If the olice succeeds in bringing a law against hate s-eech, it will be used to silence not the BB>JH?>+avana Balaya but to incarcerate those who support it. 'Ertain grou-s that didn't dare stage a single hartal cam-aign during the con.lict -eriod have now started them'
If the olice succeeds in bringing a law against hate s-eech, it will be used to silence not the BB>JH?>+avana Balaya but to incarcerate those who support it. 'Ertain grou-s that didn't dare stage a single hartal cam-aign during the con.lict -eriod have now started them'
If the olice succeeds in bringing a law against hate s-eech, it will be used to silence not the BB>JH?>+avana Balaya but to incarcerate those who support it. 'Ertain grou-s that didn't dare stage a single hartal cam-aign during the con.lict -eriod have now started them'
| by Tisaranee Gunasekara How could we not have seen what was coming, until it had arrived in our midst, clanking and smoking? John Banville (hroud! ( June "#, "$%&, 'olombo, ri (anka Guardian! )resident *ahinda +a,a-aksa is .urious/ 0ot about the 1luthgama riots2 that, in his eyes, was a 3most minor incident4/ He is .urious about the -eace.ul -rotest (Hartal! against the 1luthgama riots/ (ittle wonder then that Galagoda51tte Gnanasara Thera is not only .ree but was allowed to hold another 3religious meeting4 in 6andy/ 1ccording to )resident +a,a-aksa, murder and mayhem constitute .ar, .ar lesser crimes than a -eace.ul -rotest7 89uring the con.lict -eriod the (TT: killed -eo-le irrelevant o. their ethnicity/ 'ertain grou-s that didn4t dare stage a single hartal cam-aign during the (TT: -eriod have now started them/ (arge scale (*aha loku! hartal cam-aigns are organised .or even the most minor incidents/ ;s it any sur-rise that the -olice, instead o. arresting the criminals o. 1luthgama, are hot in -ursuit o. the organisers o. the -eace.ul Hartal? ;n this conte<t, i. *inister =asudeva 0anayakkara succeeds in bringing a law against hate s-eech, it will be used to silence not the BB>JH?>+avana Balaya but to incarcerate those who criticise the hatemongering o. Galagoda51tte Gnanasara et al/ @nce, not so long ago, this )resident ,usti.ied attacks on *uslims by claiming (entirely a-ocry-hally! that only child ra-ists have been targeted/ This week he dismissed an outbreak o. violence which claimed .our lives and in.licted a .estering wound on the ethno5religious .abric o. ri (anka as a 3most minor incident4/ 'an his government be trusted to discover the truth about 1luthgama and -rosecute those res-onsible? 1ccording to )arliamentarian *angala amaraweera, the 1luthgama riot was a conce-t o. Gotabhaya +a,a-aksa, im-lemented by certain military o..icials/ *r/ amaraweera, given his -ast a..iliations, would know what the +a,a-aksas are ca-able o./ 1nd he would not have made such an e<tremely serious allegation outside -arliament unless he had some evidence to show .or it/ 1ny government interested in ,ustice, order and its good name would launch an im-artial inAuiry into such a grave charge/ 1ny society interested in -eace and .air5-lay would demand such an inAuiry o. its government/ ;nstead the regime seems to be -lanning a witch hunt against *r/ amaraweera/ 1ccording to -olice s-okesman an investigation might be launched against *r/ amaraweera under the @..icial ecret 1ct .or 8divulging in.ormation regarding national security and in.ormation about the security .orces / ;s the regime accusing *r/ amaraweera o. revealing state secrets? Bouldn4t such an accusation be tantamount to acce-ting that *r/ amaraweera s-oke the truth about 1luthgama riots? ;. *r/ amaraweera lied, why not arrest him .or slander and other lesser crimes? ;. *r/ amaraweera did not lie, then the 3great betrayal4 ri (anka4s viscerally @rwellian army s-okesman was blathering about was committed not by *r/ amaraweera but by Gotabhaya +a,a-aksa and his brothers/ Be.ore Black July, ri (anka e<-erienced two minor riots, in %CDD and %CE% (the burning o. the Ja..na library!