'Not your enemies': Muslims in Sri Lanka fear backlash

Agencies
April 24, 2019

Colombo, Apr 24: Mohamed Hasan has barely left his home in Colombo since a string of deadly blasts hit Sri Lanka on Sunday, afraid he could be attacked because he is Muslim.

He has a job at a printing press, but the 41-year-old's family have begged him to stay home.

"They are worried that if I go out, will I be able to come back alive?" he told AFP outside the Jumma mosque in Dematagoda, where he had ventured briefly to pray.

More than 350 people were killed in the carnage unleashed by the Easter attacks against churches and hotels, which have been claimed by the Islamic State group.

The deaths have horrified Sri Lankans and been condemned by Muslim groups, but many in the community have been left feeling vulnerable.

Zareena Begum, 60, said she had barely slept since the weekend. "I know people are angry at Muslims," she said in tears outside the mosque. "Infants being carried in the arms of their mothers were killed.

"I never imagined such hatred being there in the hearts of these people (who attacked). Hatred must not sow more hatred." Wearing a black dress and white headscarf, Begum added: "We have been huddled at our homes. We are scared about going out."

Sri Lanka's population of 21 million is a patchwork of ethnicities and religions, dominated by the Sinhalese Buddhist majority.

Muslims account for 10 per cent of the population and are the second-largest minority after Hindus. Around seven per cent of Sri Lankans are Christians.

Ethnic and religious tensions abound in the country, which suffered through a decades-long Tamil insurgency and more recently has seen outbreaks of sectarian violence.

Muslims have been on the receiving end of sporadic violence and hate attacks since the civil war ended in 2009.

Hardline Buddhist monks have led campaigns against the community, and in 2013 and 2018, Muslim businesses came under attack.

Rumours were even spread that Sinhalese could become sterile if they wore underwear bought from Muslim shops, and that food sold by Muslims would cause infertility.

In the wake of the attacks, Sri Lankan leaders including Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have urged calm and solidarity.

"The vast majority of Muslims condemn this and they are as angry as the Tamils and the Sinhalese about what happened," he said Tuesday, calling for unity.

But at the Jumma mosque, there was an atmosphere of anxiety, and several worshippers said they hoped police would "take care of every citizen in such critical times".

Hilmy Ahamed, vice-president of the influential Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, said the community was braced for a backlash, with emotions running high. "Hundreds of people are being buried (so) there is going to be an emotional outburst and some of it could be justifiable," said Ahamed.

"We have asked the government... to ensure security is maintained. This (attack) has not been carried out by the Muslim community but by some fringe elements."

In fact, Ahamed and other Muslim leaders said they had warned Sri Lankan authorities years earlier about the leader of the National Thowheeth Jama'ath, a group the government says is its key suspect in the attacks.

The group's leader, Zahran Hashim, was well known to Muslim leaders as an extremist.

"This person was a loner and he had radicalised young people in the guise of conducting Koran classes," Ahamed said.

Back at the mosque, R.F. Ameer said the community just wanted safety. "We are living in constant fear because if someone sees us wearing the skull cap they will perceive us to be their enemies," he said, his forehead creased with worry.

"But we want to tell everyone we are not your enemies. This is our homeland, it is known as the pearl of Asia. We want it to remain like that."

Comments

GOD
 - 
Thursday, 25 Apr 2019

My Dear Brother of christen,

this blast is not done by muslim & christen, this was done by third eye who want muslim & christ fight forever and destroy each other...we all know who is it "ISREAL"...without this they cannot rule all world...

 

we must patient...GOD have other plan to the evil isreal..

 

condelence to sri lanka family who lost there people.

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News Network
March 22,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 22: An FIR has been registered against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over a provocative hate post on social media, Election Commission officials said on Friday.

The move comes after a complaint filed by officials of the poll body and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) that the Bengaluru South MP, who is also the President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had in a post apparently targeted a minority and spread enmity between two communities.

