28 March, 2024

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Saffron Marches And The Ides Of September

By Dharisha Bastians –

Dharisha Bastians

Last Wednesday, police officials paid a visit to the beef stall at the Bambalapitiya Market on Galle Road. They had a polite warning for the beef vendors at the market. The Sinhala Ravaya and Ravana Balaya march would pass through the Galle Road in Colombo early next week, they said, and the best way to avoid unruly incidents was for the beef stalls to shut their doors on that day.

The warning came one day after participants in the Sinhala Ravaya foot marched from Kataragama to Temple Trees in Colombo, passing through Tangalle and setting Muslim owned beef stalls ablaze in full view of the police. The saffron army has passed through town after town along the Southern coast, issuing dire warnings of their arrival in the area 24 hours ahead and challenging meat vendors to remain open when the ‘river of people’ pass through their towns.

Saffron armies

In fact, the past week has been filled with incidents in different parts of the country with ethno-religious extremist groups like the Sinhala Ravaya, the Ravana Balaya and even in some instances, the now infamous Bodu Bala Sena, publicly taking the law into their own hands while state law enforcement arm stands passively by or take instructions from the mobs led by men in saffron robes.
In Mulleriyawa on 17 June, a Sinhala Ravaya affiliated monk and his group allegedly manhandled a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses, threatened them with dire consequences and escorted them to the Mulleriyawa Police Station where they lodged an official complaint and demanded the group’s arrest.

The Sinhala Ravaya’s foot march calling for a ban on cattle slaughter (with a demand for the repeal of the 13th Amendment thrown in for good measure) however, has brought about the worst of the incidents with crowds of people whipped up over the week long march with the most rabid and intolerant rhetoric.

In Maggona last Friday (21), lay members of the Bodu Bala Sena group forcibly removed a moonstone or ‘sandakada pahana’ that lay at the foot of a statue of St. Mary at the road leading to the St. Vincent Home. They charged that the moonstone was part of Sinhalese architectural heritage and had no place near a Catholic structure. But residents say that as long as they could remember, the moonstone and the statue had coexisted within the monument.

The statue that was being repaired and given a facelift was to be inaugurated during Sunday mass on 23 June. But the area became restive after the BBS members removed the moonstone, residents say. On Saturday (22), evening a large crowd of Catholic devotees commenced a protest near the statue, demanding that the moonstone be returned and restored to its original position. Catholic priests and parishioners joined the protest.

The situation became so tense that the police and riot squads moved in with tear gas to prevent major clashes. The area’s Divisional Secretary and local Government members also turned up at the scene. About three hours after the protest began, residents say four BBS members from the Maggona area turned up at the protest and apologised to the Catholic priest for removing the moonstone. The stolen moonstone was handed over to police custody and the police in the area have decided to refer the matter to court. But the issue did not end there.

The Sinhala Ravaya marched through the town the day after the Catholic protest and the return of the moonstone into police custody. Completely updated on the weekend’s events in Maggona, the Sinhala Ravaya chanted hostile slogans, leading to a confrontation between the marchers and a significant number of Catholic residents in the area who arrived on the scene to boo and heckle the marching crowds.

According to eyewitnesses, the hooting angered the monks leading the march and a confrontation was avoided only due to the efforts of the Special Task Force personnel who had moved into the area the previous day.

Blazing a trail through Southern coastal towns, the saffron army’s next target was a Jumma mosque in the Vettumakana Junction in Kalutara. Incensed by their reception in Maggona, the Sinhala Ravaya marchers got unruly near the mosque according to witnesses but the police managed to contain the problem.

Success at Temple Trees

The Sinhala Ravaya marchers arrived in Colombo on Wednesday morning but despite warnings issued by police officers to meat vendors in Bambalapitiya and Colpetty, no incidents targeting these shops were reported in the capital. The Kataragama-Colombo foot march calling for a state enforced ban on cattle-slaughter that is in truth a poorly disguised attempt to target the minority Muslim community, ended at the door of Temple Trees, where the group’s leading monks met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa last afternoon.
According to the monks who spoke to the media following their meeting, President Rajapaksa had promised them that legislation banning the killing of cattle would be introduced to the country within two months. Needless to say, these campaigns have the regime’s tacit support, with many senior members of the administration being ardent vegetarians and openly expressing an abhorrence of the slaughter of cattle for consumption.

