19 March, 2024

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Rally Of The Un-Enlightened

By Ameer Ali

Dr. Ameer Ali

Sri Lanka is getting deeper and deeper into an intractable political, economic, social and geopolitical morass, from which there is less hope for an early relief without avoiding at great cost economic suffering, communal bloodletting, depreciated sovereignty and maligned international reputation. In spite of all theoretical and erudite explanations for this multi-dimensional malaise, by political scientists, economists, sociologists and foreign policy experts, there is no running away from one crucial fact that lies at the core of all this mess, and that is, the failure by successive governments and political leadership to build a united democratic Sri Lanka, instead of, as they did, a majoritarian state founded on political Buddhism. Warnings by leftist parliamentarians in the nineteen fifties and sixties against numerous measures and legislations, such as the Sinhala Only Bill and medium of instruction in schools, which in their view, were bricks laid to construct a Sinhala Buddhist majoritarian state, were scorned by political and religious vested interests, and rejected by a brainwashed Sinhala Buddhist voting public.  

Starting with Christians in the fifties, followed soon by Tamils and lately Muslims, the Sinhala Buddhist majoritarian state, through subtle and open measures, systematically encroached into whatever regions or domains in which these communities demonstrated some strength, with a determined purpose to aggrandize its own share at the expense of other communities. This majoritarianism, which has nothing to do with Buddhism as a compassionate and universal philosophy that came to free humanity from its miseries, led to the early migration of Burghers, a civil war with Tamils and now an economic and religious battle with Muslims. The last of these started in earnest only after 2009, when the majoritarian state vanquished the Tamil separatists militarily.

Unlike the Burghers, Muslims did not run away from the country to seek asylum elsewhere whenever they were subjected to physical violence and material losses; and, unlike the Tamils, Muslims never aspired for any division of the country. Just as it is foolish for Muslim leaders to expect their foreign brethren to come to the aid of locals, so also it is madness for Islamophobes to think that they could dispatch all Muslims to Arabia. Muslims of Sri Lanka like the Sinhalese were born here, will live here and die here. They have no other country to go to.

Historically, the Muslim community is noted for two unique characteristics: an obsession with commercial pursuits, which earned them the sobriquet ‘business community’, and a passion for religiosity.  For over one thousand years, these two characteristics blended harmoniously and cross fertilised within the economic and cultural ethos of Sri Lanka.  How and why did they now become problematic? It is in answering this question that one could understand the nature of the prevailing anti-Muslim remonstrance, the emerging threat of another round of violence, and the significance of the July 7 call for 10,000 Bhikkus to assemble in Kandy under the auspices of Bodu Bala Sena. 

Ever since Muslims settled in this country and became indigenised they had been the backbone of the nation’s retail trading sector. They were the predominant Vaisya community in a Buddhist and Hindu caste environment, which downgraded the social status of merchants and traders. At a time when roads were not constructed and modern means of transport were not introduced, it was the Muslim tavalam men, who travelled for days and nights across the country, transacting goods of varied sorts and satisfying the consumption needs of many a home and family in the interior that were otherwise remained disconnected to the maritime centres of trade and commerce. In the 19th century, it was the same routes traversed by these men, that were paved, tarred and macadamised to become modern roads, and it was the resting places or caravanserais of these traders, which through conjugality with local women emerged as Muslim villages. As the country developed economically and was modernised with markets, towns and cities, the travelling merchants of yore settled in these centres and opened boutiques and shops that became an iconic marker of the nation’s modernity and urbanity. Thus, the distributive role of today’s Muslim retail businessmen, who are threatened with extinction by far-right Buddhist nationalists, is inextricably intertwined with the economic history and development of Sri Lanka.   

In the post-1977competitive open market economy introduced by JR Jeyewardene, success is not guaranteed to any competitor, and that is particularly true in retail business. There are three important variables that determine the success or failure of a retail trader: quality, price and service. If a buyer could find a quality product at the cheapest price from a vendor who serves with smile and treat the buyer with kindness and respect that seller would surely win the attachment of his customers.  When the number and visits of such customers increase the seller’s business would expand and prosper. Those retailers who fail to compete on these terms would have to leave the market. 

