{"id":111132,"date":"2013-10-22T17:14:36","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T11:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=111132"},"modified":"2013-10-29T22:20:56","modified_gmt":"2013-10-29T16:50:56","slug":"anti-halal-campaign-more-important-than-casinos-bbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/anti-halal-campaign-more-important-than-casinos-bbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Halal Campaign More Important Than Casinos &#8211; BBS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Bodu+Bala+Sena&amp;x=5&amp;y=4\">Bodu Bala Sena<\/a><\/span> believes its <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Halal&amp;x=11&amp;y=4\">anti-Halal agitation<\/a><\/span> is far more important than taking up the Government\u2019s move to create casino zones in the capital Colombo, the group\u2019s Chief Executive Officer <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Dilanthe+Withanage&amp;x=10&amp;y=5\">Dilanthe Withanage<\/a><\/span> told Colombo Telegraph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Bodu Bala Sena is against casinos. But we believe that compared with the Halal issue in the country, the casino issue is a minor one,\u201d Withanage in an interview with Colombo Telegraph.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/anti-halal-campaign-more-important-than-casinos-bbs\/bbs-10\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-111136\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-111136\" title=\"BBS\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/BBS1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"461\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/BBS1.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/BBS1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px\" \/><\/a>The BBS recommenced its Anti-Halal agitation campaign today,\u00a0 saying the authorities had cheated them out of a solution to the controversial Islamic labelling in March this year.<\/p>\n<p>Withanage said it believed the bigger issue was that the President\u2019s Provincial Governor of the Western Province Alawi Moulana was requesting all mayors in the province to cooperate and assist with the annual Haj Cattle Sacrifice on a letterhead that features the Dharma Chakra, a Buddhist symbol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are against casinos and we have already had a press conference regarding this. But this Halal issue is much bigger,\u201d Withanage said, adding that the BBS did not want to mix agitation campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if the anti-Halal resurgence campaign was aimed at distracting from the Government\u2019s controversial casino legitimising legislation, Withanage said the BBS had no idea the Government would move to present the bill the same week the group had organised its campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now, it is the Halal issue that is important,\u201d Withanage said.<\/p>\n<p>The Government last night decided to refrain from tabling the controversial gazette to legalise casinos in Parliament after the opposition led by its Spokesman on Economic Affairs <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Harsha+de+Silva&amp;x=12&amp;y=5\">Harsha de Silva<\/a><\/span> kept up a relentless campaign against <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=James+Packer&amp;x=12&amp;y=5\">James Packer<\/a><\/span>\u2019s tax-free casino project and exposed Government moves to surreptitiously introduce the legislation in Parliament. Key Government allies the Jathika Hela Urumaya and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress also informed President Mahinda Rajapaksa they would not be voting for the controversial legislation, prompting the Government to withdraw the bill for amendment.<\/p>\n<p>We publish below the Governor\u00a0Alawi Moulana&#8217;s letter form Dilanthe&#8217;s Faceebok;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/anti-halal-campaign-more-important-than-casinos-bbs\/alavi-letter\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-111134\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-111134\" title=\"Alavi letter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Alavi-letter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"611\" height=\"862\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Alavi-letter.jpg 679w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Alavi-letter-212x300.jpg 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 611px) 100vw, 611px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":111136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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