal specially killed for his consumption. This applies only for monks.

Why, Gautama, who preached `ahimsa` did not prohibit meat eating?

We can only guess. Perhaps he did not want to be seen an extremist. Ahimsa (non violence and the respect for all living beings) is underlined in Hinduism and Jainism to the extreme that it becomes impractical. Having rejected Hinduism for its inflexibility, Gautama may have wanted to take a more moderate approach. Meat eating could have been prominent in ancient India to the extent that pure vegetarianism was simply not possible. (Please note in pre-green revolution India food shortages and famines were the norm.) It may also be possible that he was not worried about the food and ate what was offered.

Has Gautama encouraged meat eating?

No. Never. On the contrary, he declared meat as one commodity a Buddhist observing Samma Ajiva (the right livelihood) should avoid selling, the others being weapons, human beings (slaves), alcohol and poison. It is strange why only a part of the transaction (selling) is defined wrong without any reference to purchasing. Perhaps it was too obvious to be emphasized.

Did Gautama lay any rules for the laity?

No. So we can assume the same set of rules is valid for laity too.

Is there any difference between monks and the laity in this?

Yes. Monks presumably do not purchase their food. They neither request. It is offered to them unasked. So they do not have a choice. Laity, on the contrary, makes conscious decisions to purchase meat. So while monks do not increase the meat supply by choice, the laity does. All producers, including those of meat, try to bridge a gap in consumer demand. So if meat is purchased it cannot be `thrice cleaned` for the consumer. If offered it is a different case.

Is it wrong for Buddhists to eat meat?

Yes and No. Yes, if they purchase as that is equivalent to promote killing. In fact, part of the price of meat is for killing. No, if meat is offered

AYMAN - March 10, 2013
12:54 pm
- Ayman,
  
  Sri Lanka consumes 30 MN Kilos of Beef annually. If Muslims alone consumed beef all we will be eating is beef.
  
  There is a pithy Sinhala saying ” Hakke Bhuddu Res, Bokke Harak Mas”
  
  Nabil - March 10, 2013
  4:07 pm
- Ayman,
  
  What you said about meat eating and Buddhism is exactly what I also have heard and believe. However, there is controversy exists on Buddha’s last meal.Some claim that this was a meal prepared out of some kind of mushrooms.Is there any basis to this claim?
  
  Dubdoc - March 10, 2013
  9:20 pm
Halal is a stupid idea. How can meat possibly be pure or impure? These are just rubbish rituals practiced by uneducated people.

Lester - March 10, 2013
2:04 pm
- Human beings follow a lot of stupid ideas, if you list 10 things that you do on a daily basis I am sure we can prove you are not very different to Muslims who follow stupid ideas
  
  Here are some for you to ponder
  
  01- Following Auspicious times
  
  02. Worship of Bo-trees and statues
  
  03- Thovils and Huniyam
  
  Nabil - March 10, 2013
  4:57 pm
  - Yes, but those things only affect the followers of Sinhala-Buddhism. Buddha himself never followed any of those things. On the other hand, Pbuh was a very violent individual who slaughtered 600 Jews with the sword, believed slavery was okay, and also believed rape of infidel women was okay. Sinhala-Buddhism is much more progressive than Islam, my friend. Buddhism (the actual form practiced by Buddha) is even more progressive. The mild nature of Buddhism is one reason why Japan and Korea are so successful today, without relying on Western infidels to find oil for them.
    
    Lester - March 10, 2013
    7:01 pm
    - Can’t resist bringing in the Jews again Lester. Since you bring it up, let’s get updated to the present time where the latest atrocities by Israel against civilians in Gaza resulted in 158 Palestinians dead including 30 children. The IDF used precision bombs into homes and civilian properties, ALL while saying they were not targeting civilians. We watched families being pulled out of rubble, and the entire world condemned the violence, so let’s not go back hundred of year to crusades, and the wars that were going on during the stone age, let’s focus on what is happening right now in the Palestinian region, the occupation and right now 700 children being locked up in Israeli prisons, who UNICEF says have been mentally and physically abused by Israel, without legal representation or connections to their families.
      