Because of the historical and perhaps even religious attachment to business (the Quran and the Hadith have a special place for this profession) today’s Muslim community has inherited a stock of knowledge that adds to its business capital. Even then, not all Muslim businessmen have succeeded, countless have crashed, quite a number are just surviving and a few have grown big of whom one or two may have become megalithic. It is the last two categories that have earned the envy of rivals from other communities particularly from the Buddhist petty bourgeoisie. There is evidence that behind several attacks that were targeted so far against successful Muslim business premises were hirelings in the payroll of jealous rivals.

However, in the political agenda of the Buddhist far-right the only way to crush the economy of Muslims is to destroy their businesses. The appeal to the Sinhalese to boycott Muslim shops translates this agenda into practice. A number of canards were unleashed to drive away Sinhalese customers from patronising Muslim shops. That Muslim businessmen were distributing sweets mixed with contraceptive powder, as compliments to Sinhalese women customers; that Muslim restaurants were doing the same when selling food and drinks; and, that Muslim salesmen were sexually luring young Sinhalese girls, were some of them. None of these allegations were actually proved either scientifically or in the courts of law. What is even more shocking is the fact that this campaign is supported by some sections from the Buddhist Sangha. The absurdity of this scare campaign reached its height recently when poor patients in certain public hospitals were forced to reject free food distributed by wealthy Muslims in the name of charity. Muslim peddlers and retail traders are also being prevented from entering certain weekly markets. Local councils are denying permission for them to open businesses even though these traders have paid the licence fee.  Amidst all this happenings the government is pathetically showing no sign of taking any action.

The interconnectedness of different sectors in a modern and open economy is so tight that when one sector faces crisis others are bound to feel the impact. If the retail sector suffers, and is bound to suffer when Muslim businesses are wantonly destroyed by racially motivated mobs, the wholesale sector, consumption sector, employment sector and the monetary sector will all suffer in tandem. Ultimately, the country’s economy suffers and growth rate declines. It is beyond comprehension how a government that is fully aware of the desperate situation of the national economy and knows very well the economic cost of this vicious campaign can remain so indifferent and allow a racist mob to continue destroying Muslim businesses.         

This economic war with Muslims is coupled with war against Wahhabism and Muslim terrorism in the wake of the Easter Sunday massacre. It is a popular myth and a propaganda tool in the hands of the far-right that Muslim religiosity in Sri Lanka somehow or other is linked with Wahhabism and that in turn is linked with terrorism. Religious commitment, Wahhabism and terrorism are three separate phenomena each of which is not automatically or self-impulsively connected to the other two. 

There is no denying the fact that Muslims all over the world are passionately committed to Islam. That commitment began to be demonstrated openly in Sri Lanka in two stages, both within the last seventy odd years. The first stage occurred after the 1950s when the India-born Tabligh Jama’at (TJ) set its foot in this country. That its heaven oriented ideology is retrogressive for Muslims in the context of modern ideas of progress is a separate subject and not relevant to the subject under discussion. What is relevant is TJ’s tireless and door-knocking missionary work which crowded the mosques in this country with worshippers. It turned hundreds of thousands of nominal Muslims who were lackadaisical about religious observances into committed Muslims. Not only that these missionaries also had an impact on the external appearance of Muslim men many of whom started wearing the Indian sherwani with a white cap or turban. Regular prostration during prayers made the zabeeba (dark spot) on Muslim foreheads clearly distinguishable. Yet, at no time these missionaries advocated violent jihadism. Theirs was a passive jihad aimed to free one’s self from cravings of worldly passion. In this sense, it is closely related to the teachings of Buddhism. 

The second stage ushered in after the 1980s after the Islamised and Anti-American revolution led by Khomeini in Shia Iran, which in turn provided an impulse for a fresh wave of religious awakening among Sunni Muslims, particularly in the petrodollar Arab world. This was the context in which slogans such as, ‘Islam the Answer’, ‘Shariah the Solution’ and ‘New Muslim World Order’ began to appear in numerous international conferences and publications. President Zia in Pakistan became a paragon of this wave of religious awakening. Also, it was in the context of this awakening and the anti-American Khomenian impulse that Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative Islamist ideology that remained, until then, confined to the Arabian Peninsula, received the call from Washington to counter the spread of Khomeinian impulse by declaring jihad against Shiism.  