While animal rights activists might rejoice at their causes being espoused by the powerful saffron armies pervading Sri Lanka’s political scene, it is getting harder to ignore the veiled attempts such campaigns are making to repress a trading community and their food culture.

The regime prefers to look benignly on these increasingly violent and frequent incidents targeting specific religious minorities in Sri Lanka. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who hosted newspaper editors to breakfast last Friday (21), dismissed the growing influence of these hard-line Sinhala Buddhist groups and offered a unique prescription to neutralise them. He urged a media blackout of the incidents against religious minorities and their places of worship, saying that without the necessary publicity the hard-line groups would fade into oblivion.
It is a prescription utilised by the media in the past, senior scribes recall, when isolated misdeeds of the military in the North and the East in the late 1970s went unreported in the name of preventing communal unrest. All the while, LTTE atrocities continued to be featured widely, creating an information gap that resulted in the misinformation campaigns carried out by Sinhala hard-line groups who whipped mobs into a frenzy to take arms against innocent Tamil civilians in the capital in July 1983.

On the other hand, keeping the activities of the present-day triumvirate leading the anti-minority charge – the Bodu Bala Sena, the Sinhala Ravaya and the Ravana Balaya – keeps the moderate sections of the populace wide awake and alert to potential sparks that could ignite communal flames.

Image-building concerns

The President’s rationale on the other hand might be motivated by his Government’s desperate need to control the damage caused to its image by its own anti-minority policies, including the latest attempt to slash the powers of the provincial councils denying any semblance of political autonomy to Tamil and Muslim populations living in the North and East.

The regime’s policies have led to the mushrooming of hard-line groups, legitimised their claims and strengthened their hand in an unprecedented way. In fact, despite the President’s apparent contempt for such groups, the fact that every one of them have taken up the call for the repeal of the 13th Amendment, adding to the chorus of ultra-nationalist voices within the ruling regime including its innermost circle, means that the Government is able to manipulate the groups to doing its bidding when necessary.

The Bodu Bala Sena group for instance, which made the loudest noise and attained infamy very quickly with its regular press briefings and rallies, had slunk into the shadows since their leaders took a much publicised trip to the US in April. The Bodu Bala Sena that charged a candlelight vigil calling for an end to hate speech, harassed the protestors endlessly on social media and took to storming private homes and churches with police escorts, went strangely quiet following the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

Many analysts believed the group had overstretched itself and operated too publicly, calling far more attention to themselves and their covert supporters within the ruling administration than other hard-line groups that had operated in the shadows for much longer following the end of the war. The traction the BBS was getting in the press and its love of publicity made it easier to associate the group with all the anti-Muslim incidents being reported.

As the Islamic diplomatic corps in Colombo mobilised and the foreign press picked up on the increasing intolerance of minority religious groups in Sri Lanka, the impunity with which the BBS was operating made for some uncomfortable questions being asked of the Government. The BBS was therefore likely thrust back into obscurity to be trotted out again as and when required. And when it comes to the repeal of the 13th Amendment, the administration needs all the help it could get to build opinion in the country against the provincial council system.

Poll promises

In fact, it is quickly beginning to look as if the Government may have bitten off a little more than it can chew with regard to revising the 13th Amendment to the Constitution ahead of the Northern provincial council election. All signs show that the Rajapaksa administration is being pushed into a corner with regard to the absolute necessity to hold the poll in the North by its self-imposed September deadline.

For it is important to remember that while the international community, including New Delhi and Sri Lanka’s firm friend Tokyo, are holding Colombo to the September election promise, the very first commitment in this regard came from President Rajapaksa himself in repeated media interviews and promises to foreign visitors.

The President’s argument more than a year ago was that the Government’s ‘Uthuru Wasanthaya’ or Northern Spring development program required more time for completion before provincial administrations could be set up and the tasks handed over. Month after month, the President held fast to his September 2013 promise, believing his Government could keep using the reconstruction argument to push back the date further.

The flaw in the plan appeared when the US delegation in Geneva decided to uphold the President’s September poll promise in the text of its second resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council this year – allegedly at the behest of New Delhi. Making matters worse, President Rajapaksa’s mid-UNHRC visit to Tokyo that was a major diplomatic success for the regime with Japan pledging millions in aid and support for Sri Lanka’s post-war recovery plans but it came with a caveat. Japan would dole out money and support Colombo by abstaining at the vote on the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka but all bets were off if the Government failed to hold elections in the North by September this year.

