{"id":201469,"date":"2019-05-12T23:08:44","date_gmt":"2019-05-12T17:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=201469"},"modified":"2019-05-16T10:35:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T05:05:02","slug":"fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>By <\/b><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Lakmal+Harischandra\">Lakmal Harischandra<\/a> &#8211;<\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_189380\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lakmal-Harischandra.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-189380\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-189380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lakmal-Harischandra-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lakmal-Harischandra-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lakmal-Harischandra-45x45.jpg 45w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lakmal-Harischandra.jpg 271w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-189380\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lakmal Harischandra<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201c<i>Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is an eternal law<\/i>.\u201d \u2013Dhammapada<\/p>\n<p>What happened on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Easter+Sunday\"><strong>Easter Sunday<\/strong><\/a> is unforgivable and our rage and condemnation is beyond imagination. The nation should be complimented for their patience and maturity and the civilized way, they conducted themselves without allowing their baser instincts to take control over their rational thinking. Both Cardinal and Army Commander spoke in a balanced manner looking beyond the terror movement of the barbarians who carried out these dastardly attacks, while the politicians and social media warriors have been as usual in competition, to spread hatred and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=anti-Muslim\"><strong>anti-Muslim venom<\/strong><\/a> using this massacre as a pretext.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>For the hate lobbies, the maturity of the people to observe constraint in the face of provocations was seen as a weakness. We have seen in this massacre, the worst that human beings are capable of doing. But, we&#8217;ve seen in the past, what happens when leaders are allowed to abandon common decency in favour of rage and hate. Through the lens of history, we saw how the Holocaust happened and how many genocides happened and even in our backyard how hate led to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=July+1983\"><strong>1983 anti-Tamil pogrom<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Aluthgama\"><strong>Aluthgama<\/strong><\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Digana\"><strong>Digana<\/strong><\/a> anti-Muslim violence. In this background, when will our people learn the lessons of history that hate cannot be dispelled by hate?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It is sad to witness that in the aftermath of this tragedy, another tragedy is in the process of becoming a reality. The monster of anti-Muslim hate appears to be rising again from the backwoods. This volatile situation where a group of terrorists bearing Muslim names carried out these monstrous attacks on churches and hotels, became an ideal breeding ground and a playfield for the hate lobbies who inflicted much damage and destruction in the Post-war era in Sri Lanka to re-enact their dramas.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>While the terrorists attacked physically, the hate groups used social media, ably supported by rogue sections of the Sinhala media like Hiru. Ada Derana, to begin their own brand of \u2018war of terror\u2019. They began to attack the Muslims psychologically and mentally, making the entire Muslim community guilty by association. They began once again to brainwash the average moderate Sinhala mind (both Buddhist and Christian) about the inherent danger posed by the entire Muslim community. This included fake news, photo-shops and cherry picking Islamic quotes to show that Muslims are with the terrorists. A parallel anti-Muslim campaign is also happening in the Tamil media as well. This disastrous campaign is already attaining victory when we see Christian and Buddhist people appearing to be consuming this hate propaganda. This is a tragedy worse than the Easter attacks. Perhaps, this is what the Muslim extremist group want to achieve &#8211; to divide communities and make Muslims alienated so that their youths will be ready recruits to their radical groups.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>As a Sinhalese, I am feeling worried about how our past friendships and comradeship with the Muslim friends have given way to mutual mistrust and suspicion . This is another national tragedy indeed.<\/p>\n<p>Our post-Independence history was full of racism and communalism. Barely we attained Independence with all political leaders of all communities coming together in 1948, when under a decade we had the election of SWRD, who fought his election platform on a racist agenda. This led to Sinhala only bill which divided Sinhala and Tamil communities. Two years later, in 1958, Ceylon (then) witnessed the first ever anti-Tamil riots. An year later, SWRD Bandaranaike fell to a bullet by a Saffron clad Buddhist monk. This did not make the people to suspect every member of the Maha Sangha who wore a Siwura and ask the government to ban the Siwura. (quite rightly). Today, people are different and they are asking many cultural and religious symbols of Muslims to be banned including the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Burqa\"><strong>Burqa<\/strong><\/a>. Burqa of course had a legitimate reason to be banned in this situation; but the hate peddlers are calling for more- even the Abhaya, madrasas etc. Well! the governments allowed this Sinhala Buddhist fever to take hold in the body public, renegading on various pacts signed with the Tamil parties and marginalizing the Tamil people through colonisation in the N&amp; E. What happened in 1983 and how the JR Jayewardene government acted was really unacceptable which led to the internationalization of this ethnic conflict and the subsequent Tiger led period of terror. With the end of war in 2009, sense of triumphalism was witnessed with the Rajapaksa government posing off as the champion of the Sinhala Buddhists.