The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has written to the President Maithripala Sirisena calling for action against instigators and perpetrators of violence and hate speech against the Muslim community and other religious minorities.
Dr.Deepika Udagama
We publish below the letter in full:
His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena
Presidential of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo 1.
Your Excellency,
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka is gravely concerned about the acts of violence and aggression targeting the Muslim community, which have aggravated in recent days.
The Commission notes that previously similar conduct led to the violence at Aluthgama in June 2014, resulting in the loss of lives and destruction of property. We also do note that to date no meaningful action has been taken to make those responsible for instigating and perpetrating the Aluthgama violence accountable.
The Commission is alarmed at the hate speech conveyed over social media as well as some mainstream media targeting the Muslim community and Islam, which seek to instigate people to commit violence against the Muslim people, their religious institutions and businesses.
The Commission also wishes to bring to the attention of Your Excellency the spate of attacks on places of Christian religious worship in the recent past, which adds to an alarming trend of religious bigotry and intolerance which has gone unchecked.
There is no doubt that such expressions of hate and violence targeting a specific community amount to crimes under the ICCPR Act, No 56 of 2007 and the Penal Code of Sri Lanka. It is necessary that the perpetrators of such acts are apprehended and dealt with according to law. Laws existing on the statute books without implementation have a corrosive impact on the Rule of Law. As such it is essential that these laws are implemented in the best interests of the country.
Both national law and international human rights obligations of Sri Lanka obligate the government to prevent such acts of violence and to take timely action to stop the spread of hate speech, which foster and promote violent conduct. Failure to do so will be a black mark on the human rights record of the country and will be another serious obstacle to the reconciliation process in our country, on which Your Excellency has placed much emphasis.
In these circumstances the HRCSL requests Your Excellency to give urgent directions to Ministry of Law and Order and the Inspector General of Police to take all necessary action against the instigators and perpetrators of violence and hate speech targeting the Muslim community as well as other religious minorities.
Chairperson
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
justice / June 3, 2017
It is reported that in the north, persons in a white van who came to investigate two motorcycles recovered from wells being renovated by owners after release of land recently, removed the number plates from them forcibly, to prevent identification of owners from whom the motorcycles had been forcibly seized by the army.
The owner of the land complained to the Human Rights Commission, Jaffna, and Police, but the HRC and Police had refused to register the complaints.
The HRC should treat all complaints in the north and south, alike.
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Analyst / June 3, 2017
Shame on the name of HRC. All humbug . The most atrocities happened and still happening in the war torn areas and no injustices mentioned in their report.
What’s going on ?
Are they trying to bury the bad news with the new crusade for Muslims and the Christians only?
How do the HRC expect the country to move forward??
Beggars belief.
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Sunil / June 3, 2017
You can’t ban hate speech!! It will only be used against freedom of speech… nothing will change by banning hate speech.
Just take action against those who incite violence, vandalize others property, cause attacks on any community or citizens of our country, illegal threaten to evict any citizen from their property etc.
In short just apply the law properly and all the BBS or any other extremist/terrorists organizations will be brought under control.
Problem is that the law is not being properly applied to these terrorists.
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Jim / June 3, 2017
We need Budhist monks in Sri Lankan police force to reform the system
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Burt / June 3, 2017
Buddhism by percentange as of 2010[1]
Country[4]
Estimated Buddhist population
% of total Buddhist in country
Cambodia 13,701,660 96.90%
Thailand 64,419,840 93.20%
Myanmar 48,415,960 87.90%
Bhutan 563,000 74.70%
Sri Lanka 14,222,844 70.2% [5]
The above are the top five Buddhist majority countries in the world.
Just think of the Govts, Law and Order, Level of Poverty and peoples living standards. Most in these countries will jump to the first opportunity to migrate to a Christian while abusing other faiths while on their soil.
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vishajith / June 3, 2017
Burt, true and you are upsetting the locals.
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John / June 3, 2017
Muslims have come to Sri Lanka for better life.
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Eagle Eye / June 3, 2017
Burt, For your information:
According to ADB, Share of Population Below the National Poverty Line (%) in 2015: Bangladesh 31.5%; Bhutan 12%; India 21.9%; Maldives 15%; Nepal 25.2%; Sri Lanka 6.7%; Myanmar 25.6%; Laos 23.2%; Cambodia 14%; Thailand 10.5%; Vietnam 7.%; Malaysia 0.6%; Philippines 21.6%; Indonesia 10.9%.
