{"id":178580,"date":"2017-06-11T18:19:47","date_gmt":"2017-06-11T12:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=178580"},"modified":"2017-06-18T19:03:36","modified_gmt":"2017-06-18T13:33:36","slug":"police-say-arsonist-who-torched-muslim-owned-shops-is-bbs-supporter-bbs-denies-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/police-say-arsonist-who-torched-muslim-owned-shops-is-bbs-supporter-bbs-denies-links\/","title":{"rendered":"Police Say Arsonist Who Torched Muslim-Owned Shops Is BBS Supporter, BBS Denies Links"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The police said today that the suspect arrested in connection to several arson attacks on Muslim shops in Nugegoda and Wijerama areas is a resident of Maharagama and has been identified as a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Bodu+Bala+Sena\">Bodu Bala Sena<\/a> (BBS).<\/p>\n<p>Police Spokesman DIG Priyantha Jayakody said the suspect is a 32 year old man, and he is currently in detention and is being questioned. Another three suspects were arrested on several other charges including for insulting Buddha on social media, and for damaging properties in Danthure.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FOfficialBoduBalaSena%2Fvideos%2F1465399863480036%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560\" width=\"900\" height=\"308\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>However, Bodu Bala Sena\u2019s Chief Executive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Dilanthe+Withanage\">Dilanthe Withanage<\/a> in a video message issued this evening denied his group\u2019s involvement in any of the attacks against the Muslim community. He claimed there was a ploy to carry out such attacks and blame it on his group. \u201cWe are denying these charges, and we have always tried to amicably solve issues and have always told the youth to never take the law into their own hands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said that just because a person came to their meetings, that doesn\u2019t make them responsible for that person\u2019s actions. \u201cIf someone who attended a meeting of Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maithripala Sirisena or Mahinda Rajapaksa committed a crime that should not be blamed on them\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Withanage added that today the minorities in Sri Lanka get all their demands met but it is the majority Buddhist community that has to fight for their rights.<\/p>\n<p>He also said that his group had the necessary power and strength to launch terrorism and violence but they chose to find solutions through amicable means. \u201cIf BBS wanted to launch extremism, terrorism or violence, we have the necessary power\u00a0and strength, but we won&#8217;t, and even Ven. Gnanasara always tries to find solution to issues through discussions,\u201d Withanage added.<\/p>\n<p>However, despite Withanage\u2019s claim that both his BBS group and Gnanasara have always resorted to finding solutions to issues in an amicable manner, the Colombo Telegraph possess several videos where Gnanasara himself admitted that he was behind the Aluthgama riots in 2014. In another incident in May last year, when a supporter of his group was arrested by the police Gnanasara threatened to launch a blood bath from the Muslim dominated Maligawatte.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem who is also a Minister in the coalition government said that an \u2018invisible hand\u2019 was directing those responsible for maintaining the law and order in the country. \u201cThose responsible for maintaining the law and order are being directed by an invisible hand,\u201d Hakeem reportedly said at a meeting in Kandy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":123456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories","category-video"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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