The inclusion of the poll promise in the resolution was a reflection of the international community’s continued frustration with Sri Lanka’s broken promises since 2009 on matters relating to reconciliation and a final political solution to the ethnic problem.

More time

As the clock ticks on the September deadline however, the Government has decided it wants more time to continue its development work in the north and affect massive economic recovery in the Northern Province before it is willing to cede control to the Tamil National Alliance in a provincial election.

While the Central Government’s authority in the North will remain largely unchallenged, once a TNA led Provincial Council is constituted, the Government will no longer have supreme authority over all matters in the region, with some subjects clearly devolved to the provincial administrations by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. If the timing of the Northern election is non-negotiable internationally, then the Government must opt for the next best thing – a means to decapitate the provincial councils and ensure the centre’s writ remains unchallenged in the Tamil and Muslim dominated regions. Therefore, to begin with, the Government sought to introduce a 19th Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the power of adjoining provinces to merge to form a single administrative unit and allowing Parliament to pass laws relating to the powers of the Councils by removing the hindrances enshrined within the 13th Amendment to such usurping moves.

Backtracking

The resistance to the move within the President’s Cabinet of Ministers was unprecedented. Hastily abandoning the second revision, the President decided to go ahead with an urgent bill to repeal the merger clause, even though he was in no way certain of absolute support to the move from his coalition partners.

It has been three weeks since the Cabinet spokesman vowed that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution would be tabled in Parliament within four days of his statement, but something is holding the regime back. Needless to say, it is going about its usual business. Each provincial council controlled by the UPFA – except perhaps the East – will likely pass resolutions approving the Government’s proposals to dilute the 13th Amendment.

A similar tactic was adopted during the Divi Neguma fracas, as a show of strength by the ruling party. Its loudest mouthpieces are persistently reiterating the need to reform or repeal the 13th Amendment while the LTTE spectre has been predictably resurrected to create a fear psychosis about a provincial administration system that has been in existence for 26 years.

The Government’s constituent ally, the JHU, last week introduced the 21st Amendment to the Constitution as a private member’s bill, a piece of legislation that seeks to completely repeal the 13th Amendment. Analysts say the strange numbering of the amendment is no accident and likely points to a JHU pre-arrangement with the regime, that will bring the 19th and 20th Amendments to dilute the powers of the provinces and finally support the JHU bill, perhaps based on a ‘conscience vote’ to do away with the system altogether.
But all indications are that none of this will be quite the cakewalk the regime anticipated. New Delhi has come down hard on Colombo over its moves to dilute the 13th Amendment and has made it clear both privately and publicly that India would consider any such move a violation of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987.

The scheduled visit of Indian National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon in July will likely focus significantly on the 13th Amendment, while a visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is also being planned in New Delhi, ahead of the September poll deadline. New Delhi is no longer mincing its words either.

It has hitherto opted for quiet bilateral diplomacy and behind the scenes, manoeuvres to try to get Colombo to live up to its commitments to the Tamil people in the post war context. The statement by the Indian External Affairs Ministry was a public admonishment of Colombo’s attempts to renege on its promises to India and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh’s candid displeasure was not only expressed to the visiting TNA delegation last week but also made public very quickly in the Indian media.

The Left erupts

Yet, the storm building across the Palk Strait is nothing compared the political tsunami President Mahinda Rajapaksa is facing within his own coalition ever since he mooted his proposals to dilute the 13th Amendment. On Tuesday, the ruling coalition’s Leftist parties and Cabinet Ministers went public about their vehement opposition to the move to delay a political solution to the island’s ethnic struggle.

Cabinet Ministers Rajitha Senaratne, D.E.W. Gunesekera, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Tissa Vitharana were joined by SLFP strongman and MP Reginald Cooray and Communist Party MP Chandrasiri Gajadheera at a dramatic media conference at the Lanka Sama Samaja Party Headquarters on Tuesday. Refusing to play nice about their hard-line coalition allies the JHU and the NFF, the Ministers boldly called the move what it was – a blatant attempt to scuttle devolution and assert Sinhala political hegemony over the people of the North.
National Integration Minister Nanayakkara was the most outspoken over the move, saying the JHU and the NFF were opposing the 13th Amendment because neither party could ever contest polls in the north. “Why can’t they? That is because they pursue a Sinhala only ideology,” Nanayakkara said.