The official poverty rate in USA is 13.5 percent, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 estimates. That year, an estimated 43.1 million Americans lived in poverty according to the official measure. According to supplemental poverty measure, the poverty rate was 14.3 percent. (Source: https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states)
In Buddhist Sri Lanka, the poverty rate is less than the Christian USA which is the richest country in the world.
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Burt / June 3, 2017
I posted the stats did not make a comment on it. One of the reasons being its subjective based on individual, but I had named more than one measure to think of.
You have centered on national poverty line and you know that line differs from country to country.
So your argument does not hold water.
If you ask an average Sri Lankan or one from one of the majority Buddhist countries whether they would like to move to poverty rate high Christian USA.
LOL your deshapremi Basil Rajapaksa don’t want to give-up his citizenship even to contest elections.
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AVB / June 3, 2017
Hi Eagle Eye, ……………….
How do you missed the point that SL unemployment is less than USA, Australia, UK, Italy, etc… But please don’t tell these “True Facts” in public internet.. Because we are not prepared to handle large influx of asylum seekers from the West.. Vijaya and his 700 gang was last boat people we handled.. But that was 2500 years back and now we don’t have those skills.. So please be quite Eagle…
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Jim Softy / June 4, 2017
AVB: How about 200, 000 Hindians and Many South Indians who are coming here on visitor visa and work ?
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Siva Sankaran Sarma / June 4, 2017
Sri Lanka’s so bad and yet there’s seemingly no end to We Thamizh from the We Thamizh homeland flocking to Colombo to be pavement traders :D
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Burt / June 7, 2017
Do they have a choice when the Army with the blessing of the Sinhala Budha State destroyed their livelihood and now occupy their land. Unlike you they don’t believe in hand-outs so they move to an area where they can make a living.
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Intrigued / June 6, 2017
Correct, but most of the people living in poverty in America are fat! Why?
They seem to have more than enough food to eat and food is cheaper than most countries. The poverty line is a relative term. You can’t compare it across nations.
In the US, it’s to your advantage to show to be below poverty line and many people find creative ways to show that they are under the poverty line in order to get the benefits and free handouts. Many people who work for cash and earn a decent living also qualify for food stamps (which is not a politically correct term anymore. Food stamps are now known as Snap (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program))
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argon / June 3, 2017
Yes, so would the Christians, Hidus and Muslims.
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John / June 4, 2017
Burt, —STOP talking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t you know how Christian countries got prosperous????????? What the hell did Christian countries do for 500 years in Sri Lanka?????????? Have you heard of colonization , invasion, slavery, genocide, looting, etc, etc ????
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Burt / June 4, 2017
“What the hell did Christian countries do for 500 years in Sri Lanka?”
That’s how long it took to teach you guys to put on a pair of pants and turn you guys to semi-civilized creatures.
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romani / June 4, 2017
Johnny boy,
“What the hell did Christian countries do for 500 years in Sri Lanka?”
Little John, don’t forget you have an European name, writing in English , using electricity, probably wearing pants, drinking tea,and your female relatives are allowed to wear blouses.
Don’t forget also that the Christian countries allowed the Amarapura and Ramanna nikayas to be set up.
Just to start with.
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ABCD / June 5, 2017
@John
Not that is is justified but in most cases it was the African chiefs who sold the slaves to Europeans. So both the European traders and the African chiefs and their men are to blame for the slave trade. You can’t just blame the Europeans for it. Africans too have to take their share of the blame aswell
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Singhalese pundit / June 3, 2017
[Edited out] Please avoid typing all capitalized comments – CT
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Jim Softy / June 3, 2017
What is happening is a cultural clash. Muslims could not live together with Tamils. Tamils chased them away. Muslims live in the east by completely islamizing the east and tamils are not allowed there. It is the same thing with Sinhala buddhist s Muslims are not allowed in the north. On ther other hand in the south, Muslims clash with the sinhala buddhist culture and muslims do not know how to live with other cultures. So, the human rights do not work here, as Muslims Prophet asks to kill all the infidela KAffira and non-believers or convert them by force. If muslims can not assimilate to the sinhala culture, there should be another way to solve this. The best thing is muslims moving to a majority muslim country.
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John / June 3, 2017
There are no “HATE” crimes in Sri Lanka YET, Sinhalese haven’t touched a Muslim mosque or Muslim shop YET. So called attacks on Muslim places were all false, broken pieces of a roof tile scatted all over the door step, then pictures of it upload on the internet. They were all inside jobs by Muslims to frame hero Gnanasara thero. —————————————————————————————————————————————————— Protecting Sinhala-Buddhist heritage is not a hate crime. So stop blaming others, Muslims are victims of 1slam.