      Talking about slavery, guess what Israel does:
      
      “Israel the so-called “oasis of democracy and human rights” been cited by the United Nations and the US State Department was one of the worst offenders in this slave trade, a $ 1,000,000,000 dollar booming industry which continues to this day.
      
      Israel’s sex trade booming – News from Israel, YnetnewsYnet News
      
      Human trafficking in Israel rakes in more than one billion dollars a year, findings in annual parliamentary survey show.”
      
      This is all present day, NOT during the Prophet’s time.
      
      Mimi - March 11, 2013
      2:19 am
      - Hi Mimi,
        
        I am not a fan of Israel either, but let’s face the facts. The Arabs fought a war against Israel and lost. When you lose a war, you have to give up something; almost always it includes land.
        
        Lester - March 12, 2013
        12:09 am
        
        What exactly has the Arabs losing or winning a war got to do with Sri Lanka? Let the Arabs fight their battles, they have a ruthless zionist neighbor who steals their lands, kills their civilians, and has over 200 UN resolutions against them for these crimes, but this is Sri Lanka, and we are not involved in that conflict. You bringing the zionists up at every opportunity just does not jive with your claim you do not like them.
        
        Mimi - March 14, 2013
        1:01 pm
    - Well you will justify anything so that you can have the last word.
      
      My question is not about Gauthama Buddha. My question is about Muslims doing stupid things and Sinhalese not being stupid.
      
      We can do a comparative study of the Prophet and Gauthama Buddha as a separate debate
      
      By the way Japan and Korea follow Mahayana Buddhism, and I agree a peaceful and tolerant for of Buddhism!
      
      Nabil - March 11, 2013
      2:41 am
    - Never heard that one before about a leader of 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide. May be you picked it up of one of anti-Islamic hate sites. What you have written is far from the truth. Better declare your sources for verification. Obviously you are not an authority on this subject and you picked it up from somewhere. It is easy for anyone to villify the great Prophet falesly by blurting out such garbage, but it would be better for any student of Islam to verify the truth before coming to conclusion. There are really stupid hate mongers at every street corner.
      
      Marwan - March 11, 2013
      7:19 am
      - Everyone knows the truth about the “Prophet”, except Muslims who make blasphemy laws to prevent others from speaking the truth. But in this day of electronic media, when information travels faster than the speed of light , you cannot hide the truth. Wikipedia has a list of all the “Prophets” 13 wives, ranging in age from 9 – 40+. I do not know many men, certainly “prophets,” who would marry a 9 yr old! Most of the “prophets” refrained from sexual intercourse altogether; example: Jesus, Buddha, Guru Nanak.
        
        Lester - March 12, 2013
        12:05 am
        
        How ignorant can one be, especially when constantly attacking one particular religion, and insulting their Prophet. Here are some facts that are indisputable:
        
        Wikipedia on multiple wives of many Prophets;
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_Christianity
        
        Marrying young children was the norm in the stone age here is an example:
        
        Wikipedia:
        
        “In Jewish Ashkenazi communities in the Middle Ages, girls were married off very young.[1] Despite the young threshold for marriage a large age gap between the spouses was opposed,[2] and, in particular, marrying one’s young daughter to an old man was declared as reprehensible as forcing her into prostitution.[3] Child marriage was possible in Judaism due to the very low marriageable age for girls. A ketannah (literally meaning “little [one]“) was any girl between the age of 3 years and that of 12 years plus one day;[4] a ketannah was completely subject to her father’s authority, and her father could arrange a marriage for her without her agreement.[4]
        
        Mary, Mother of Jesus was a very young girl when she gave birth to him.
        
        Stop the hate mongering, it is quite obvious that you are anti Islamic in your comments here, and your main intent is to propagate the hate.
        
        Mimi - March 14, 2013
        1:16 pm
        
        HOW CAN HALAL BE STUPID IDEA IT JUST MEANS PERMITTED.
        YOU SAY BUDDHA DID NOT HAVE INTERCOURSE.
        HOW COME HE HAD A SON RAHULA?
        LESTER EVERY TIME YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH YOU PUT YOUR FEET IN DEEPER.
        LESTER JUST GIVE UP.
        
