Communal Violence Pushes Sri Lanka Into 10-Day Emergency: Facts Emerging So Far

Colombo, Mar 6: The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday declared a 10-day emergency to crackdown on communal elements who unleashed anarchy in the central district of Kandy. The unprecedented step is being taken to prevent the riots from spreading to other parts of the island nation, said government spokesperson Dayasiri Jayasekara.

The decision to impose the state of emergency was taken at a special meeting chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena earlier in the day.

The government also reviewed the alleged inaction adopted by security forces on Monday, which led to the death of one person at the hands of the rioters.

Although Monday witnessed the flashpoint of the brewing Buddhist-Muslim tensions in Kandy district, the communal frenzy was simmering since February, when six different incidents of communal clashes left over 11 people injured.

Here are the facts, accusations and counter-accusations emerging from the ground so far:

Two deaths in Muslim-Sinhalese hostility

The first murder was reported last week after a person belonging to the Sinhalese community - Sri Lanka's largest Buddhist ethnic group - was found dead after a group of Muslim rioters ran amok in Kandy town.

The second casualty was reported on Monday, after a Muslim man was found charred to death after Sinhalese protesters gutted down a spree of shops in a Muslim locality of Tendaliya town.

Rights' groups accuse police of inaction

The human rights' groups in Sri Lanka have accused the police of failing to take preventive measures while the hardline Sinhalese groups were galvanising rioters on Monday to target Muslim localities in Tendaliya.

Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights Sri Lanka, said the police was "aware" of the itenary prepared by the rioters.

While speaking to reporters, Tennakoon said social media pages on Facebook asked "Buddhist nationalists" to gather at Teldeniya town at 10am. "The mobs had assembled completely by 10 am. After two hours, they began burning the Muslim properties at around 1 am,"  he said, claiming that all this while, the local police refrained from taking action against them.

Hardline group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) blamed for carnage

The Centre For Human Rights, Sri Lanka, along with the pro-Muslim National Front for Good Governance (NFGG) party has appealed President Sirisena to crackdown on hardline Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), accusing its cadres of organising the communal carnage in Kandy and neighbouring parts.

Najah Mohamed, secretary of NFGG, said the BBS has hatched a conspiracy to fuel anger against the country's 10 percent Muslim population. "They are rallying Buddhist nationals against us. Misinformation is being propagated by them to instigate passions," he alleged.

Buddhist groups blame Muslim outfits of 'forceful conversions'

Hardline groups have blamed the Muslim outfits in Kandy region of using deceit, money and other unethical tactics to "forcefully convert" the Sinhalese in the regions.

The SSB has accused Rohingya asylum seekers in Kandy of being linked to transnational terror networks. Buddhist monk Akmeemana Dayarathana has been leading protests in the region, seeking the immediate deportation of Rohingya refugees in the region.

Muslim groups have also been accused of damaging archeological sites which have special relevance to the Buddhists.

Mosque vandalised in Ampara

An old mosque in the tourist-town of Ampara was vandalised by protesters last week, leading to demonstrations being staged across Kandy by local Muslims.

The police was also criticised for failing to arrest the miscreants involved in the mosque vandalisation incident.

Myanmar impact

According to rights' activists, Sri Lanka, whose 75 per cent of the population is Buddhist and a significant 10 percent is Muslim, is impacted by the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, another Buddhist majority state. The ethnic clashes between Naypyidaw's state forces and the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine region has casted a negative impact on Sinhalese-Muslim relations in Sri Lanka as well, they claim.

The 10-day emergency decision is being considered as a step to nip the Buddhist-Muslim friction before it spells into a disastrous nationwide communal battle across the nation.

Alen Keenan, Sri Lanka Project Director of International Crisis Group, has questioned the silence of the political establishment against the attack on Muslims.

"Still no sign of a strong statement against attacks on Muslims from #SriLanka President @MaithripalaS oe Prime Minister @RW_UNP. Principled intervention urgently needed. Many Muslims worried about what will come w/curfew in #Teldeniua & #Diganna. Little trust in Police. (sic)," he posted on Twitter.

Keenan also appealed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to issue a statement expressing solidarity with the minorities.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 06, 2018 04:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).