NAZNEEN Ousmond, the principal of an international school, is busy making plans to foster goodwill among Sinhalese and Muslims in Aluthgama, her hometown. The town went up in flames after anti-Muslim riots three years ago this day (June 15).

“We want more inter-mixing and communication between Muslims and Sinhalese. In our school, we celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil new years. The Sinhala teachers arrange these functions. This is how we have lived for centuries,” she says.

Community events such as medical camps organised over the past three years have been held at nearby Buddhist temples and Muslims appreciate the goodwill extended to them by Aluthgama’s Buddhist clergy.

Residents admit that some tension exists due to a handful of fanatic monks who have links to outfits like the infamous Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), whose leaders are widely believed to have instigated the 2014 anti-Muslim riots through their inflammatory speeches.

Today, the Muslims and Sinhalese keep an eye on mischief-makers in the area.

However, it’s turning out to be no cakewalk as Muslims of Aluthgama grapple between normality and anxiety. Incidents of burning of Muslim-owned shops around the country over the past few months have put Aluthgama on edge.

M.H.M Zarook, 62, runs a lorry re-sale business. All eight of his vehicles and his house were totally destroyed in the riots. Although he has rebuilt his house and restarted his business, he alternates between hope and despair.

Zarook points out that towards the end of last month, when there was a likelihood of Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara of the BBS being arrested in the Kurunegala district, most Muslims of Aluthgama left their homes as they feared that the notorious outfit will take out its wrath on them.

He showed an album of photographs of his vehicles burnt in the 2014 riots and abruptly ended the interview with remarks that he was thinking of giving up his business.

“It is not the people of this area who are trouble-makers. But this area is sensitive and the fear just won’t go away,” he says.

Sarath Jayarathne, a Sinhalese businessman residing near Aluthgama who supplies stitched clothing to shops in the neighbourhood, points out that the Sinhalese business community has a history of working side by side with Muslim businessmen.

Jayarathne suffered a financial loss with the burning of Aluthgama’s biggest clothing store, Mallika’s, in September 2014 and 2016. The shop, torched in the 2014 riots, was burnt again in September last year — merely a year after it was rebuilt and opened for business.

Police dismissed the tragedy as an accident caused by faulty electrical wiring, but did not come up with any evidence.

“It was the biggest textile shop here. I provide material to many shops, but sales were best at Mallika’s. This helped me to develop my own business,” says Jayarathne. He now feels sad as the owner has decided against restarting his business.

Mohammed Samsudeen, who inherited the shop from his father, says he has decided to restore it and rent it out.

“Around 60 per cent of my suppliers are Sinhalese,” he says, insisting that only a minuscule group carries out hate-driven acts.

“I have been directly affected, but I insist that an overwhelming majority of Buddhists do not condone violence against Muslims. Granted that they did nothing to stop rioters, but what could they have done in the face of a crazy mob?” wonders Samsudeen.

Muslims proffer similar arguments, but with a political twist, for the silence of a special task force and police during the riots. The then regime of president Mahinda Rajapaksa was seen as responsible for ordering this silence.

“We have to discuss issues thrown up by a multi-cultural society. Only then we can create harmony between disparate groups,” says Saadiq Hussein, a prominent businessman who set up the Aluthgama Development Foundation (ADF) in 2014 to help people rebuild their houses destroyed during the riots.

“The Muslims of Aluthgama were grateful to the military for working to rebuild destroyed homes,” he says.

Saadiq believes that flare-ups like that of 2014 could jolt citizens out of their slumber and motivate them to work for peace and tolerance.

And as one travels through the calm streets of Aluthgama, the rebuilt houses seem to picture the resilience of a town keen to live and let live in harmony.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2017