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The religion I follow &#8211; Buddhism is widely accepted as a pacifistic and tolerant religion. Yet political \u2018Sinhala Buddhism\u2019 has been linked to ethnic violence in both Sri Lanka\u2019s pre and post-independence history. The end of the war in May 2009 saw the resurgence of Sinhala-Buddhist ethno-nationalism as a prominent force, the most patent instance of its link to violence being manifested in the June 2014 anti-Muslim riots in Aluthgama, in culmination of the well-orchestrated hate campaign by hate groups like BBS, Sihala Ravaya etc with State patronage then. Later, the patent popularity of the \u2018Sinha-Le\u2019 campaign and other grassroot level hate movements, which appears to be politically-backed and well-organised, also provided convincing evidence of the power of ethno-nationalism as a tool to mobilise insecure masses. The involvement of Buddhist monks in politics following independence in 1948, in effect, also transformed Buddhism into a highly politicised religion. <b>In Buddhism Betrayed, StanleyJ.Tambiah<\/b> draws attention to the paradox between Buddhism\u2019s non-violent philosophy and the high degree of political violence in Sri Lanka. In fact, the first ethno-nationalist violence was directed against the Muslims and not the Tamils in 1915. <b><i>Thus, religious extremism is not limited to Muslim extremism, but both Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil extremism too existed as well, as history in Post-Independence Sri Lanka has clearly proved.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Having said that, it is a reality that extremism has been growing among the Muslim community specially since 1980s due to globalisation and opening of<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>ME doors to Sri Lankans both for employment and pilgrimage. Even the social media has enabled Muslim youth to get radicalize online. I spoke to many Muslim friends and asked how these barbarians were not spotted earlier. They were crestfallen with a sense of shame in their faces because these animals bore Muslim names. But they<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>maintained , many prior information about these deviants were made available to the government and the Intelligence by their religious leaders and even by the local community to which the main mastermind belonged \u2013 Kattankudy. They were enraged why these warnings were ignored. But, they also told me that although there were many sects (Jamaths) which cropped up among them in recent history with some with extremist inclinations and at times violence being seen among these groups , they did not expect these groups to be this violent and massacre the way these \u2018Satans\u2019 did.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This NTJ activities were not within community\u2019s public view. But, it should be accepted that Muslim mainstream did not speak up loudly against the growing trend of religious extremism and ghetto-isation including Arabisation. It is at least heartening to see the leaders and the community realizing this folly and saying \u2018Mea-Culpa; even now. All they now need is a leader of the Cardinal calibre and a supporting mainstream society. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This awakening among the Muslim community, is a positive development and hope the Sinhalese too think in terms of<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Sri Lanka being the home to all and not through the lens of majoritarianism. If this awakening can start off a process of<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>healing and building a common Sri Lankan identity in the country<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>among Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>then those innocent souls would not have died in vain. However, unfortunately the growing anti-Muslim hate and hate peddlers pushing the Muslims against a wall, may hamper this process of<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>realising the dream of building an inclusive Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a multi- ethnic and multi-cultural nation and not a Sinhala Buddhist State although the latter is the dominant community. Former Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe who appears on TV now lobbying for Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thero\u2019s release has forgotten that he also made a clear statement to the press when he was a Minister that Sri Lanka is not a Sinhala Buddhist State. It is on the basis of an inclusivity that all communities can be brought to together and not revisiting Sinhala Buddhist supremacy. Our public discourses should be on this unifying themes and not on divisive themes as propounded by hate peddlers. Those who dream for an inclusive Sri Lanka should<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>NOT allow the hate peddlers to hijack the public narrative and spread hate venom and make a section of our people feel alienated and forlorn. Instead, the mainstream Muslim community should be supported to fight against the common enemy of extremism and radicalism among them- while still a fringe element. If the Sinhala community adopt a domineering approach, then this fringe element may grow in all probability. This is the danger we should all avoid at all costs.