Uneasy peace between Buddhists and Muslim communities in Sri Lanka has once again been raptured when clashes broke out in the south of the island a few days ago.
According to press reports, the violence was sparked by a minor road accident while some other sources point to a clash between two groups on a sports field. Nineteen people have been arrested with a curfew declared from 4pm to 9am in several towns while police have threatened to arrest people spreading rumours on social media. One of those arrested was a woman who falsely spread news that Muslims were about to attack a Buddhist temple, a police spokesman said.
Over 200 police officers and 100 officers from the Special Task Force were deployed in Galle following the violence on Friday night. Ten vehicles were destroyed, the majority of which were owned by Muslims, and a number of houses and businesses have been destroyed.
Authorities said they were keen to avoid a repeat of violence seen in June 2014 when four people were killed and several injured in clashes between the two communities in the same region.
Tension has been growing between the two communities in the recent past, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalizing Buddhist archaeological sites.
Some Buddhist nationalists have also protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of asylum seekers from mostly Buddhist Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. The government has taken a sympathetic attitudes towards the Rohingyas who have sought asylum in the island. The UN raised concern for the safety of Rohingya asylum seekers after Buddhist monks and hardline nationalists forced them to flee a UN shelter in the capital Colombo.
President Maithripala Sirisena had vowed to investigate anti-Muslim hate crimes after assuming power in 2015, however, attacks have been escalating. Between 2012 and early 2013, an issue in Wilpattu National Park came up when environmental organizations brought up the issue of systematic deforestation for the construction of a relocation site for Muslims displaced during the civil war.
Buddhists make up about 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 21 million, compared with about 9 percent for Muslims
Azath Salley, an advisor to the government, told Al Jazeera the Buddhist hardliners were allowed to flourish under the previous administration. Bodhu Bala Sena, a hardline Buddhist organization, had been very active in the last regime of Mahinda Rajapakse and have done damage to unity and created many problems for Muslims in the country. “With the new President Sirisena we hoped that improvements would be made to facilitate peace within the country”, he said.
The Secretariat for Muslims (SFM), an Islamic organisation active across the country, has recorded 538 episodes of violence, intimidation and aggression against Muslims between 2013 and 2015, a trend that has intensified more recently with at least 15 cases between 16 April and 22 May, with attacks against individuals, mosques and Muslim-owned businesses.
“This is an attempt to make Muslims turn violent and go against the government,” said Mano Ganesan, Minister for National Coexistence, Dialogue and Official Languages. “Some groups are using Muslims to split the country along religious and ethnic lines.”