/ Had Jayewardene regime res-onded sanely, sensibly and law.ully to these outbreaks, had inhala society condemned these outbreaks uneAuivocally, Black July and many other conseAuent disasters could have been avoided/ 1re we living in a similar interregnum? ;s this is the uneasy calm be.ore the ne<t bloody tornado? Bill we evade the abyss or -lunge into it, singing -atriotic songs and waving the (ion and 3Buddhist4 .lags? +ioters are law5breakers/ ;. the government im-lements the law, without .ear or .avour, another, greater, disaster might be avoidable/ But the regime is not interested in -rosecuting criminals but in -ersecuting enemies/ o ?0) -rovincial councillor, *u,ibar +ahaman has been Auestioned, Batareka =i,itha Thero has been arrested and *angala amaraweera might be summoned to the Fourth Four/ *eanwhile the criminals o. 1luthgama remain as .ree as air/ Governments can instigate>encourage riots2 but such violence cannot .lourish in the absence o. societal a--robation/ ;n July %CEG, the rioters were em-owered by the sense that a large com-onent o. inhala society (i. not the ma,ority! a--roved o. what they were doing/ Bithout that o<ygen, the .ires o. Black July would not have blaHed .or as long as they did/ (ankan Buddhists, lay and ordained, led by the 'hie. )relates have to make a decision7 who is our Teacher? ;s it the Buddha with his message o. com-assion and non5violence .or all living beings? @r is it Bhikku *ahanama, 1nagarika 9harma-ala and Galagoda51tte Gnanasara Thera, with their anti5Buddhist ,usti.ication o. violence against 3unbelievers4? 1re we Buddhists, the .ollowers o. the Gautama Buddha? @r are we *ahawamsa59harma-ala5 Gnanasara disci-les? The 0ew Bar? ;n "$$E, as the war was grinding towards a victorious conclusion, the -rinci-al o. a school in Galle ordered the .ather o. a *uslim -u-il out o. his o..ice .or wearing a -rayer ca-/ That was an early sign o. the new disaster which is almost u-on us/ )ost5war, we inhalese should have made a conscious e..ort to -rove to minorities that we are not what we were in %CI#, %CD", %CDG and %CEG/ ;nstead, under +a,a-aksa aegis and into<icated by the 3great -atriotic victory4, we acted as i. there was nothing wrong with %CI#, %CD", %CDG and %CEG/ To win the war, the +a,a-aksas a--ealed to the .anatic in the inhala soldier and the inhala civilian/ 0ow to maintain themselves in -ower they are a--ealing to the .anatic in inhala5 Buddhist citiHens and monk/ The +a,a-aksas need enemies and inhala5Buddhist su-remacists have enemies/ The +a,a-aksas need a new war, to ,usti.y the im-osition o. a .amilial autocracy on an im-er.ect democracy2 inhala5Buddhists su-remacists are never without a handy casus belli/ The Tamils have been taught a lesson2 now is the turn o. the *uslims/ omeday, the turn o. the 'hristians too will arrive/ Fanatics inhabit a di..erent mental universe, a -sychological wasteland in which reason does not e<ist and any barbarity is -ermissive in the name o. the chosen 3cause4/ That was the logic o. Black July/ That mindset hel-ed the Tigers to trium-h over the more moderate Tamil o-tions/ The (TT: in turn hel-ed the +a,a-aksas to -ower/ The moderate *uslim leaders, the ones who believe in democracy and non5violence, are being discredited and are discrediting themselves/ Their successors will be neither non5violent nor democratic/ 1luthgama would have lent credence to the voices o. immoderation in the *uslims community/ ;. a bigger outbreak .ollows, it will be a death knell .or the moderate, non5violent and democratic *uslim/ ;n his>her -lace will be the Jihadist/ The +a,a-aksas may not mind that/ The inhala5Buddhist .anatics may not mind that/ But is that the .uture we want? The allegation that there were %,$$$ Jihadists in a mosAue in 1luthgama is inane/ ;. there were even a singhel Jihadist he>she would not have ,ust lobbed stones/ 9o we want ri (anka to become a target .or real Jihadists out there in the world? 9o we want suicide bombers and bombs again, -robably on a larger scale? ;t is easy to con,ure s-ectres2 getting rid o. them when the work is done is Auite another matter/ Be.ore we allow the +a,a-aksas and their craHy acolytes to damage inhala5*uslim relations beyond the -oint o. recovery, we should ask7 9o we really want another war? +e.erences2 The 'olombo Telegra-h J "G/#/"$%& 9aily *irror J "#/#/"$%& htt-7>>www/de.ence/lk>new/as-?.nameK?n.oldLo.LaLgreatLbetrayalL"$%&$#"&L$G