A DAY after Eid, the attack on the Grandpass mosque is the latest in a spate of despicable anti-Muslim incidents that have sullied the island’s hard-won peace. … Sunset prayers were brutally disrupted when a mob, allegedly led by Buddhist monks, stormed the masjid … demanding its immediate removal. Residents have told reporters that the old Molawatte mosque was taken over by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) prompting the worshippers to move to a new building several metres down the road. An ancient bo tree looming over the old establishment had also prevented its expansion.

The residents had no ire against the bo tree or the movement of the new mosque … yet the mob that attacked did not find this coexistence impressive. Rather their intention was to cause more divisions between communities that have lived in peace for decades — be they Muslim, Sinhalese or Tamil. Residents also relate that Sihala Ravaya (SR) had sent a mob last month demanding the removal of the mosque. …

The result was Buddhist and Muslim political and religious leaders scrambling to resolve an issue that should have been nipped in the bud. Random groups do not and should not have the power to demand removal of places of worship. … Ostensibly the police knew about the SR involvement for residents say police security was provided to the mosque but no attempts were made to make sure the law was followed. ...

It cannot be denied that with the advent of the Bodu Bala Sena [BBS] and other hard-line organisations in Sri Lanka, the intensity of bigoted actions has increased. The number of derogatory racist remarks and tokenisation of religions and individuals, ... and spread of virulent and often inaccurate information to whip up racial hatred are on the rise. Even though in this instance the BBS and SR have denied that they are behind the attacks, their whipping up of racial sentiments certainly did not help matters. …

Making the sacrifice to maintain peace, the Muslim community already ended the halal certification process for local companies and agreed to give it free of charge for exporters. Events came to such a pass due to the increase in hard-line factions and the inability or reluctance by the government to quell them.

Saturday night’s events also provoked an unusually stern response from Muslim ministers in the ruling coalition led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa who issued a scathing statement, slamming the government’s “lukewarm and ineffective” measures to curb anti-Muslim violence. … [I]t can only be hoped that the government will, at least now, implement the law independently and provide justice to every citizen of the island irrespective of the religion they follow. — (Aug 13)