The post-1980 turbulence in the Muslim world coincided with JR’s open economic policy in Sri Lanka. Arab money and Arab jobs were too alluring to avoid for a capital starved and labour surplus economy, and both became the conduit to the spread of Wahhabi ideology in this country. Wahhabism’s primary mission is to homogenise Islamic religious practices and cleanse Islam of all syncretic intrusions, which, according to its founder, has removed the faith away from its 7th century purity. The social and communitarian values of a number of rituals and celebrations practiced by local Muslims for centuries were forced to be given up by a Wahhabi indoctrinated ulama, all in the name of homogenisation of essentials and purification of belief.   While this mission obviously provoked factional and sectarian fights among different Muslim groups, as happened in Kattankudy in 1990s for instance, a secondary effect of Wahhabism was the reimaging of Sri Lankan Islam with an Arabian outfit. This is what meant by Arabization and it appeared in several forms such as male and female attire, speech, urban development, aesthetic choices and preferences, and gender mixing.  

While homogenisation strengthened the Islamic identity of local Muslims and reinforced in their thought the idea of thawheed or unicity of God and His creation, Arabization on the other hand, perhaps unintentionally weakened their millennium old national identity. Even though the community in general, including its leadership, and with few exceptions within Muslim intelligentsia, did not realise this erosion the rest of the country noted it.  It is here that one is able to detect the genesis of anti-Muslim feeling in the country. Other factors such as multiplicity of mosques and madrasas, use of loudspeakers and ACJU’s halal food drive added to aggravate the core problem of self-alienation.

In spite of all this, it is wrong to link terrorism directly with Wahhabism. Wahhabi advocacy of jihad, which is popularly misinterpreted as Islamic terrorism, although not passive like that of TJ, was aimed not at non-Muslims but at Muslims who fell outside the fold of Wahhabism. Shias and Sufis are the two principal groups targeted by Wahhabis. On the contrary, Jihad against non-Muslims and particularly against Christians and Jews or Crusaders is a 21st century phenomenon grew out of the Cold War. This violent jihad, bordering outright terrorism, is closely linked with super power rivalry and US imperialism. After years of denials and argument twisting there is now a broader consensus among political analysts that US misadventure in the Middle East was the main cause for the rise of violent jihadism. Therefore, even without Wahhabism, US invasion of Iraq and bombing of Afghanistan, would have produced the ‘Crescaders’ (I borrowed this name from Tim Mackintosh-Smith’s Arabs, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019) to fight Crusaders. ISIS is one among several groups of Crescaders.

In Sri Lanka, the National Tawheed Jama’at (NTJ) that executed the Easter infamy, was a breakaway faction from main stream Wahhabism. Whether the NTJ jihadists acted on their own or in concert with ISIS or any other foreign jihadist group, or for that matter whether NTJ was used as a tool by some local political or international interest are matters yet to be investigated.  In the meantime it is wrong to target the entire Muslim community as breeder of terrorists.  This is what BBS and its un-enlightened secretary-monk Gnanasara are trying to do.

Gnanasara’s call for 10,000 monks of his ilk to rally in front of the Maligawa on July 7 is a sinister move to intensify the anti-Muslim wave in the country. The fact that he is allowed to do this while emergency rules are in operation shows a tacit approval from the relevant authorities, including the President. This rally of the un-enlightened bears all the signs of a prelude to further pandemonium and communal disturbance. All major political parties by remaining mute are obviously expecting to make electoral capital out of it. Unfortunately it the country and its economy that will ultimately suffer.    

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  • 4
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    “Sri Lanka is getting deeper and deeper into an intractable political, economic, social and geopolitical morass, from which there is less hope for an early relief without avoiding at great cost economic suffering, communal bloodletting, depreciated sovereignty and maligned international reputation. “

    This applies to the mostly Islamic Middle East, not Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic democracy where women and minorities have full rights. The 2500 year old Buddhist culture is liberal and conforms well with Western values. On the other hand, the Middle East is in full turmoil as the Sunnis (led by Saudi Arabia) battle it out with the Shias (led by Iran) for dominance. Despite vast reserves of oil, petroleum, and other energy reserves, the Gulf nations have not channeled this money into their own economic development, but instead fueled it into religious wars, such as the ISIS-led jihad in Syria, the destruction of Libya, and the complete obliteration of Yemen. Sri Lanka is emerging from a 30 year civil war. As would be expected, its political and economic institutions are in a delicate state. This does not mean it lacks the intellectual capital or determination to transition into a more developed entity. The question for Sri Lankan Muslims is where their allegiance lies. Rather than gloss over 50 year old history, as the author does, it is better to find common ground with the Sinhalese. Neither a federal state nor pressure from Gulf nations will help the SL Muslims at this point. The Tamils tried a similar tactic and look where they are today.