The Minister said that the solution of these two parties according to their political ideology was to prevent the Northern election. “Their path to unifying Sri Lanka is to keep the North permanently under the rule of the Sinhala administration. That is why they want a military officer as a Governor of that province. They want a military administered North,” Minister Nanayakkara charged.
The Ministers called for a strengthening of the provincial council system and vowed to defeat the constitutional amendment to dilute the powers of the provinces using a silent majority they claimed resided within the ruling party. The Leftist groups are also expected to hold discussions with the TNA in the coming days regarding the proposals to dilute the 13th Amendment. Less vociferously, the Sri Lanka

Muslim Congress also remains adamant to oppose the Government move to reduce the powers of the provinces. Acting with customary bombastic haste, the ruling regime has painted itself into a corner with regard to the Northern poll and the need to dilute the powers of the provincial councils. Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya believes that signs are rampant that a poll will be declared in the coming days and has gone so far as to put a date on the election in the North.

With its options running out, the Government’s only hope may be to go through with the poll and wait until the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo scheduled for November is concluded before it attempts to tinker with the 13th Amendment again. That is if saner counsel prevails. If on the other hand it chooses to pursue the current more reckless course with regard to amending the 13th before elections in the North, it will put everything on the line – CHOGM, its relationship with New Delhi – and perhaps even the survival of its own coalition.

Courtesy Daily FT

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Latest comments

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    Norwaygian funded and trained , US sponsored BBS momks ( or pretends? ) slash and burn all Halal Butchers, all the way from Kataragaman to Colombo.

    They even nicked a Moonstone from Maggona St Mary’s Sandakadapahana.

    So says this West funded NGO front woman who evidently is a Christian, according to Ms Shenali.

    This is the preamble to her main event, which is to demand that the TNA be given Police Powers and Land Titles before CHOGM.

    Can we see some sort of a common denominator here?.

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      I say Sumana mama (also better known as Leela the cheater from Lee Potter scandal)your talking bullshit here please talk to the point,where has the writer talked about Norway funding BBS in the article? pls show it to me idiot.

      Please give us your response about the BBS and other extremist groups led by monks,is it true Buddhism ? is that the way of life preached by Gautama Buddha?
      Can the saffron robed mad-hatters take the law into their own hands? is that acceptable?

      Leela (K A Sumansekera)you keep us entertained with your comical defence of the goverment I hope you get rewared with the bath packet and arrack but hey hold on you dont need that do you since you made your money in the Lee potter scam!

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        Rajapassa and his brothers will turn Lanka into the next Syria before he gives up power in Lanka. “Rivers of blood” will flow – they are highly dangerous and have militarized Lanka to prevent regime change.

        The Rajapassa patronage of Sinhala Ravaya and Balu Sena (the SInhala equivalent of LTTE), indicates that the brothers are willing to destroy the whole country in order to stay in power at any cost. It is indeed time that the Sinhalay modayas and India and the IC did something DRASTIC to prevent this – also by aborting the CHOGM destabilizing Rajapassa. Thankfully the racist Australian PM Julia Gillard who loved Rajapassa has had to resign and Kevin Rudd will put the pressure on to pull the plug on CHOGM..

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      SAVE BUDDHISM FROM GOTABAYA RAJAPASSA AND HIS CORRUPT BROTHERS!

      The fascist monks of Lanka institutionalized in the form of the BALU SENA (BBS) were created and institutionalized by the white van murderer Gotabaya Rajapakse – so-called secretary of defense who is a killer like is protege ex-DIG Vas Gunawardena, who thrived on the protection and the culture of impunity cultivated by the rotten secretary of Defense who is the greatest THREAT to the social fabric of lanka today.
      The Rajapakse brothers and sons are criminal thugs who have nurtured the Balu Sena in order to protect their dictatorship and distract people from the fact that they (Rajapassa family) are PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1 in Sri Lanka today.
      Balu Sena’s attacks on Muslims, Christians and Hindus and Buddhism itself a peaceful religion – is a means to DIVIDE, DISTRACT and RULE Sri Lanka and turn it into a military dictatorship with the Rajapakse criminals at the helm. Time for the Sinhalaya Modayas to wake up and kick of the Lanka SPRING!

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      No K AS S

      there is far more on the numerator weighing down the country! (:

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    “So says this West funded NGO front woman who evidently is a Christian, according to Ms Shenali.”