        AYMAN - April 27, 2013
        1:28 pm
Friend Maghribi – You have not answered my question as to what you believe is Zionism except to pour scorn on me accusing me of being “Nazi, Tiger, Sinhellist (what is this???)” – none of which I am or can be.

The rest of your Cut and Paste job, forgive me, is senseless to the argument. Since you clearly don’t appear to know, Zionism is the desire of the ancient Jewish people in the diaspora to get back to their own Ancient Home from which they were evicted by animistic/pagan Egyptians and other Conquerors in the pre-Christian periods. What is partially untenable is the fact in 1947/1948 when they came back to join their own people, already living their in continuity, there were living there later-converted Muslim Arabs (Palestinians) in larger number. How the arriving post-WW2 Jews from Europe were housed at the expense of physically evicting the Arabs living there is the bone of contention. My sympathies there have always been with the Arab/Palestinians. I also do not accept this notion of a Chosen People. Much has happened since 1947 and complicated the issue since then. The Israelis are not right on all the issues there – but, equally, they are not wrong on all issues either – although Mimi Netanyahu continues to muddy the waters.

What your preachers should ideally do, if I may, is to educate their flock of history as it occurred, which was not done. Instead prejudice, hatred, venom is pumped into you almost weekly to hate all Jews. The reality is most of these rabid preachers are doing this upon the introduction of Wahabi/Salafi lucre. And many of you are doing the hatred part very well – which now appears to have got you into trouble almost everywhere in the world.

By the way, you have chosen a pseudonym of an area where followers of Islam are relatively calmer and less pugnacious – benefited by the Liberalism and tolerance of France. It has been a pleasure to work with some of those handsome men and women of learning and culture – in my years in the UK, France and North America, whenever we discussed the influenced of religions on contemporary culture.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 10, 2013
2:35 pm
- Hear, Hear.
  
  vishvajith - March 10, 2013
  4:03 pm
  - You’re a joke! you can’t speak for yourself
    
    asif - March 20, 2013
    8:57 am
- My friend Senguttuvan – Nice to know you buying into the sweet version of Zionism. I have not accused you rather invited to THINK. One has to experience first hand the atrocities that are committed daily.
  
  This is convergent with many other factors, some of which you are aware of, and others that you are not yet aware of. Many of these other factors, dualistically speaking for now, are controlled by a very small group of people, often generically called “the new world order”, “illuminati” etc.
  
  Labels are irrelevant, but if you do want to more accurately label them from a duality perspective it would be more accurate to say “Global Zionists”. Note however that although all Zionists are Jews, not all Jews are Zionists, and all Zionists are Globalists. These “Global Zionists” draw their “power” from “satanic icons”, particularly the Semitic/Babylonian deity “Moloch”, the same calf-headed deity. This is also why Zionists observe The Star of Moloch instead of Jewish Star of David. Now of course these are all Duality based, and therefore do not rightfully belong to the enlightened Human Beings.
  
  The State of Israel arose after much conflict a few decades ago, is now staunchly armed and defended by the two other “Global Zionist” power centres, USA and UK. Israel contains two iconic places; Jerusalem, and Megiddo, in the Jezreel Valley.
  
  The great prize for the Zionists is the destruction of the Islamic Masjid on Temple Mount, to replace it, once again with the third rising of Solomon’s Temple. Whilst this is largely symbolic in one respect, the Zionists are heavily engaged in symbolism almost everywhere they influence. To the Zionist’s therefore, the rise of the next Jewish Temple on Temple Mount is the ultimate symbolic prize of great significance.
  
  Babylon is where the modern day Global Zionists originated, and the reason why they draw their power by practicing “satanic rituals” centred around the Semite/Babylonian deity known as Moloch. Every year, for two weeks, the Zionist “family” meet, which includes Globalist banking families from the USA, UK and Europe, and the “ceremonial heads” of these regions including members of the Rothschild, the Rockefeller, the Saxe Coburg und Gotha family, and other European Royals.
  