  • 10
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    >>> unlike the Tamils, Muslims never aspired for any division of the country….
    yeah right they want the whole country…

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      Of course, they never did support division of the country because doing so means losing their clout, especially in the East. That is why these opportunist Muslim politicians continue to oppose even the North-East merger. Unlike Tamil nationalism, which is local to the region, they cling onto pan-Islamic nationalism even though their roots lie in South India.
      /
      Time will come when Sinhalese will realize the safeguard/check against rising Islamic fundamentalism lies in having a Tamil administered North-East and Muslims will soon realize, if they’re not already learning their bitter lesson, kissing upto majoritarian politics won’t do any good for them.

      • 0
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        thamiz.
        Your dream of accommodating
        the Caliphate within a greater Ealam was blasted into pieces on 21/4. You will have to do with a cut down Ealam alongside the Caliphate. We are at your call for help.

        Soma

    • 4
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      Muslims never ran out of the country. These lying fake Arab largely low caste Dravidian South Indian immigrants, ran out of their original South Indian homeland as they were forced to and were kicked out and then were kicked out of the north western Tamil regions where they largely settled originally , by the Portuguese and ran first to the Sinhalese Kandyan areas and then to the Eelam Tamil eastern areas. Now many like Dr. Amir Ali have run to the west and from there are posting lies and misinformation. Muslims will run but no one wants them. Neither the Arab or any other Islamic nation , as they do not belong to their race. They may fund them and brain wash them to become extremists , Arabise them but do not want these converted South Indian fake Arab Dravidians. The Muslims who run to the west seeking asylum downplay their Muslim religious identity and claim asylum , as ethnic Tamil Muslims fleeing Sinhalese persecution. I have come across many of them with this claim. Muslims never aspire for the division of the country , how can they, these low caste immigrant refugees, do not have a history or claim to any part of the country, so how can they aspire for a division on what basis. However they do aspire to steal the ancient Tamil east and even parts of Mannar from the Tamils with the help of racist, short sighted crooked Sinhalese politicians and funds from Islamic nation and establish a fake Arab Wahhabi /Salafist colony, that will be a danger to everyone in the region and from this stolen Tamil fake Arab base , they will definitely try to establish themselves on the rest of the island. From immigrant South Indian origin refugee converts who arrived in the island a few centuries ago , they become the fake Arab Wahhabi /Salafist indigenous overlords of the land , thanks to foolish selfish short sighted Sinhalese racists , who will do anything to marginalise the Tamils and Gulf Arab and other Islamic funds.

      • 3
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        Siva Sankaran Sharma,
        “…how can they, these low caste immigrant refugees, do not have a history or claim to any part of the country, so how can they aspire for a division on what basis.”

        How can the descendants of Daliths brought to this country illegally as slaves by Portuguese and Dutch from Malabar claim to any part of the country?
        These Daliths are occupying land once used by Sinhalayo. At the time Portuguese went to Yapanaya, Sinhalayo were the majority there and Muslims were the second. Portuguese used their fire power and grabbed the land from Sinhalayo for tobacco and Indigo plantations. After Portuguese and Dutch left, Demalu grabbed that land. These Malabaris brought a customary law from Malabar called ‘Thesawalamei’ and deny land to Sinhalayo.

  • 5
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    This is nothing but politics. Some politicians do all this to win votes. Some politicians will do any thing to win..they do not care about this country . yet, some idiots support them …

  • 3
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    Ameer ALi: It is certain that Muslims in Sri lanka less than the number of Buddhists. Wahhabis are 40,000 taken to classes and trained in suicide bombing classes 1000, even then it is the Wahhabis who killed 350 Catholics and maimed 500 and not any one from BBS.
    what you are scared is do not get group into 10,000 and do not defeat the LOCAL chapter of the NATO.MCC/CIA faction UNP and it’s honchos like SLMC,ACMC.
    In England, Jeremy Corbain was not allowed to contest saying he is anti-semetic. So, they can make WMDs, chemical weapons and go to wars. THERESA MAY had to go because she was more towards China because she has to develop her country.
    I understand you too.

