THE juggernaut of hatred in the name of faith is spreading. It is hounding the Rohingya Muslims as they flee Myanmar in various directions to escape ethnic cleansing. Added to the list of excesses committed against them is an attack led by Buddhist monks on a UN-run safe house in Colombo where several of them had been given shelter. The perpetrators, a Sinhalese nationalist group, justified their action with claims that the Rohingyas had been involved in violence against the Buddhists in Myanmar. Reports say the protesters demanded that these Muslim refugees in transition, who are awaiting the processing of their cases for asylum in a third country under the aegis of the UNHCR, be sent back from where they had arrived in Sri Lanka. The message has the most sinister, the most devastating connotations, for we know that only death and decimation awaits these uprooted people at home. It is a message tinged with poison and self-righteously given a religious seal. Meanwhile, a visit by a UN mission — accompanied by Myanmar government officials — to Rakhine state was postponed due to weather conditions there, again thwarting attempts by the international organisation to access the troubled province, the epicentre of the violence in Myanmar.

 The adversity the Rohingyas face is not a problem specific to Bangladesh, where at least 500,000 of them have fled. The attack in Sri Lanka, in multi-ethnic Colombo of all places, truly brings into focus the extent and scale of the Rohingya crisis. It is a warning of how far and fast the hatred can spread, threatening to turn the world into a battleground with gangs of marauders armed with something as potent as religion. Colombo also serves as a timely reminder to all those who still care for coexistence to cast off their apathy and take meaningful steps to contain and resolve the Rohingya crisis. Much time has been taken up in shaming Nobel laureates who did not deserve the honour bestowed upon them. The secret perhaps lies in giving the likes of Aung San Suu Kyi the ultimate snub — that is, moving ahead by ignoring them. The Sri Lankan example also provides a direction to be emulated and built upon by others elsewhere. The condemnation by the Lankan government of the violence in the name of faith does offer hope and a line of action for all the sane people of the world and their governments.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2017