————————————————————————————————————————————————– STOP Muslimizing Sri Lanka. STOP building illegal Muslim settlements on archeological sites and in National Parks. STOP illegal Muslim migration. STOP building Madrasas that produce future Muslim terrorists.
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Eagle Eye / June 3, 2017
A new Operation Inherent Resolve report has upped the official civilian death toll of the US-led aerial bombing campaign in Syria and Iraq by more than a third, confirming 484 civilian deaths – while activists claim the figure is several times higher. According to the coalition, in the period between August 2014 and April 2017, a total of 21,035 airstrikes were carried out against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). This figure breaks down into 44,330 separate engagements. (Source: https://www.rt.com/news/390651-civilian-death-toll-coalition-iraq/ Published time: 2 Jun, 2017 16:46)
USA is killing Muslims. Why not Muslims in Sri Lanka go and protest in front of the US Embassy? Where is UNHRC that talks about war crimes in Sri Lanka? ‘Para Suddha’s hypocrisy !!!
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Burt / June 3, 2017
And what has this got to do with propagating hate and attacking Muslims and their religion in Sri Lanka?
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roy / June 3, 2017
Majority of the Sinhalese are peaceful people , a minute fraction led by the tyrant Gnanasara is doing all these damage to mother lanka.
This worm is in the apple ,before it destroys the beautiful apple it has to be eliminated by burning in hell fire.
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Hamlet / June 3, 2017
Burt; The Prevalence of Buddha’s Dhamma cannot be measured by Quantity, Only by Quality if at all! The Buddha’s Dhamma is Immeasurable!
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Burt / June 3, 2017
Looking at Sri Lanka where will you rank the Quality of Buddhism from 1 – 10. 1 being beyond good and 10 being hopeless.
Where will you rank the Mahanayake’s the guardians of Buddhism in Lanka.
Do you believe state and religion should be separate and any reference to a specific religion should be taken out of the constitution?
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old codger / June 4, 2017
Around 13 is a fair score, I think.
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Shrikharan / June 3, 2017
Maithripala Sirisena promised and assured all minorities he would stop for ever threats and violence of BBS against them and got their votes and won elections and now all of them have gone to sleep and violence continue unabated.
No action is taken and so far this Gnanasara thero a shame an insult to all priests and the holy safron is still on the lose and not arrested. As if police does not know where he is.
Maithri you are a shame and only thing you did was to stab your former boss President Rajapakse in his back after having enjoyed the spoils being his close associate and without questioning any of his wrong doings, but only praising his actions until the very last day. This is who you are and how can Sri Lanka as a country prosper and enjoy the good will of the International community with leaders like you. Please chuck up your job at least now so some one capable can redeem Sri Lanka.
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Coolio / June 3, 2017
Simply put the sinhalese cannot live in harmony with any other ethnicity. Time and time again they have proven this. The only way forward now is to break this country up in half. South for the sinhalese and north for the minorities. The minorities can work together to form a highly developed and advanced civilization in the north. The sinhalese on the other hand have time and time again dragged this country back into the stoneage. Tamils Muslims and Christians must join hands to break away from this cancer called sinhala buddism. Its this cancer that has dragged everybody down. If enough voices are raised this can be done by the UN like how it was done in somalia to break the country in 2. Its either that or you can embrace the SB vision of bieng a 2nd class citizen/slave. You cannot reason with fools who claim this country only belongs to them and that everyone else should leave because their blood is apparently “less special”, or live as second class denizens bowing down to patriotic three wheel drivers.
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soma / June 3, 2017
Coolo, I am one Sinhalese who agrees for a Tamil Homeland. Obviously a commitment from the UN that all Tamils(Tamil speaking people ) will be moved into the assigned area must be a prerequisite. —— “Tamils Muslims and Christians must join hands to break away from this cancer called sinhala buddism.” ——- I truly wish for this to happen and always suggest that TNA must run a campaign encouraging Tamils to leave Sinhala areas and move towards North East. This is the only way forward. Soma
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R K / June 3, 2017
Most Rev.Gnasara Thero must be made the Minister in Charge of Law and Order to maintain harmony among communities. One wonders why the Rev.is avoiding to appear before the Hon Court of Appeal. Is He scared of of Justice being adminstered.
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Common Sense / June 3, 2017
As per the 19th Amendment what right has the President got to poke his fingers into the affairs of the Ministry of Law and Order? There is a subject specific Minister and this matter was referred to the same Ministry by Prez MY3 just before he went on a foreign jaunt. So as per the letter Prez has done the needful before the HRCSL woke up from its sleep and write. The dilema that any body in President’s position is can he act on his own especially in the spirit of the 19th amendment? If as implied by the HRCSL the Ministry of Law and Order is dragging its feet the only remedy that the President has to change the Minister and will that be tolerated by the PM?