  • 6
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    Dr.Ameer Ali’s article reflects as a plea for justification to resume Muslims business after damage is done by Rishard Badurdeen, Hisbullah and others who had close links with Zaharan & the NTJ. I like to reiterate that the Sinhalese and the Buddhist priests are kind and wanted others to co-exist with them. Have we either as Tamils or Islamists ever commanded the respect of the Sinhalese and the Buddhist priests other than viewing them with suspects. I have travelled down South and found that the Sinhalese and the Buddhist priests to be kind and gentle in character. It is the provocative acts of the extremists that have really caused disturbance in the minds of the Sinhalese. It is not the issue of running away from the country whenever problem crops, but the issue of co-existence with mutual understanding that matters. The politicians were instrumental for the division of communities by way of creating and allocating separate Ministries without realizing that a huge Cabinet will be a futile exercise for good governance and eventually be a threat to the security of the country. Instances such as unexpected bombings at Churches and hotels, accompanying the Hindu priests with fake identities for purpose of mixing contraceptive powder in panjamirtham at Hindu temples, destruction of statues at places of Worship, hiding weapons at Mosques, scaring the Tamils with mysterious grease giant while diverting it on the Military Forces, raising suspicions in food, etc have provoked the public. In fact, there were cases where Muslim Traders had injected water inside the dressed chicken to gain more weight and profit have compelled to the public to lose confidence on the Muslims. Moreover, the attitude of Muslim politicians against Western democratic countries especially India with their hidden agenda of a Islamic State with the establishment of Sharia University, has unnecessarily provoked the public.

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      Ayathuray Rajasingam:
      .
      “I like to reiterate that the Sinhalese and the Buddhist priests are kind and wanted others to co-exist with them”
      .
      Very true, and I fully agree with you. Muslims knew this since the independence and were always supporting the Sinhalese. But for you, it seems that you had to wage a bitter war that destroyed valuable lives & the country for nearly 3 decades, plus another 10 years till dirty Wahabbies suicide attacks that turned Sinhalese against Muslims to realize that Sinhalese are good people.
      .
      So it took how many years for you to realize Sinhalese are good people since the independence? Had you realized this few decades back, SL could have been a Singapore by now.

      • 0
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        Amila W, You won’t miss an opportunity, will you. You grasp on to Ayathuray Rajasingam for your ‘acid test’ to establish your point. Clever indeed!

  • 2
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    Ameer ALI is TELE-Evangelist. He is saying something different, and Tamils are crying out for PEELAM.

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      what is JD(jack the Donkey) crying out for? More arses to lick?

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      While Buddhists and Christians fall into the same category of believers as Muslims is it wrong for the UNBELIEVERS to discriminate against the Muslims?

      Soma

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      What is JD(Jack the Donkey) crying for?more arses ?

  • 1
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    Muslims in Sri Lanka are entitled to the same level of equality and respect accorded to non Muslims in major Islamic countries. The attitude Non Muslims in Sri Lanka towards the Muslims should be judged by this criterion.

    Soma

  • 0
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    Ameer Ali: NGO – dollar Kaakkaas, the International Community and parliamentarians have proven beyond doubt that they are for the exploiting the country and people for the exploitation of Resources and it’s geographical location. Even politicians are exploiting the situation while sacrificing voters for their benefit. Every Sri lankan politician is a dirty Hyena who live on the country and the public. Particularly majority representing politicians are the worst as they talk national solution, priorities to minorities, Religion and Ethnicity at the expense of the majority. That is exactly the international community agenda. So, interest groups representing the majority should talk to minority about this truth. that foreign countries, their representative of mostly the whole parliament are for their needs and do not help voters. So, gang up with the majority chase out these politicians and do some justice those peoples needs too.

  • 4
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    Now the criminal monk(ey) Gnanasamy (Yes, my research has revealed he has Malayali roots) is determined to prove to the world that releasing him after serving only 9 months of his 6 year rigorous imprisonment for four contempt of court charges is the height of insane Sira’s total misrule.

  • 1
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    Ameer Ali: You are complaining about BBS. but, Venerable Ghanasara has exposed the grievances of 100s of Muslim women who went through abuse by the Mosques and caused after the marriage. I think, Sri lanka needs one set of LAws and Muslims can not force women the way they want. Both UNHCR and SLHR are partial and are scared Arab money.