    Do you have proof that she is a Christian and a NGO front woman from the West, or are you just going along with Waduge’s feeble attempt at journalism? Ms. Bastians has every right to write articles, just like Waduge, and we as readers can decide for ourselves who the real professional journalist is here. I don’t think Ms. Bastians needs to prove herself, her thought process, writing, and professionalism, are impressive, and the attack on her by other amateur writers smacks of (un)professional envy.

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    Good article Ms. Bastians. It is terrifying to think that rogue Buddhist monks can dishonour their saffron robes, teachings, and go against what real Buddhism is, that is based on peace and tolerance, and act like a “river of hate and intolerance.” The arrogance of some who belong to the majority in this country, and the targeting of other religions within the minority only reflect badly on the perpetrators of hate. The ugliest fact in all this, is that the leaders of this country are still totally condoning these vile, racist acts, and by their silence encouraging this anti Muslim/Christian movement to snowball into something that will be beyond control.

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      Don’t the Pollies eat meat in their Parliamentary Canteen? Why doesn’t the BBS, Sinhala Ravaya, and Ravana Balaya, set fire to the Parliament Canteen Kitchens?

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        WHY THIS FUSS ABOUT ANIMAL SLAUGHTER ?

        HOW ABOUT FEEDING THE ANIMALS AT THE DEHIWELA “ZOO”, AND I
        ALMOST FORGOT THE DIYAWANNA ZOO.? DO THEY EAT GRASS OR STRAW?

        THE BBS “HULK” GALABODAWATTE, SURELY CANNOT BE A VEGETARIAN AS IS THE CASE WITH THE MAJORITY OF MONKS.

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    Darisha,

    Your article is far too long. You could have separated it into two separate discourses.

    1. The Saffron Army and its escapades.

    2. Politics behind the dilution of the 13th amendment.

    My comments
    With regards the saffron army I must say Buddha must be cringing in his grave to know what his ardent followers are doing nowadays. Not only in Sri Lanka but in many an Asian country the saffron army is unstoppable – all for the wrong reasons. The edict adduced to Buddha, ‘hatred is never appeased by hatred, but by love alone can hatred be appeased’ somehow seems to be left by the wayside by these saffron army marchers. What more can I say.

    With regards to the 13th amendment, it is only a sideshow. It will not solve the ethnic divide or appease the simmering anger of the downtrodden minorities. Looking at the goings on in present Sri Lanka one can only sigh – a 2nd Sri Lankan Apocalypse seems inevitable.

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    As a student of the teachings of the Buddha , I too have been quite concerned about the activities of the BBS and other such organisations.
    In recent times , I have sought opinions from the ” person on the street ” in this regard.

    Quite surprisingly , there is a large amount of support for these groups from the general public , mainly of the majority community .They feel that without the intervention of such groups , Buddhism in Sri Lanka will meet with the same fate as in Indonesia , Malaysia , Iran , Afghanistan etc.,

    They also feel that without BBS and other fringe groups , Christian fundamentalists will run riot in SL , where they have already made enormous inroads , often taking advantage of people in difficulty by offering them a quick fix solution by converting to their faith. Golden Key Depositors are one such group – where desperate persons who lost money in the scam orchestrated by the mother of all ‘born agains ‘, are being brain washed into believing that their investments could be recovered if they were to convert and start praying to the Almighty .

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      The reasonable or unreasonable fear.

      “Nonetheless, the team did notice many new mosques under construction and various ‘Islamic foundation’ offices operating in Muslim towns. It is hard to see how eastern Muslims could afford to pay for the construction of all the new mosques, so it would seem possible that Middle Eastern money is coming in, as some claim.” – Wikileaks (US Embassy to Washington)

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16675086

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13959901

      http://www.colombopage.com/archive_11B/Dec25_1324793103KA.php

      http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/the-jihad-in-thailand/

      http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/headlinenewsd.php?hnewsid=2592

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        Colonel,

        There are many ways the Buddhists can respond to building on new mosques and whatever that bothers you about Catholics and Jehovah’s Witnesses etc.,

        The first, one called “herd mentality” is run around like miffed bulls and attack everybody.

        The other is to look at what needs fixing and start fixing instead of looking at the minorities with envy. Here are some thought starters.

        01. Why are Buddhist Monks forced to be celibate? Why can’t they marry and have families? Would they not be a little more restrained and circumspect?