<\/p>\n<p>Christian brethren should realize that Sinhala Buddhist extremist groups who are appearing as friends to them in their hour of grief, in fact attacked them too in the post-war era. Few weeks before the Easter Sunday attack, the Methodist church was attacked is Anuraphapura while many evangelic places of worship were attacked in many parts of the country initiated by rogue Buddhist monks. Thus, the Christian brethren should not fall prey into the game played by these hate peddlers that Muslims are their enemy hell-bent on killing them. It is not true. Sri Lanka suffered much from the brunt of extremist groups from all communities- Sinhala, Tamil and now Muslims. Marginalizing Tamils during Tiger rule had disastrous impact on Sri Lanka. Therefore, extremism and radicalism is a common enemy and we should all unite as one to fight these evils. Muslims has a pivotal role to play to fight religious extremism them. They have realized that it is in their own interests too. Helping them to do it and getting all communities onto the same page is paramount in fighting this cancer which seeks to destroy our common destiny. Walking together is the need of the hour,. There is no other way. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Further, Islamophobia is a powerful industry in the West. If we care to study what happened after 09\/11, it is clear that demonising Islam and the Muslims became a cottage industry with the Media taking the lead. ISIS was a Western construct and part of the military adventurism of the West in the ME. They used Islam and Quran to find justification for their ill deeds. Did anyone realise that ISIS has killed more Muslims than others. Did anyone also realize that they have not lifted their finger against the Israelis.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, connecting ISIS atrocities to Muslims has ulterior intentions. Further, as Cardinal pointed out, these terror groups like ISIS who responsibility two days later for the acts of their local partners NTJ , do not operate many thousands of miles from their country of origin, on their own. There are international dimensions to this terror attack and already the patron of ISIS \u2013 US particularly is preparing to anchor their war ships to \u2018help\u2019 Sri Lanka\u2019 to fight terror. Weapon manufacturers have a stake in this game. We should not be fodder for them to achieve their evil ends at our expense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":291,"featured_media":188450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-12T17:38:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-16T05:05:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"913\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"468\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lakmal Harischandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lakmal Harischandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/\",\"name\":\"Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-12T17:38:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-16T05:05:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a5c79364e3b867c332792fb7237f9f6e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg\",\"width\":913,\"height\":468},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a5c79364e3b867c332792fb7237f9f6e\",\"name\":\"Lakmal Harischandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae8a89061a9ae46d262bae1a7ec9e44eaf45db70ea6e16884676b4275cd4382f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae8a89061a9ae46d262bae1a7ec9e44eaf45db70ea6e16884676b4275cd4382f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lakmal Harischandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/lakmalharis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2019-05-12T17:38:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-16T05:05:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":913,"height":468,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lakmal Harischandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lakmal Harischandra","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/","name":"Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg","datePublished":"2019-05-12T17:38:44+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-16T05:05:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a5c79364e3b867c332792fb7237f9f6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg","width":913,"height":468},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fight-against-extremism-should-not-be-confused-with-islamophobia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fight Against Extremism Should Not Be Confused With Islamophobia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a5c79364e3b867c332792fb7237f9f6e","name":"Lakmal Harischandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae8a89061a9ae46d262bae1a7ec9e44eaf45db70ea6e16884676b4275cd4382f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae8a89061a9ae46d262bae1a7ec9e44eaf45db70ea6e16884676b4275cd4382f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Lakmal Harischandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/lakmalharis\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Anti-Muslim-attacks-in-Digana-Sri-Lanka-.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201469"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201663,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201469\/revisions\/201663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}