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    I red Muslims atrocities on KENYAN Catholics are supported by UNICEF and WHO. Kenya is also a Country tries to develop without the help of the West. SO, the west is using indirect ways to get into Kenya. One such thing is UNICEF and WHO in the name of TETANUS injection, they have sterilisation injections to Kenyan Catholic girls. So, Sri lanka people have to talk.

  • 3
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    Amir Ali Tamil people and even many Sinhalese are perplexed as to why in this ancient prehistoric Hindu Shrine of Kathirkamam/Katharagama venerating Lord Murugan , goddesses Thevanai and Valliamma , is the green Islamic flag with Arabic writing being raised with the Hindu shouts to Aro Hara , instead of the ancient Hindu Saffron flag with the fowl motive that is the symbol of Lord Murugan as was the custom from ancient times.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw5nXaOj3Sw

    Mano Ganesan the Hindu religious affairs minister please make note of this. This is a insult to all Hindus. An Islamic flag with Arabic lettering being hoisted during an ancient prehistoric Hindu temple flag hoisting festival and shrine honouring a Hindu deity. Lord Mutugan/Subramanian/Hirthik/Karthik/Kathirkammar. This anti Tamil government is shameless , it has already converted this ancient Hindu shrine to a Buddhist shrine and now an Islamic flag being hoisted during a Hindu temple flag hoisting ceremony. What nonsense is this? Why as per tradition the ancient Saffron Hindu flag with the peacock or fowl motive the symbol of Lord Murugan not raised?

    • 1
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      sss
      No saffron flag was used in Saivaite temples in this country until very recently. The flag of Murukan bears the cockeral. The goat and peacock are his modes of transport.
      *
      Kathirkaamam has traditions akin to those in other places of worship in Batticaloa & Amparai, once dominated by the Vedar (attho). A few are getting monopolized by Saivaites in recent times.
      *
      Kathirkaamam is far less Brahminised than temples to the North.
      The Muslims have been venerating the place the same way they have been venerating Adam’s peak.
      The Wahhabis disapprove of it. Are you one by any chance?

  • 3
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    Dr. Ameer Ali

    Sri Lanka is getting deeper and deeper into an intractable political, economic, social and geopolitical morass, from which there is less hope for an early relief without avoiding at great cost economic suffering, communal bloodletting, depreciated sovereignty and maligned international reputation. In spite of all theoretical and erudite explanations for this multi-dimensional malaise, by political scientists, economists, sociologists and foreign policy experts, there is no running away from one crucial fact that lies at the core of all this mess, and that is, the failure by successive governments and political leadership to build a united democratic Sri Lanka, instead of, as they did, a majoritarian state founded on political Buddhism.

    *** That is not going to change except by Gene Mutation. Hatred of minorities is in the Sinhala Gene and that is further entrenched by the power they wield thanks to the British Empire. With the likeleyhood of MR being the PM let us see how India reacts. All this talk of US trying to get a Military foothold in Sri Lanka is a load of “RUBBISH” and electioneering. India is the only power hanging over Sri Lanka and no one else will even get a look in. Gotha is history and he is not coming back. Take it from me as Gospel. Sorry to disappoint you Sarath ( De Alwis)

  • 3
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    The Mohommedan writer asks “How and why did they now become problematic? “
    The crazy stone age lunatic Mohemmedan cult became problematic when some stone age racists went Allah Allah Rabadallah and slaughtered innocent Kafirs and children praying in a church. They became even more problematic when the mob thought that all Mohommedans were capable of blowing up children inside schools and doctor Mohommedans were capable of sterilizing sinhala women. Whether the last two are genuine concerns or not are beside the point as this is the perception the cult gives out because the cult is not capable of accepting criticism or introspection.
    This is why we see lame writers like Mohomed Ali trying to do a white wash and playing the victim.
    The majority people of this country can see the clear and present danger posed by this racist stone age cult.
    Step 1 is on July 7 when the venerable honorable Galagoda Aththey Apey Hamuduruwo (PBUH) unleashes his national agenda.
    Step 2 is in October/November when the country can vote in a strong leader who can bring measures to control the crazy cult
    Step 3 is in May 2020 when the country can give the new leader a 120 seats in parliament so that he doesn’t need to depend on racists like Badurdeen

  • 5
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    MR.Ameer Ali.according to you Muslims are the most innocent people in the world. Can u tell me one Muslim country where there is Peace. The Muslims are the most quarrelsome people in the world. You are speaking from a place of comfort. I think you are in Australia. The Muslims come begging for refugee status to. Western countries but after some time they become the biggest headaches to the people of the those countries. They are the most corrupt in the world. They are not comfortable in their own country and the come to other countries and make life miserable to others . Let not their Sharia law affect other people. Ashraff created a problem in the country by bringing in Muslim Congress into Politics. Eastern Province Muslims are the ones who brought trouble to this wonderful country. Let not Muslims come into our areas.

