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Sri Lanka: Buddhist extremists attack two Churches

The Jan 12 assault on two Churches in southern Sri Lanka has further demonstrated increasing Sinhala-Buddhist extremism in the island nation.  The assault on the Assembly of God and Calvary churches in Hikkaduwa, a tourist town 112 kilometers south of Colombo, was organised by Bodu Bala Paura or Buddhist Shield—a newly-emerged group that has joined […]

The Jan 12 assault on two Churches in southern Sri Lanka has further demonstrated increasing Sinhala-Buddhist extremism in the island nation.  The assault on the Assembly of God and Calvary churches in Hikkaduwa, a tourist town 112 kilometers south of Colombo, was organised by Bodu Bala Paura or Buddhist Shield—a newly-emerged group that has joined a host of others, like Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force), Ravana Balakaya (Ravana Battalion) and Sihala Ravaya (Roar of Sinhalese).

A crowd of some 30 monks and about 200 laymen marched from Jananandaramaya, a main Buddhist temple, to attack the churches. Carrying Buddhist flags and anti-Christian placards, they shouted chauvinist slogans using a public address system fixed on a three-wheeler taxi.

As the Assembly of God’s main gate was locked, the mob used another gate to storm the premises and then into the Calvary Church. In the presence of several police officers, the mob attacked roofs and windows with stones, while destroying computers, furniture and notice boards and burning Christian literature, including the Bible. Worshippers were forced to hide in neighbouring houses, fearing for their lives.  

Video footage of the incident, widely available on the Internet, shows Buddhist monks leading the violence. When one monk asked people to “come on, get them,” several youth and a dozen young monks followed the order.

Nobody responsible for the criminal attack, which reportedly caused about 2 million rupees worth of damage, has been arrested, despite court orders to arrest 24 identified suspects, including monks. Police spokesman, Superintendent Ajith Rohana, said “a mistake” was made in failing to deploy adequate officers to guard the churches. His concern was that these incidents were “disadvantageous for the country, which is being faced with international conspiracies.” His reference was to the pressure being exerted on the Rajapakse government by the US and other Western powers, for their own geo-strategic reasons, by exploiting the government’s war crimes and other abuses, including the continued attack on religious minorities.

Sinhala-Buddhist extremist groups like Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and Ravana Balakaya have violently attacked about 200 Christian and Muslim religious places in recent years. Muslim-owned businesses have also become their targets. These Buddhist outfits and the chauvinist forces backing them try to justify their rampages by accusing minority religious groups of attempting “unethical conversions.” No one has been prosecuted over any of these assaults.

Many such attacks generally go unreported in the Colombo media.  Any reports are limited to the initial news and are quickly buried, as in the case of the latest outrage in Hikkaduwa.

During recent weeks, strikes of municipal workers, non-academic university employees and hospital attendants have broken out in Jaffna in the north. Similarly in the south, struggles have erupted among private sector workers, such as those at the Ansell and Palla factories in free trade zones, as well as railway, hospital and agricultural employees. University students are holding continuous protests against cuts to public education.

Significantly, the BBS declared last month that it backed private universities and opposed protests against them. It also insisted that anti-Halal campaigns against the religious certification of goods used by Muslims were more important than opposing casinos—indicating support for the government’s moves to allow foreign investors to establish tax-free gambling complexes.

— By Wasantha Rupasinghe

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