I am indeed commending the HRCSL for writing some letter on the subject for we need amity and the Human or Basic Rights of all sections of the population must be protected. But the biggest violation of basic rights is laws delays and has the HRCSL similarly written, even symbolically on this subject to the President to bring it to the notice of those concerned?
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K.Pillai / June 3, 2017
On 08 January 2015 we mandated the GoSL to reinstall rule of law and order. But the Lankan Police are turning a blind eye when law and order is broken. Here we have the Human Rights Council Sri Lanka requesting the President to give urgent directions to Ministry of Law and Order and the Inspector General of Police to take all necessary action against the instigators and perpetrators of violence and hate speech targeting the Muslim community as well as other religious minorities. Should the Police be waiting for instructions?
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soma / June 3, 2017
Mr Pillai, on 08 January 2015 you mandated a government comprising UNP and half the politicians of the previous government including the Minister of Health and a load of defeated MPs plus a borushow fake opposition. Soma
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K.Pillai / June 3, 2017
Agree with you soma – hope is what we cling on to!
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Pacs / June 3, 2017
sri Lanka is the only country where there is no one the majority to support or sympathies with the minority’s just calls
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Mallaiyuran / June 3, 2017
There nothing special in the report other than, as per Yahapalanaya’s request, it purposely avoided mentioning Hinduism or Tamils. These people are paid coolies of Yahapalanaya. They release craftily carved reports to pull wool over the IC’s eyes. This is simply another job ultra Buddhist Nationalist, WNW.
If they don’t release the report Yahapalanaya wants, they all face the fate of Dilrukshi. So, you can’t blame them for that. But the shame is, while these people have capacity to practise good law and earn big money, bending these highly expected jobs for short cut and deceptions.
Why these guys take these cases to ICC? Because Yahapalanaya doesn’t pay them for that!
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D.Nimal / June 3, 2017
[Edited out] Comments should not exceed 300 words.
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jehan / June 3, 2017
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Gnasare's latest / June 3, 2017
Anybody read the interview of Gnanasera on Ceylon Today a few days back or so ??? From his safe house ??
He continues to lie about the Qur’an taking verses out of Context ,the Quran he uses is one many chapters have been removed and a lot of misinterpretation with sinhala transliteration from Bangladesh by an unheard interpretor ,which has a blue hard cover,I have the English version of it ,I believe it was produced with the help of Arabic native who is not a Muslim or a murthad
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Jim Softy / June 4, 2017
SO WHAT WHAT DID HE TALK WRONG ABOUT THE QURAN ?
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Island gone bananas / June 3, 2017
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Champa / June 3, 2017
A disgustingly bias Statement by Human Rights Commission. Not worth making a comment.
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Maya / June 3, 2017
Deepika, where were you when Hindu temples in the East were desecrated, idols removed, till box money stolen, statues of Swami Vipulanantha and Gandhi were damaged ? Were you scared to say who did it or were suspected? Or were you influenced by Izeth Hussain nana or Mahindapala mama?
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Mallaiyuran / June 3, 2017
Muslims Leaders started the 1915 riots and brought into Ceylon that looting culture. They used their association with British rulers to this action against Sinhalese. Once the rulers were changed from Britain to Sinhalese, they changed their loyalty to Sinhalese. They worked with Don Stephen to deport Tamils and took MMDA as the reward for that. After implementing Standardization for Sinhalese, Badiuddin milked maximum out of it. Following it all Muslim ministers did the same thing. Injustice Minister Hakeem occupied EPC partnering with the lost Old Royals. He ordered through telephone from America, EPC to sign off Provincials government rights to Divineguma. When Hakeem was Justice Minister he supported dismissal of CJ Shiranee. Unlike current ambassador Atul Keshap, who is an employee of Yahapalanaya, Patricia Butenis asked Hakeem about it. But 72 of Muslims entered Law College. When Yahapalanaya came to power he quickly changed the loyalty to Yahapalanaya and reoccupied EPC. Now for many days half of the Eastern Province Tamil School children are on strike for arrest the Muslims rowdies raped the school kids. Yahapalanaya is not assuring the safety of the school children by arresting and punishing the rowdies. As usual, Muslim Ministers are not commenting on that. Vidya’s is case is still going with no advances. But one day ago Hakeem complained that these all are conspiracies to abolish the favorite spot of Muslims enjoying with Yahapalanaya. His intention is not hurting the Yahapalanaya and loses his favorite spot. Muslim ministers blocked maximum a constitutional solution, for all these time. When BBS was highly active in Old Royals’ time Muslims ministers went to UNHRC to tell Muslims were enjoying their happiest time under Old Royals. Now their leaders are after TNA to threaten it force it to ask for separate Unit in East for Abdulaziz Colony.