  • 2
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    Islamophobia in America, Europe, India together with cow slaughter vigilantes and mobs, education for Muslims in China and in the rest of the world are caused by Sinhala majoritarianism based on political Buddhism. Is that what he is saying?

    Is it because of Sinhala majoritarianism that Tamils in Kalmunai ask for a separate DS secceding from Muslim dominated one? Ameer might like to create theories depicting a victimised Muslim community copying the NGO’s did with LTTE. But the ground facts do not help him.

    The world today is very much interconnected. Just like local jihadis can connect with isis in Syria the non Muslims are fed with Islamophobia. This is the result in SriLanka

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    Why isn’t Ameer writing about that Muslim woman who was beaten and dragged in roads in Bandaragama for marrying a Sinhala man?
    In 2010 a mosque in Kurunegala gathered Muslim villagers and started beating a Muslim woman for adultery. This has become a problem in SriLanka where Muslim mosques through out SriLanka has begun carrying out punishments according to shariah law. Yesterday it was revealed that in Kattankudy alone death penalty had been given to 20 people according to shariah law. This is the real problem the likes of Ameer Ali want to hide.

  • 2
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    Dear ( self proclaimed high cast)Siva Sankaran Sharma, ( false human rights promoter) Ayathuray Rajasingam and ( falsely believing intellectual) Saurus!

    You all are suffering from sort of paranoia, to which there is no medication in Sri Lanka. Our SSS has still not come up with convincing evidence that he is a high cast breed, and what are the human qualities the high cast SSS has than the low cast me have.

    Our poor AR is in a different planet believing that Sri Lankan Muslims are in Western pharmaceutical companies payroll to test their liquid form of contraceptive medicine on Tamils. And we Muslim do not have other things to do rather than making Thosai and Masalawadai for them with our magic medicine to curtail their population. People like you are curse to innocent Tamils’ peaceful life. We do not need to reduce your population, but some one else did in 2009 and you want to work with them hand in hand to chase us out of our motherland. Your dream will never be materialised. Hiowever, if you want please leave our mother land without polluting it with your vengeance.

    Saurus, from the 3x backward stone age belief system of India, rightly thinks that Sinhala Unit of Zahran cult (BBS +Booruwansa+Gamanpulla+ Chambika etc. ) is preaching and practising the same teaching of 3x backward stone age religion. Their stone age behaviours were proved yesterday at Nugegoda and would be at Kandy on Sunday, after terribly failing to prove accusations against Dr. Shafie and minister Rishard Badurudeen.

    Your miserable comments especially on Muslims issue shows time and time again your poor metal health.

  • 2
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    “Ever since Muslims settled in this country and became indigenized…”

    You do not even have the courtesy to mention how Muslims managed to escape the slaughter from Portuguese thanks to King Senerath and settled down in interior parts of the country due to compassion of Sinhala Buddhists. If Sinhala Buddhists did not welcome Muslims to interior parts of the country, allow them to marry Sinhala women, convert them to Islam and breed like rabbits, I wonder what would have been the fate of Muslims.

  • 3
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    Sri Lanka may be the only country in the world where majority native community has to work according to the whims and fancies of two sets of minorities. The first consist of the descendants of slaves brought to this country by Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial rulers from Malabar and the second, descendants of Muslims who came to this country as traders and who were given refuge when they faced slaughter by Portuguese rulers.

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      EE
      The King did not save the Muslims for nothing. He returned a favour to them.
      *
      Nobody welcomed anybody (other than mercenaries) to this island. All are settlers.
      *
      It is not any community that is a problem but a bunch of corrupt politicians in the pay of vested interests that need to be put in their place.
      When will the Sinhaelse learn?

  • 0
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    Let all live with basic rights and fulfillment of basic needs.
    Let all live ‘Shalom’, ‘Salaam’, ‘Shanti’ and ‘Metta’ in Sri Lanka.
    Let all live with democracy even if any democratic election tomorrow.
    Let all live with values for an awaken state of humanness here and now.