  They meet at a location in North California called “Bohemian Grove” where they conduct what would be construed as “satanic rituals” at the foot of a 30 feet tall stone statue of the deity “Moloch” from which they draw their power through sacrifice. I know this sounds “unbelievable”, but there is genuine live video footage of these events actually taking place, filmed by someone with a concealed video camera in a holdall, and who managed to infiltrate Bohemian Grove before being discovered and thrown out. Suffice it to say, this is why the global banking cartel in all of its manifestations are owned and controlled by Zionists, most notably the Federal Reserve in the USA. Before moving on, I feel compelled to provide the following observations.
  
  Fear is an emotional response invoked by an experience that we do not understand. Fear, along with uncertainty and doubt is one of the most powerful weapons that the “Global Zionists” who would wish to control Humanity and the World have in their emotional arsenal against Humanity. This “fear weapon” is invoked in numerous ways, for example through the control of money and debt, and the conditions of its distribution for basic survival needs. Another very major and pervasive deployment of fear is through the media, who portray a vengeful, jealousy, whose much more insidious application of control through fear created in the last couple of decades, particularly in and by the USA, is the so called “war on terror”, which seeks to make people feel fearful and insecure so that the “controllers” can exert all manner of oppressive and invasive controls over the people.
  
  For example, after “9/11″, aside from invading Afghanistan and Iraq for selfish reasons, the USA enacted the “Homeland Security Act” as well as many other controls, some by “executive order”, all designed to exert increasing control over their own people. The “war against terror” is totally and utterly fictitious, but is designed to control the people, and to justify further strategic imperial invasions of countries for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with “terrorists” or “humanitarianism”, and everything to do with regime changes to control countries for military and natural resources. Also keep in Mind that the “Global Zionists” who would seek to control the World are practicing “Satanists” who feed off and draw power from the fear emotion. The more fear they can invoke in as many people as possible, the stronger they become. To put it another way, these people are “vampires” who feed voraciously on fear. Now we must, if we are to progress, rise beyond not only these false contrivances, but also, most crucially, It is absolutely crucial to transcend Fear Itself. Let me assure you that it is virtually impossible to progress spiritually if fear can be invoked within us.
  
  Maghribi - March 11, 2013
  11:33 am
  - Dear Maghribi, thank you for posting a good article, it shows how cruel the zionists are. With these threats ever present, how can other banking concepts and financial institutions function??
    
    colombite - March 11, 2013
    6:31 pm
    - colombite – The city of Dubai is one of the pioneer to promote Ethical (Halaal) financial system and the Rulers are determined and recently have made enormous strides to make it a hub. Come, join and be a part of an ever growing success.
      
      Maghribi - March 12, 2013
      2:09 pm
Excuse me, the brouhaha over Halal, as consumers, why do you ” buy ” Halal ” branded products ?
You can chose, not to buy, yes ?
You are the 90pct as a commentator posted and you have the power to change the practice, if it doesn’t suit you, Yes ?

Cheers.

vishvajith - March 10, 2013
4:22 pm
Please look around da world..Muslim majority countries are at war within and without..some thing is wrong with the ideology.period.

Prithvi - March 10, 2013
6:58 pm
If you look at the so called Muslim schools in da country you will clearly see a pattern of arabanisation and emerging of fundamentalism which is a very dangerous trend.the sds and the oba of this schools are controlled by the socalled “jamath” parties.

Prithvi - March 10, 2013
7:07 pm
- By introducing ethno-religious schools you have segregated caused this problem.PERIOD!
  
  Here’s how we do it-
  
  Tamil Medium Muslim Schools- For Muslims ONLY
  Tamil Medium Hindu Schools- For Tamils ONLY
  Sinhala Medium Buddhist Schools for Buddhists ONLY
  
  And you talk of Arabization. Get a life Prithvi
  
  Nabil - March 11, 2013
  2:35 am
Dear Sir, your finely tuned text on real facts is simply overshadowed by linking Israel to the framework. Keep in your mind MR is (was) the champion of Palestine cause, friend of Iran and Buddy of Gadaffi(late).