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A Christian Group / June 4, 2017
This Is Where We Should Consult Our Lord Jesus Christ And Blessed Virgin Mary And The Saints…………This Is A Time We See That MuslimExtremists Are High Heels Away Doing Things Against Justice………..They Have Been Damaging ThE Buddhist Archealogical Sites-Forest Reservations-Smuggling Of Drugs-Killing Of Animals Including Street Dogs-Making Illegal deeds for Government Lands-invading Sinhala Buddhist archealogical sites………….And After All Using Political Power And Money To take action Against The Buddhist Monks and The Sinhala national organisations……….For How Long This Could Be Done……….We Should extend our prayers So That these false allegations Be exposed and all these Dare Devil YAMAPALANYA And THe Muslim Extremists Ministers Should Be Chased Out…….This Is More Than Enough—–MUSLIMS EXTREMISM IS GETTING THE CORRECT MEDICINE RIGHT AROUND THE WORLD……but over here HUMAN RIGHT GROUPS ARE GUARDING MUSLIM EXTREMISM under the guise of YAMAPALANAYA. the worst devils….But For How Long
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Sinhale / June 4, 2017
Dear Christian… You can suck up to the sinhalese extremists but wait till they come for you. What exactly did you christians do when multiple churches were attacked last month? Where was your jesus christ then? The buddist extremists come up with all sorts of hoaxes to attack Christians, Muslims and tamils and for that any made up excuse is enough. For example the recently infamous bra incident.
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A Christian Group / June 8, 2017
Anti_Sinhale………….You Do Not Have To Worry…….Why Dont’ You Look at The Exact Point When The Trouble Starts…………There Had been Attacks On RC Churches Also Because Of Tension Created By The So Called Fundamentalist Bible Groups and Roman Catholic LTTE Priests…..but to see all these attacks also organised by political supporters and not the common people …..But Present Situation Is Far Beyond That Created By Muslim Extremists…………..This Is Purely An Attack Against The Majority Sinhalese Community…………….displaying inside jobs to irritate the sinhalese to lead to a communal violence………….these stinking muslim ministers are involved in this giving a back up ………Communal violence In This country Born And Bred Within The Political And Terrorist Aides
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abcd / June 5, 2017
@John
Not that is is justified but in most cases it was the African chiefs who sold the slaves to Europeans. So both the European traders and the African chiefs and their men are to blame for the slave trade. You can’t just blame the Europeans for it. Africans too have to take their share of the blame aswell
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Mohammed Wahib / June 6, 2017
CT working towards ani-Sinhalese position . That is reducliours double standrd of Western Imperlism .The majority of people are living under mercy of Muslims and Tamils barging politics of USA and UK power exapnism .
We have lost our country almost under Ranil W…of UNP and by Huam Rights of UNO and their Rights orginization of Hate Speechs .
What else is that democrcay of Sri lanakn under the supression by extermism of religion Muslims and Chavanism of Tamils.
Muslims are not for Hate speechs they are in attacking by act of Terrorism ,is that latest incidient proved in London attack and Australia l Melbouren attcks by Islam-Terrorist .
No huma rights of Sri lanakn are rise this issues ,why ? CT back by Sunni Muslims Funds?
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Rights and Justice / June 7, 2017
Where was the Human Rights Commission when minority private medical SAITM was drowned and bashed up with false accusations, imaginary half truths and outright lies, deceptive proposals and threatened closure, street marches and hospital strikes, and absolute hindrance to their education and clinicals, twisting of inspection reports causing chaos until GMOA/SLMC leaders were taken to courts taking priests and politicians with them and IUSF remanded. SLMC wants to reverse the legality of SAITM refusing to recognize MBBS. If SAITM MBBS is so non existent and unrecognized, how on earth can SLMC even think of dumping the ERPM exam. to control them in this so called “impossible to recognize, Ordinance violating degree situation”. Must first recognise the MBBS before they can be eligible for ERPM. In truth, internship training corrects all deficiencies of all locals (fee or free) Prof. Carlo should give up power perks and step down, so that SAITM internship can be unblocked, and these hammered doctors start serving this nation.
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Patriotic Citizen / June 8, 2017
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