        02. Poverty among Buddhists- Both the Church and the Muslim community have a system of helping out the poor. Muslims make an obligatory commitment every year. Why is it that Buddhism not have a system where the poor can be helped? If a support system exists it would be difficult for Christians to entice them with money.

        03. Build More places of worship. Wealthy Muslims abroad obviously are funding new mosques. Other than the opulence, which arguably is an irritant to most shallow minded souls, to most these mosques are harmless places of worship.

        If the faith of the Buddhist is strong I am sure you would find the funds to build as many edifices as you like to dwarf the mosques in the country.

        04. Proselytizing- People change religion of their own free will. No one can legislate how to think. Make Buddhism more relevant to everyone in this country, make more books and other material available. I am sure many would revert back to Buddhism if they can find new meaning instead holding back people moving away from your religion by force

        05. Beef Eating- I have said this before and I am saying this again. If all Buddhists stop eating beef consumption would drop from 30MN Kg per year to 2 MN @ per capita of 1.4 Kg per person per year, a decline of 93.33 %

        Most readers are unwilling to accept this reality and would rather pretend that it is the minorities who are at fault.

        It’s not us, them mentality is what you guys are suffering from and each one of you is following the herd!

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        SO LETS SAY MIDDLE EASTERN MONEY IS COMING FOR BUILDING MOSQUES.
        SO WHAT IS WRONG IN THAT? IT IS NOT FOR BROTHELS,CASINOS ETC.,
        MOSQUES ARE PLACES FOR WORSHIP.PL. COME WITH PROOF TO SHOW THAT
        THERE HAS BEEN ANY CRIMINAL ACTIVITY IN MOSQUES.
        BUT TEMPLES HAVE BEEN THE REFUGE OF CRIMINALS AS PROVED BY THE MURDER
        OF THE BUDDHIST MONK IN MORATUWA.

        WHAT ABOUT ALL THE AID THAT IS FLOWING IN.
        IF NOT FOR THE BILLIONS FROM REMITTANCES FROM THOSE WORKING IN
        THE MIDDLE EAST OUR ECONOMY WOULD HAVE COLLAPSED.

        Dr. Kelegama pointed out that around 60 percent of remittances inflows, which amounted to US$ 4.1 billion in 2010, originated from the Middle East. “The major destinations for our migrant workers are not affected by the crises. Libya and Bahrain or not major destinations for Sri Lanka migrant labour,” he said.

        Remittances from the Middle East amounted to US$ 2.4 billion in 2010.

        “He is ungrateful who denies that he has received a kindness which has been bestowed upon him; he is ungrateful who conceals it; he is ungrateful who makes no return for it; most ungrateful of all is he who forgets it”-THIS IS WHAT YOU SRI LANKAN SINHALA BUDDHISTS ARE!!!

    • 0
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      Oh you are back Lester? :)

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        Shhh!

        01. You are very ignorant about the purpose of monkhood.

        02. Many already exist – Unconditional Compassion, Sarvodaya etc but they don’t have the funds that NGOs & the Vatican have.

        03. You must be kidding. They are bases for Wahabi madrasses with strict rules mostly funded from Saudi.

        04. Not correct. There is no free will involved.

        05. Again incorrect. It is the westernised Buddhists who eat meat not the rural villagers (who are the majority). They are too poor to afford meat even if they wanted it.

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          Dear CT Moderator:

          Above comment is not mine, but an imposter. Kindly delete the comment and ban the IP of the imposter. Thanks.

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            Our halal friend does not realize that email id corresponds to gravator colour. Good luck with the impersonation.

            • 0
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              odin sees every move wherever you circumnavigate.

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          Why did you get thrown out of Saudi ?

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            He was thrown out because he was caught napping under an overhead bridge in the height of summer when he was supposed to be shovelling Readymix. And he was wearing an Abaya to cover his face -the sort of tablecloth type worn by bedouin Arabs. Some also say he was caught pilfering beef from his Kerala room mates fridge in the common labour camp. I dont know which is true. Only Lester knows. However, judging his character by the comments he is so famous for making, I certainly think both could be correct.

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              Your Sunni Taliban brothers in Afghanistan wear abaya to hide from the Americans. Did you know that?

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            Why did you get thrown out of Saudi ?

            Why did your Prophet marry a 9 year old girl when he was 52?

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              Is it true about your w.f. – the comment in another thread ?

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              “Why did your Prophet marry a 9 year old girl when he was 52?”

