By Rifat Halim –

Two bearded leaders smiled for the camera in Colombo this week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted by the Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. There was much singing and dancing. Platitudes were uttered. A defence agreement was signed.

There is a deadly secret that the black bearded Dissanayake has hidden from the grey bearded Modi. Sri Lanka has oppressed Hindus for the last 77 years.

In the 1946 census, the Hindus were 20% of Ceylon’s population. In the 2012 census, the Hindu population on the island (now named Sri Lanka) had dropped to 12.6%.

One of the first pieces of legislation that the country adopted in 1948/49 was the Ceylon Citizenship Act. It deprived nearly one million Hindus of recent Indian origin of their citizenship.

In the 1970s, Mrs. Bandaranaike’s government forcibly deported almost 500,000 Hindus. Trump’s moves to deport immigrants in USA pale in comparison. Many Hindus were repatriated to India against their will. Mrs Bandaranaike, the world’s first woman Prime Minister, violated the Geneva convention.

The mass deportation was a prelude to another tragedy. In July 1983, the Sri Lankan government unleashed a pogrom against Hindus. Over 2000 Hindus were massacred in Colombo and its surroundings. In the next two decades, about 800,000 Hindus fled the violence.

Today, the Hindus are virtually excluded from the military and the police. The Hindus are one-eighth of the population. There are less than 1000 Hindus in the police force of 80,000 officers. Hindus are less than 0.1% of the 200,000 strong armed forces.

The Hindus are the poorest community on the island according to the government’s own statistics. The Indian Tamil Hindus, who represent half the Hindu population, have an average income level that is a quarter of the national average.

Sri Lanka’s constitution awards Buddhism the foremost place. This provision has been at the expense of the Hindus. Unlike in India and Nepal, Hindu personal law is not recognised. Hindus are forced to marry under the civil law. Even Pakistan and Bangladesh recognise Hindu personal law for the adherents of that faith.

The government is not the only oppressor of Hindus. During the separatist conflict, the Tamil Tigers, a barbaric Christian controlled organisation, killed many Hindu leaders. The victims include Appapillai Amirthalingam, the TULF leader. Hindu priests were routinely assassinated. Hindu children were kidnapped and conscripted by the Tamil Tigers.

After the conflict ended, Christian missionaries masquerading as relief organisations have been forcibly converting Hindus. The missionaries have used inducements to increase their flock.

Modi spoke about the civilisation link between India and Sri Lanka. The treatment of Hindus on the island is anything but civilised. Why has Modi ignored Sri Lanka’s atrocities against the practitioners of the world’s oldest religion?