Buddhist hardline group Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has called on the government to take legal action against the hartal campaigns carried out islandwide by Muslims in protest of the anti-Muslim violence that erupted in Southern Sri Lanka.

JHU Media Spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe has released a media statement, calling for immediate action to be taken against the hartal campaigns and its organisers as they are clear threats to maintaining peace and harmony in the country.

“Double standards are being clearly applied with concern to implementing the law for Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims. Following the Aluthgama incident, subsequent rallies organized by Sinhala Buddhists in Mawanella, Badulla, Ruwanwella and Mahiyangana were cancelled by the law enforcement authorities claiming it was to prevent the violence from spreading further, but they have deliberately turned a blind eye on the hartal campaigns led by Muslim extremists,” he says.

In his statement, Warnasinghe has gone on to question whether the Sharia law has trumped the state law in Sri Lanka.

“Muslim extremists who have inflicted harm upon the Sinhala Buddhists have managed to escape the law. This raises doubts on whether the state law no longer applies to these Muslim extremists,” his statement read.