              I cant understand what this comment has to do with your being thrown out for sleeping at work hiding as a civilian or stealing your Kerala room mates beef. By the way, was it Halal? Just curious to know.

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              You can’t understand why he was a pedophile? Not my fault.

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    To what level has the religon descended when monks engage in Gin Pada instead of Pin Pada? The destruction of religon is repleat in the hands of the so called guardians themselves. Can they blame their followers for abandoning their following when it is evident that the leaders do not practice what they preach?

    The inaction of the Govt in the face of this blatant criminality in the guisee of religon is pitiable. In their plight of catering to the demands of an ever growing monster of a child, begotten by themselves, they are forced to abandon and semblance of democarcy and secularism.

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    IT IS ABOUT TIME THE I.G.P. PUT A STOP TO THIS SAFFRON INTIMIDATION AND THUGGERY. WHO IS RULING THIS COUNTRY,? THIS CANNOT GO ON FOREVER

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    Saffron Marches and all the media analyses are side shows.

    The real show is the colonization of the North and East with Sinhalese. Mahinda, his army of Sinhala security forces and settlers are doing the job expeditiously for the last for years. Give him some time to complete the job. Then this 13A, or whatever will not have any meaning. Tamils and Muslims will be minorities in their own provinces with much reduced representation. This is what is meant when Mahinda talks of developing the North.

    The whole world knows this, but they are hypocritical: They are after their own self interests.

    In the meantime all these meaningless analyses will be academic.

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      “The whole world knows this, but they are hypocritical: They are after their own self interests. In the meantime all these meaningless analyses will be academic.”

      Correct, Thiru. Astute observation. But it is based on this a war was fought. And lost. Why do you think the whole world show no interest in Tamils? Did Tamils do anything naughty, like killing a Prime Minister of country that was friendly to them till then? What is your view on that??? Have you ever criticized that?

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      No, No. the yellow peril is real!

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    Nothing other than “State funded and guided” BBS, Sinhala Ravaya, Ravana Balaya. Minority is minority, who cares them. That is the status of Govt. Readers must should understand Sinhala Buddhism and Buddhism.

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    Dharisha:

    Most probably, you eat Beef.

    Here there is a Problem of MAD COW disease.

    Just assume, that you got for some reason by eating beef.

    will you say thanks to those Saffron armies ?

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      Leave Ms.Bastians alone. You did not respond lastime to the question that whether you worship carcass or not.

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        Why don’t you write the question again. I don’t live infront of the computer.

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      Beef eating people will continue eating beef. There is no law in the country banning beef eating. Nobody wants to listen to monkeys.

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      I thought the ‘Poya effect’ should have been over by now !

      Don’t you eat devilled beef with the bottle of Arrack you receive for every comment you post here ?

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        Shhhh! Not many people know that they eat devilled beef with their bottle of Arrack. So,dont shout man; Its a secret. Like what they do to the young Samanera boys in the temples.

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        they will stop beet eating once some get MAD COW DISEASE.

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          Mad cows pretend to refrain of beef.

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      jim softy

      You seem to be good at webbing hypothetical scenarios.Like a mad cow really should. But tell me, – here is a real one -what is your take on the catholic church converting sinhalese villagers and estate tamils for cash benefits?
      This has been going on for quite a long time surreptitiously and is one of the reasons for the saffron army taking to street violence. If you dont know, consult Ms Bastians. Maybe she couldm help you figure it out.

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    Ms.Bastians, thank you for the article.
    As Mr.Mangala Samaraweera said, the reporters should write what is happening and let the people decide.
    I did not see/hear any of the incidents reported above in the local media. (heard that MR told the media not to give publicity to these monkey dances.)

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    If you go to Colombo Telegraph you will find “Fascist Buddhists Monks in Sri Lanka”…. which clearly points out how Christian websites do what they are alleged…

    Can anyone send a buddhist website that calls Christians similar names?

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    im awaiting Lee Potter Leelas comments ( also known as K A Sumansekera!)

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    First of all if the President is truly interested in stopping cattle slaughter, he should first stop the serving of meat in the Parliament canteen. For this you do not need a Parliamentary Select Committee decision or voting of the members of the Parliament. If he is a honest person he should do this first. If not it can be taken that the Government is trying very hard to start a communal riot the same way it happened in 1983 so that the Government can use it as an excuse to win the next set of elections and also postpone the northern PC elections. This also will enable to government to cover up the Matale murder, appointment of the Cheap Justice, DIG killing investigations etc.