    Come let us walk towards Enlightenment from Un – Enlightenment.
    Come let us walk towards Peace from Chaos.
    Come let us walk towards Freedom from Slavery.
    Come let us walk towards Smile from frustration.

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    I think that Ameer Ali is missing one important point: The concerns among extremists S/B elements on the increasing spread of liberalism among S/B society (less & less temple visits, more & more criticisms against Buddhist clergies, spread of atheism among Buddhists, etc) while on the other side, increasingly conspicuous trends of pugnacious attitudes & behaviors (like calling Buddha a cannibal). I believe that it is this concern that energized S/B extremists most than the opportunistic politics which certainly played a role. Despite Ameer’s admission in this essay the trend for a polarization within the Muslim society, I don’t know whether his intellect was good enough to notice the potential danger early enough to issue a stern warning to the leaders of the Muslim community. I heard some Muslim political leaders expressing their regret for failing to act early enough but the nothing of that sort was heard from Muslim intellectuals even after the Easter Sunday tragedy.
    On the other hand, I know for a fact that the UNP leadership was aware of the nature of the tension building around the country. I myself wrote to Dr Harsha de Silva nearly a year before the Easter Sunday tragedy suggesting the need to take this situation into account when the Gvt was planning to introduce the Gamperaliaya program. I also know that the Gvt paid special attention to this issue but the unfortunate & unexpected Oct 26 incident prevented most of the Gvt action plan. However, even under such a minimum efforts to relieve a potential clash, it is now clear that some Muslim leaders provided enough information to the authorities if the defense ministry headed by the president was willing to take swift actions. If the president had at least a level of intelligence of a police constable, he could have prevented the attack and arrested the whole gang of terrorist.

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    This is how UK and EU treat Muslims:
    • France was the first EU country to ban burka & niqab wearing in 2011. France has shut down 20 mosques and prayer halls for preaching radical ideology since 2016. After Paris bombs pigs head were thrown at mosques.
    • Belgium has banned halal animal slaughter. Belgium is the 2nd country after France to ban burka in public in 2011.
    • Halal animal slaughter was banned in Denmark in 2014.
    • Germany – 91 mosques were attacked in 2016. Chancellor Merkel declared in 2016 that face veils should be prohibited. Two-thirds of Germans say ‘Islam has no place in German culture’
    • Italy – In Lombardy burka ban was approved in local government buildings and hospitals.
    • Netherlands – bans full face veil in government buildings, schools, hospitals and public transport.
    • Switzerland – burka is banned in Ticino and a 2008 referendum decided to ban minarets on mosques.

    • UK – 1700 mosques exist in UK and half of this were attacked since 9/11. 57% of British public support burka ban in UK (YouGov poll) in 2016. After the Manchester attack a mosque was torched in Oldham.
    • In 2016 – 137 mosques were attacked – 60 in France, 54 in Germany, 21 in Sweden & 2 in Switzerland.
    • In 2008 leaders of 15 European cities met in Belgium and called for a ban on new mosques and halt to ‘Islamization’ of European cities.
    • Austria has banned foreign sources of financing and Imams must speak German. 156 assaults against Muslims in 2015. Austria’s new ‘integration law’ banned full face veil in 2018.
    • Netherlands – bans full face veil in government buildings, schools, hospitals and public transport. Party for Freedom declares to ban all mosques in Netherlands.
    • Romania – a lawsuit stopped the Bucharest mega-mosque.
    Source: https://www.spur.asn.au/2019/06/14/sri-lankas-easter-sunday-targets-are-the-real-victims-eu-stop-trying-to-change-narrative-throw-stones-from-glass-houses/

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    The party of freedom in Netherlands led by Geert Wilders in their manifesto promises . De-islamize the Netherlands
    – Zero asylum seekers and no immigrants anymore from Islamic countries: close the borders
    – Withdraw all asylum residence permits which have already been granted for specific periods, close the asylum centers
    – No Islamic headscarves in public functions
    – Prohibition of other Islamic expressions which violate public order
    – Preventive detention of radical Muslims
    – Denaturalization and expulsion of criminals with a dual nationality
    – Jihadists who went to Syria will not be allow to return to the Netherlands
    – Close all mosques and Islamic schools, BAN THE KORAN

    The answer to the issue is to teach the Muslims their religion and the examples of the Perfect Man.

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