Author Topic: Fear, shock among Sri Lankan Muslims in aftermath of Buddhist mob violence  (Read 7158 times)

bambi

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I am really surprised that such a country would be involved in racism. A country that is famous for Buddhists who practice and learn the Dharma. What is going on there is really heartbreaking as people's lives are at stake, some died and many homeless just because of religion. Please do not defame Buddhism like this especially when you have vows and in robes. Do not use Buddhism as a reason to be nasty and naive. But have wisdom and compassion instead like what the Buddha taught.

Aluthgama, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- In the areas surrounding the southwest Sri Lankan town of Aluthgama, an idyllic coastal settlement popular with tourists, Muslims and Buddhists have lived side by side peacefully for generations.
But a wave of deadly communal violence that followed a rally Sunday by hardline Buddhist nationalist monks has changed that.

"The house I owned was burnt down. My family has nowhere to go," Muhsin Shihab, a father of eight children, told CNN Tuesday. His family, which has been sheltering at a local mosque since being displaced by the rioting, hadn't eaten for a day and a half, he said.

The rally, organized by the far-right Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force), was called in response to an alleged altercation in the area between a group of young Muslims and a Buddhist monk and his driver on an important Buddhist religious holiday days earlier. Addressing the crowd of thousands Sunday, the BBS's leader, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, gave an inflammatory speech.

Video footage from the event shows the orange-robed monk using derogatory terms for Muslims and, to approving roars from the crowd, vowing that if any Muslim laid a hand on a member of the Sinhalese majority -- let alone a monk -- that would "be the end" of them.

After the rally, Buddhist mobs marched through Muslim neighborhoods, torching and destroying dozens of homes and shops, witnesses told CNN. Following consecutive nights of violence, in which local medical staff say at least four people were killed and sixteen seriously injured, those made homeless by the rioting were sheltering in the town's main mosque Tuesday, shell-shocked and fearful of what may come next.

'A nightmare'
Among them was Fasniya Fairooz, an 80-year-old grandmother of three, who was at home when the mob stormed into her house in Seenawatte, a local village comprised of Sinhalese and Muslims. "We pleaded with the attackers not to harm us. They used abusive language," she said. "They took the Holy Quran and burnt it outside... Then they looted the house." I have lost all my belongings. My house was burnt down. All I own today are the clothes my children wear. Her family had nowhere to go, she said.

Ahmed Rahamatulla, a father of four from Seenawatte, was also made homeless by the riots.
"I have lost all my belongings. My house was burnt down. All I own today are the clothes my children wear," he said.
"I don't know where to go from here. My children are all frightened and in a state of shock."
The surrounding area is in lockdown in the aftermath of the rioting, the country's worst communal violence in years. Soldiers on armored troop carriers watch over once bustling streets; shutters are drawn on the charred remains of arson-hit stores.

In a nearby house, U.S. citizen Rameeza Nizar, 47, found herself unexpectedly stranded in her bedridden mother's home during a visit from Washington D.C. for a family event. "Every night has been a nightmare," she told CNN. "We have not slept for fear there would be attacks. We kept our lights switched off but remained together inside the house."

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/19/world/asia/sri-lanka-muslim-aluthgama/




Police officers on a street in Aluthgama as shops burn. A curfew has been put in place to prevent further violence.





Sri Lankan Muslims leave seeking sanctuary following mob attacks by a hardline Buddhist group.

yontenjamyang

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It is clear that the words, "Buddhist" or "Muslims" are just adjectives used by people to differentiate others out of fear, self-protection and bigotry. At times in the history of the world there are other "adjectives" used to differentiate one from another, such as skin color, geographic origins, overlords, kings and countries. Human just like to find a reason to differentiate and based on this differentiation act to "protect" their interests.
To me, what is happening in Sri Lanka has nothing to do with being Muslims or Buddhists. It has more to do with greed, fear and power.

Matibhadra

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http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?action=post;topic=4968.0;last_msg=54217

Quote
"Every night has been a nightmare," she told CNN.


Do not expect one drop of truth from Western terrorism-supporting media such as CNN. Buddhists and moderate Muslims have peacefully lived side by side for centuries in Sri Lanka. Recently, however, Wahhabite, Saudi Arabia-sponsored extremist Muslim groups are attacking both Buddhists and moderate Muslims, and blaming the majority Buddhist for their crimes, with the happy support of Western press.

They want to bring the chaos to Sri Lanka, as they try and do the same in Myanmar, Iraq, Syria, China's Xinjiang, and so forth. And surprise, surprise! Just like with these latter countries, also with Sri Lanka Western media fully supports, endorses, and covers the terrorists, blaming for the chaos the local, non-Western complying governments which, surprise, surprise, Western colonialist countries want as usual to replace with their own puppet regimes.

The accomplicity between Western countries and Wahhabite extremist, Saudi Arabia- and Qatar-supported, terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, ISIS or ISIL, from Afghanistan to Syria to Iraq to Myanmar to Sri Lanka and elsewhere, always with the brazen support of Western terrorism-oriented ”mainstream” media, such as CNN, is an essential feature of contemporary geopolitics. So please, avoid naivete, and do not allow yourselves to be fooled by such cheap, criminal, anti-humanity war propaganda.