MAEENA There's a crisis brewing in the island and it does not bode well for the people of Sri Lanka. It seems that lessons that should have been learned following a civil war that lasted for more than 30 years and ended some three years ago, are being quickly forgotten. It all started on April 20 when the chief prelate of the Buddhist temple headed a crowd of Sinhala-Buddhists to the mosque in Dambulla, a city located about 150 kilometers northeast of the capital city of Colombo chanting slogans and demanding its destruction. The reason? Its presence in the area violated the sanctity of the Buddhists. The militants then proceeded to barge into the mosque, with some urinating on the mosque walls, while others took to lifting their robes and exposing themselves to the preacher's podium in an attempt at mockery. Compounding the crisis was a statement by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne justifying the demands of the militants, an obvious attempt to play party politics with the ruling majority and giving credence to their claim that this mosque was located in an area sacred to them and thus it had to go. Muslim leaders were quick to react in dismissing these claims. They pointed out that this mosque has been standing for more than six decades on legally purchased land. According to Asad Sally, chairman of the Islamic Solidarity Front (ISF) and former deputy mayor of Colombo, “It is misleading to say that the mosque was in existence for two years as it has been there for more than 65 years. We have all the documents to prove that it is a legally constructed mosque under the Waqf Act. Therefore the statement by the Prime Minister claiming that the unauthorized construction of the mosque has been stopped is totally false. “The land on which the mosque was located was bought by a Muslim lady in Jaffna from Englishmen. From that time, this mosque has been in existence. Later the adjacent land too was bought by mosque authorities in 1995. This statement by the prime minister is misleading Buddhists in the country. The prime minister should not make such irresponsible statements as the Waqf Board comes under the prime minister and he is contradicting his own statement.” The Tamil minority who had previously undergone suffering and discrimination for over 30 years today remain in silence. In hushed tones they can only agree that this is yet another example of Sinhala chauvinism strangling the religious, cultural and social sensitivities of the minorities on the island. They charge that Champika Ranawaka, current minister and a member of the extreme Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) political party, is the driving force behind moves to construct Buddhist temples in Tamil and Muslim areas. As a former minister of environment, he has been illegitimately using his political influence to seize land for the purpose of erecting Sinhalese religious temples and monuments. One prominent Sri Lankan noted: “The government has nurtured a viper and encouraged racial extremists in its bosom that it is unable to control. It is a deeper phenomenon that is more deadly; a certain version of Sinhala-Buddhist ideology that has impregnated society at large. The consciousness that drove forward the war also cemented a pre-existing faith that Sri Lanka is the land of the Sinhalese and the pristine home of Buddhism; other races and faiths must recognize that they live in a borrowed place on sufferance of good behavior. The politicization of Buddhism as the state religion, the constitutional entrenchment of Sinhala, and the ethnic monopolization of state and the armed forces, has shaped the political structure of the country.” It is indeed a worrisome thought for not just Sri Lankan Muslims but the Tamil minority as well if such ideologies manifest themselves into reality. For the outcome will be nothing short of another prolonged civil war that will tear this island apart. — The author can be reached at [email protected] __
