{"id":86163,"date":"2013-05-07T16:52:15","date_gmt":"2013-05-07T11:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=86163"},"modified":"2013-05-20T00:38:48","modified_gmt":"2013-05-19T19:08:48","slug":"we-must-all-be-patriots-not-just-azath-salley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/we-must-all-be-patriots-not-just-azath-salley\/","title":{"rendered":"We Must All Be Patriots, Not Just Azath Salley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\">Silma Ahamed<\/a><\/span> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86164\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/we-must-all-be-patriots-not-just-azath-salley\/silma-2x2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-86164\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86164\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-86164\" title=\"Silma 2x2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Silma-2x2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Silma-2x2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Silma-2x2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Silma-2x2-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Silma-2x2.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-86164\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Silma Ahamed<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Government has inadvertently made <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Azath+Salley&amp;x=9&amp;y=8\">Azath Salley<\/a><\/span> a hero, or so some believe.\u00a0 No, the Government has not contributed to Azath turning a hero, he is one anyway.<\/p>\n<p>The hate campaign against Muslims needs no elaboration. \u00a0Azath Salley has only been warning Sri Lankans of dangerous consequences as a result of it.\u00a0 To arrest him on charges of inciting communal ill feeling is to insult the basic intelligence of all Sri Lankans.<\/p>\n<p>Surely we Sri Lankans cannot forget so soon that Azath was a close associate of the ruling family.\u00a0 When did he fall into disfavor? \u00a0Was it not when he vehemently opposed the destruction of an ancient Muslim shrine in Anuradhapura, and the campaign against the removal of the recently famous mosque in Dambulla?\u00a0 Was he not the one who openly condemned the racist ideology and hate campaign against minorities by extremist Sinhala groups? Was he not the one who spoke out for unity among all races and a common Sri Lankan identity?\u00a0 He is a true patriot, to fearlessly speak out in the face of not just losing favor with the Government, but also risking his personal security.<\/p>\n<p>And now what is the Muslim community doing for him?\u00a0 Some feel that he was \u2018asking for it\u2019, that he \u2018was shooting his mouth off\u2019.\u00a0 Was he??\u00a0 Is it wrong to speak your mind?\u00a0 He certainly wasn\u2019t committing a crime.\u00a0 We are, by not defending him when he is wrongfully incarcerated.\u00a0 Muslims in Civil Society find excuses not to get involved, only because they fear for their own well being.\u00a0 It is the responsibility of Muslim individuals who wield influence in their respective fields to do whatever is possible for the release of Azath Salley. \u00a0It it isn\u2019t within our power to secure his release, we should at least voice our protest openly. \u00a0It is also the responsibility of right minded Sri Lankans to support this cause, just like any other which stands for Democracy and Justice in the country.\u00a0 Or else, silence will only embolden the forces against Peace and Justice in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":86164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,2938],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial","category-popular"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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