Many Muslims lives in Israel and enjoys democracy over their. Please try to be reasonable for the Jews State as they mind their own affairs nicely.

surasena - March 10, 2013
8:10 pm
- Dear Mr Surasena
  Where have you been living all this time – well I assume you are at least 30 years old — to believe that Zionist Israel minds its ‘own affairs so nicely’? Surely you are joking and just trying to get a rise from someone like myself. For the fun of it?
  
  For starters, tho, do you think land-grabbing is an acceptable part of managing one’s own affairs nicely?
  
  I see that you qualify your description of the President as being a champion of the Palestinian cause — is (was). Yes, with the intensifying relationship with Israel (did you know we not only send our labouring people there but even CARERS! – carers for a country that has destroyed the lives of so many others!), it is difficult to believe in the sincerity of his support. But then look at even some of the Arab nations. So i spose lil ole Sri Lanka cant be blamed for contradictory policies.
  I must say I hadnt thought of Israel possibly being behind the anti Muslim campaign here. They dont NEED to be, there are enough factors here to propel it.
  
  BTW just read today’s Daily News
  at http://www.dailynews.lk/2013/03/11/wld05.asp
  for a recent example of the way Israel operates. They can’t even allow a symbolic wedding across the separation barrier! Another example of the problems of getting married if you live on different sides of the fence in that region can be seen in a very good film: THE SYRIAN BRIDE!
  
  manel fonseka - March 11, 2013
  3:35 am
We have no quarrel with this usually belligerent Nabil who admits “Muslims follow stupid ideas” We will take him on his word on that recent discovery. But I will comment on the 1st two items that touch on the primordial Hindu tradition.

1. To understand the reasoning and philosophy behind the ancient Auspicious Times traditions of Sanathana Dharma, one has to come from an ancient culture. It is based on the careful study of Astronomy developed over the millennia, the movement of stars, Planetary placements that influences each and every individual in the world and so on. This will be difficult for some following recent “religions”, which are themselves, based on following others of slightly older antiquity.

2. Tree worship too is associated with ancient religions based on tested philosophies based on peace and tolerance; which have, over multiple thousands of years, understood the relationship of man with the environment around him – of which trees, that too have lives of their own, are an integral part. Understandably, arid Arabia where Islam was created was already a desert by the time Prophet Mohamed emerged. Apparently, the civilisations in that area do not appear to have maintained verifiable records for a region that boasted even the mythical Garden of Eden.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 11, 2013
1:14 am
- Senguthuvan,
  
  You cook your own goose!
  
  Your responses have the word “ancient” to the two issues I raised. Admittedly they don’t hold up to scientific examination and scrutiny. Just add “Halal” too to this list so that we can all concede all that is considered “stupid” by some is steeped in tradition and should not be questioned.
  
  I have no issues with tree worship nor auspicious time if it pleases you. No explanation required. Just remember when you point fingers at others there are three other fingers pointing at you!
  
  I rest my case
  
  Nabil
  
  Nabil - March 11, 2013
  1:11 pm
Typical self defeating article. On the one hand, the author blames the irrational racism of the BBS and cohorts and on the other, he spouts pranoid fantasies about Israel somehow managing this present hate campaign. Muslims in Sri Lanka need to understand that their unthinking hatred of a country thousands of miles distant makes them look highly suspicious to the locals here. Are the local muslims carrying out a Saudi funded muslimization of Sri Lanka? Are they trying to implement shariah here? See? The paranoia is contagious.

peebee - March 11, 2013
4:56 am
Dear Colombo Telegraph,

For more than a year and half, in many of my articles, I warned of the threat to the country posed by the by Israeli presence here. As expected, many suspect that the Israelis together with Norway have been behind the ongoing hate Muslim campaign. Some suspect that they picked up racist elements, trained and finance them to set the Sinhalese against Muslim as part of their global anti-Muslim agenda implemented by United States and Europe in active collaboration with Israel.