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    I am patiently waiting for a news article which will say that there is connection between the BBS and the terrorist Virathu of Burma. (i think i can call him a terrorrist as per the modern definition of it)

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    “here is a real one -what is your take on the catholic church converting sinhalese villagers and estate tamils for cash benefits?”

    These are Buddhism bashing columnists – they never write the Aggressive Church or the corruptions and criminal activities of priests.

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    The truth is both the Church and the Mosque are very rich. In Sri Lanka Mosques are so abundant every 50 families have a mosque. that is how they have build.

    Church is also fraudulently converting and building.

    It is the global war between Islam and Christianity to dominate the wolrd particularly Asia.

    None of these christians are worried about Gays inside Vatican, corruptions inside the Church or World spread sexual abuse cases by church fathers.

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      hey jimmy boy
      get your facts straight
      The Church has regularly prosecuted all priests who got caught for such acts (abuses) and never ever tried to say that its an attempt to tarnish Christianity like how some Buddhists react when such charges are brought against the monks ! (you guys says that out of insecurity!)

      The mosque does not tolerate such activities either (abuse)

      Tell me joker how many monks were caught for child abuse,rape,treasure hunting,money transactions which are all AGAINST the vinaya rules and what did you idiots to,did you ever try to put them to prosecution?

      btw incase you didnt know

      SRI LANKAS 1ST EVER ASSASINATION WAS IN 1959 OF SWRD BY NONE OTHER THAN A BUDDHIST MONK (SOMARAMA THERO) AND THE CHIEF CONSPIRATOR WAS BUDHARAKITHA THERO (A NOTORIOUS WOMANISER!)

      Looking a bit foolish arent you Jimmy boy,the jokes on you!

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      “None of these christians are worried about Gays inside Vatican, corruptions inside the Church or World spread sexual abuse cases by church fathers.”

      on some other articles you commented heavily about how christianity is in decline in the west. even here in the east it’s beginning to happen. ever wonder why?

      “The truth is both the Church and the Mosque are very rich.”

      So monks in colombo going around in luxury vehicles is not them being rich, is it?

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    Church is very Rich and they have the power. So, they try to power buddhists. But, buddhism is in the new world and People are accepting it and applying it in their daily life.

    Priests will spread it because their way of earning money selling the bible.

    Dharshi may sell it perhaps she is getting money from the church.

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      Don’t you think you have earned enough bath packets and bottles of Arrack for a day ?

      Accept it, Buddhism is dying even in Sri Lanka. That’s why the desperation and the insecurity from people like you.

      Nowadays, educated Sinhala Buddhists are ashamed to call themselves Buddhists !

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    and meanwhile see how the story about the ” the stolen sadakada pahana” is twisted and spread in the racist Sinlaha medium social media

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=565664816806151&set=a.537809742924992.1073741828.536664646372835&type=1&theater

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    Dharisha in the telling police going to
    the beep stall on wednesday. She is wrong.
    They is going every day to get thier kilo
    without bones. What ish wrong with 13th
    Amendment? That ish an unlucky number. I
    telling there is no devil beef for my
    drink when they attack in these stalls.
    What about my oxtail shoop? They want to
    burn all of thish. What about liquor shops,
    the source of all evil – rape, robbery, etc
    Whey not burn them. They is going up in the
    ismoke soon.

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    IF THEY ATTACKED THE BUTCHERS WITHIN THE MARKET,THE “BUTCHERS” SHOULD HAVE SLAUGHTERED THEM.THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN WELL WITHIN THE LAW TO ACT IN SELF DEFENSE. THE MEAT STALL OWNERS ARE DOING A LAWFUL BUSINESS,WITHIN
    THE PUBLIC MARKET PREMISES, WHICH THEY GET AFTER PAYING THOUSANDS.

    IF ONE WERE TO STAY NEAR A BEEF STALL YOU CAN SEE OUR POLICEMEN-ALL RANKS WHO COME AND ASK FOR MEAT AND GO AWAY WITHOUT PAYING A CENT.

    IN FACT I HAVE HEARD THE COMMENT WHEN THE POLICEMAN IS COMING TO THE STALL, THE COMMENT “ONNA JARAWATA ENAWA”

    THESE ARE OUR “LAW ENFORCERS”-DAMN SHAME

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