BBS Gnanasara yesterday demanded free reign for Buddhist monks to defeat the threat of Islamic extremism and to ‘mould’ the local Muslim culture the way they want.

Galagoda Atte Gnanasara made these comments in Kandy yesterday, at the rally organised by the BBS. “We ask the leaders of this country, handover the responsibility of defeating Islamic extremism to us monks, our monks are ready…Even if the media is with us or not, we can still hold grassroot level meetings, talk to people in person and mould the Muslim culture the way we want…” he said.

Gnanasara

Gnanasara went on to state that it should not be forgotten that Sri Lanka is the country of the Sinhalese and just like any home or business would have an owner, a country too must have a keeper to prevent it from slipping into deterioration.

“A serpent has entered into our home, it’s a poisonous snake that will bite, not just us but even its own kind…all of us in this house must join together and kill this snake on sight. This can only be achieved by the sword that is the religion, without pelting a single stone,” he said.

Gnanasara in his speech went on to criticize leaders who meet with the Ulama organisations, stating discussions with Ulama organisations must be immediately suspended as they maintain links with four Islamic extremist groups in the world.

He said if the leaders of the country don’t help the Sufis, empower and uplift them, before long the leaders would also have to seek ‘Aba Sarana’.

“Recently there was that incident about the woman from Atolugama. I saw some lebbes and Hajjiyars have got together to hold a media conference. That entire village of Atolugama is being manipulated by Mufti’s Jamath organisation…There is only one thing I have to tell Mufti, do not try to be too smart for your own good, you will not even be able to continue living in this country…We will let you fly above our heads but don’t take that as an excuse to build nests overhead,” he added.