You allow the above ridiculous conspiracy theories, based on zero factual evidence, and yet discourage readers from commenting on the feelings of Dayan Jayatilleke, despite such comments being based on his own words. Might I recommend some rather deep but much needed introspection.

Lester - March 11, 2013
5:07 am
Farook, ““Had the Muslims supported the separatist call at the early stage when the country’s armed forces were ill equipped to face the challenges posed by the LTTE the history would have been different and certainly there wouldn’t have been a united Sri Lankan for ultranationalists to claim as their exclusive property”.

Better be careful how you word your hypothesis.BBS & Co., are constantly monitoring the posts and comment threads on CT. You may not be doing any service to the vulnerable sections of your community if BBS & Co., believe that the majority of the Muslim community holds such views.

Umbala Kada - March 11, 2013
6:18 am
It is not the Israel behind this.The BBS is formed with the consent of the Asgiri-Malwathu Sector . This BBS monks have better things to do as monks than getting involved in dirty politics that tend to distroy the religious harmony that Srilanka enjoyed for many years.If the BBS Members are so compassionate about killing of animals. why they cannot extend this compassion to their sacred animal Elephant who is subjected to unimaginable suffering in Yala jungle for days after a land mine local version ‘Hakka pattas’ placed in their food and blown in the mouth,So far no BBS monk has raised their concern to this horrible act.Why? because it’s been done by Buddhist in the area and not Muslims.We have come out of 39 years of bloody LTTE Tamil terrorism that killed and displaced thousands of people.Then many of our valuable leaders were killed.Our economy suffered. Srilanka lost its good image. After going through all these chaos people of Srilanka still do not value peace and religious harmony we still enjoy .The government of Srilanka should be governing the country NOT BUDDHIST MONKS who has no mandate to do so.

christine - March 11, 2013
9:51 am
Comrade Maghribi:

Thank you. You will not feel offended if I say I can detect team effort in your response – largely with an anti-Zionist content and flavour. How is that the Jews – Zionists to you – as far as we know have drawn sympathy, respect and admiration throughout the world whereas the Muslims are under attack almost everywhere – in many instances (Pakistan, Lebanon, Iraq) among themselves. Jews have not tried to impose themselves or their “pure and clean “religion or culture on others. They hardly speak of their religion in other societies they are part of. They let the world speak for their peaceful way of living and their contribution to make the world a good place for all of us to live in.

But if you and your friends want to continue on a regular staple diet of anti-Semitism that is your prerogative. I wonder if you are aware almost every country around Israel have experts visiting Israel today trying to learn of their enormous breakthrough in producing water from the dry desert – a technology they have developed recently where the cost per unit of water produced is said to be as low as 10% of what it normally costs elsewhere. They have not closed their doors to the Arabs around although they know almost every Arab and Muslim nation is joined in that revengeful goal “Israel and its people must be destroyed” by all means – fair or foul. It is time we realised, my friend, that the presence of all of us mortals in this earthly life is centered around 50-90 years and we become dust thereafter. It is best we spend this brief period in doing good and going about matters with peace and harmony in mind.

I certainly don’t say Israel is always right. I was saddened to learn today there are reports of their releasing raw sewage in the village of Nabi Saleh responding to a noisy demo. This needs to be condemned in the strongest of terms by all.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 11, 2013
12:56 pm
- Mr. Senguttuvan – You seem to know very little of the Middle East and it’s progress. First your inability to separate the Jews from the Zionists is a condition reflects your belief system. It is also very easy to see how misguided conscience arises and justifies injustice. Muslims have been under attack ever since its inception by the evil forces and will continue to be attacked until they start to practice the message of Islam as it was revealed and understood by Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and the early companions. For those of us who live work and play in Arabia have a different experience with Zionism. We see their destructive behaviour socially, economically not just in the Middle East but around the world. Evil will eventually self destruct itself. You talk of water purification, my friend, the Arabian deserts can power the world with clean energy. It will some day.
  
