{"id":223459,"date":"2021-10-28T02:17:45","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T20:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=223459"},"modified":"2021-10-29T01:19:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T19:49:20","slug":"operation-sonic-gnansara-appointment-points-to-sinister-plot-to-ignite-communal-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/operation-sonic-gnansara-appointment-points-to-sinister-plot-to-ignite-communal-tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation ‘Sonic’: Gnanasara Appointment Points To Sinister Plot To Ignite Communal Tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span>\u2019s decision to appoint the country\u2019s most rabidly racist monk to chair a Presidential Task Force entrusted with implementing the Government\u2019s \u2018One Country One Law\u2019 concept has been a slap in the face of minorities and the rule of law, activists and lawyers said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gotabaya with BBS Gnanasara<\/p><\/div>\n

The idea of handing over a law drafting process to a convicted felon is an outrage, Sri Lankans said on social media, as the country reeled from the shock of the appointment.<\/p>\n

Galagodaththe Gnanasara<\/a> <\/span>is only out of prison because of President Maithripala Sirisena\u2019s horrendous decision to pardon the monk<\/a><\/span> who was facing a six-year jail term<\/span><\/a> for contempt of court in 2019. He was jailed for intimidating the wife of disappeared person Prageeth Ekneligoda<\/a><\/span> and disappearances campaigner Sandya Ekneligoda, in full view of the magistrate at the Homagama court in 2016. The rabidly racist monk has been at the helm of a hate-campaign against Sri Lanka\u2019s Muslim population since 2012. The rampaging, rambunctious monk has spearheaded at least two major anti-Muslim riots in Aluthgama<\/a><\/span> and Digana<\/span>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gnansara is the General Secretary of Sinhala extremist group Bodu Bala Sena<\/a><\/span>, which is synonymous with rising anti-Muslim sentiment<\/a><\/span> in Sri Lanka since the organization was first launched in 2012.<\/p>\n

His elevation as Chairman of a task force entrusted to measure draft laws against the Government\u2019s One Country-One Law policy, which has always been a sophisticated slogan to assert the dominance of Sri Lanka\u2019s Sinhala-Buddhist majority against the minorities, is a new low even for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has made no secret of the fact that he was a president for the Sinhalese people. The appointment is being seen as a direct affront to Sri Lanka\u2019s minority communities who have long been terrorised by the BBS monk and his gang. The appointment of Gnanasara as Chair of the taskforce marks the first time the link between the Gotabaya Rajapaksa wing of the SLPP and the racist monk stands concretely exposed.<\/p>\n

The 13-member task force comprises four Muslim representatives including two moulawis but not a single representative from the Tamil community.<\/p>\n

The appointment marked the elevation of Gnanasara from \u201cfoot-soldier to general\u201d Sri Lankans remarked on Twitter after the news broke.<\/p>\n

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(why would anybody have thought that? idk.) that said, have to say I did not see this appointment coming. it seems to formalize the collapse of a long traditional arms'-length deniability, not to mention gnasara's rise from footsoldier to general<\/p>\n

— Vajra Chandrasekera (@_vajra) October 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n