  On the Day when every soul will find itself confronted with all that it hath done of good and all that it hath done of evil (every soul) will long that there might be a mighty space of distance between it and that (evil). Allah biddeth you beware of Him. And Allah is Full of Pity for (His) bondmen. (The Noble Quran 3:30)
  
  Maghribi - March 12, 2013
  6:17 am
Watch the proceedings of meeting 11/Mar. on removal of Halal logo. Google for ‘Youtube ACJU knowledgebox’, and watch all clips Q&A, and the presentations made by all

Marwan - March 11, 2013
5:00 pm
COULD ONE ENLIGHTEN ME ON WHY THE MAHANAYAKE OF THE ASGIRIYA CHAPTER HAS CONDEMNED THE B.B.S., WHEREAS THE MALWATTE MAHANAYAKE HAS SAID NOTHING.

IT USED TO BE SAID THAT MALWATTE IS UNP AND ASGIRIYA IS SLFP???

AYMAN - March 11, 2013
6:17 pm
For those interested in the withdrawal of Halal, you can see the Media presentaion by all parties at: http://www.youtube.com/user/KnowledgeBox1

Marwan - March 12, 2013
1:23 am
I thought I have seen the last of these arguments until Maghribi continues to persist.

We share the concern “Muslims have been under attack ever since inception by evil forces” The solution, my friend, must come from the Muslims themselves. From the time Prophet Mohamed died they have indulged in a blood-bath originally for succession, that sees no end even today. How many Caliphs, the equivalent to the Pope – have had their necks actually cut right within the Mosque – while praying. Even 1,700 years after, the Sunnis are slaughtering children, women, the old and the infirm of the Shiites and other Muslim followers even to the day. Are you still blaming the Israelis, Jews, Narendra Modi and the Sinhalese for this.

Brain-washed as some of you are by your Madraasas and by your Wahabi/Salafi paid adventerers, in this poison of hating and wanting to destroy all those who do not belong to your thinking or your line of religion, many of you find your reason blinded by hatred. For, here I talk of water purification and you talk of Clean Energy. I agree the Arab world may contribute to clean energy in the future but when they do it will be very likely be with Zionist technology that they desperately seek now.

I agree with your lot on the two following. 1. “Evil will eventually self-destruct evil” We are beginning to see this here in Sri Lanka itself – from last recently where sanity is forced to return. And the Saudis are yielding at last to global condemnation and are in the process of giving up that Neanderthal sport of neck-cutting. How one wishes little Nafeena lived to see that day of final good sense 2. “Allah is full of love” No one has ever been in doubt of that. The problem is with many of those who followed him – deceptively using his name- from the beginning. It is their civilised norms that can turn the image of the religion from what it is to that Love Allah feels for all humanity.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 12, 2013
2:15 pm
- A multiple personality Tiger Consumed with propaganda and fed by a corrupt system takes pleasure believing the muck out there and denigrating the sentiments of 1.9 billion Muslims.
  
  Maghribi - March 12, 2013
  4:33 pm
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“denigrating the sentiments of 1.9 billion Muslims” says the pious and peaceful Maghribi. How are plans to rapidly convert the 1.9 bln to
8 bln for Total Conquest of the globe coming along? It succeeded in the EP with a massive baby-boom explosion in the past 3 decades – because the Tamils were temporarily weakened by the war. Too bad, Sinhalese in the rest of the country saw through the conspiracy- and so BBS was born. They are sniffing around for other parts of the “plan” as one reads here and there. Remember the old Sinhala proverb – take the serpent going in the road and tuck into your sarong and in no time the vicious one will go for the Crown jewels.

Senguttuvan

Senguttuvan - March 12, 2013
5:51 pm
- What can we do if your nihilistic religion asks everyone to refrain from reproducing? no wonder your folk end up penetrating little boys from behind.
  
  asif - March 20, 2013
  8:50 am

Turning The Country Into A Permanent Killing Field And The ‘Halal’ Bomb

148 Responses to Turning The Country Into A Permanent Killing Field And The ‘Halal’ Bomb

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