He also made a similar post on March 19 on X and YouTube which went viral. He has 1.3 million followers on X, thereby influencing the voters and disturbing the communal harmony between the communities, it further alleged.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered at Halasuru Gate police station on March 20 under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act, the officials said.

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News Network
March 25,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 25: Former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy on Monday rejoined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Gangavati MLA, who is an accused in an illegal mining case, had formed the 'Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha' (KRPP) ahead of the state assembly polls last year, snapping his two-decade-old association with the BJP.

Reddy today merged his KRPP with the BJP as he, along with wife Aruna Lakshmi and some family members, joined the party in the presence of its veteran leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, state President B Y Vijayendra, and others.

Reddy had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

However, in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls he had extended support to the Congress candidate.

Calling it a "home coming", Reddy explained that the move to merge KRPP with the BJP is to "make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister a third time".

"Amit Shah had invited me to Delhi and told me that -- there is no question of extending outside support (KRPP supporting BJP in LS polls) and instead I should join the BJP and work for it, as I took my political birth in the party. Accepting it, I'm joining the party," he said.

Praising Yediyurappa and the leader's contribution in his political growth, Reddy said he is happy that he will be working in the party now with the veteran leader's son Vijayendra.

"I will work as a common party worker along with other leaders under the leadership of Vijayendra. I have not come with any conditions or expectations. Whatever responsibility the party gives me, I will honestly work.

"BJP was always there in my blood, but due to some reasons I had gone out, but today I feel I have come back to my mother's lap. Looking at my brothers here, I don't feel like I'm coming back to the BJP office after 13 years," he added.

Welcoming Reddy back into the party, Vijayendra said his joining will strengthen BJP in the Kalyana Karnataka region.

"Liking Narendra Modi's leadership and accepting BJP's ideology, Reddy has rejoined the party. Reddy has said that Karnataka should have a larger contribution in making Modi PM once again -- to ensure that BJP and JD(S) alliance win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, he is merging his KRPP with BJP and is joining the party," he said.

Before the assembly polls last year, Reddy had been largely politically inactive for nearly 12 years since his arrest by the CBI for an alleged role in a mining scam. During this period, he had a brief stint ahead of the 2018 assembly polls when he campaigned for his close friend and former Minister B Sriramulu in Molakalmuru Assembly segment.

In the run up to the 2018 assembly polls, the then BJP national president Amit Shah, in response to a reporter's question, had distanced the party from him and stressed that "the BJP has nothing to do with Janardhana Reddy." Accused in a multi-crore illegal mining case, he has been out on bail since 2015. Several conditions were imposed by the top court in its order which includes prohibiting him from visiting Ballari in Karnataka and Ananthpur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.

Because of these restrictions, he had to contest the 2023 Assembly polls from Gangavati in Koppal district.

Expressing his displeasure about the way BJP had ignored him, Reddy had announced a new party last year and also took a dig at his brothers -- Karunakara Reddy and Somashekar Reddy -- and Sriramulu, as they remained with the BJP.

The three of them had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls, with Reddy's new party said to have impacted their performance in the election.

Sriramulu, a ST community leader and former Minister is now the BJP's candidate from the Bellary (Ballari) Lok Sabha constituency.

Reddy had played an instrumental role in strengthening the BJP in the Ballari district and is still believed to enjoy a considerable clout there as well as in adjoining districts like Chitradurga, Koppal and Raichur, which could be useful for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, managing director of Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC), were arrested by the CBI on September 5, 2011.

The company is accused of changing mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Ballari Reserve Forest area, spread over Ballari in Karnataka and the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy first came to political limelight during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, when he campaigned for BJP leader, the late Sushma Swaraj, who had contested against Congress' Sonia Gandhi from Ballari.

Former Congress Minister T John's son Thomas John also joined the BJP today.

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News Network
March 28,2024

An Indian expatriate, hailing from Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, who was detained in Jeddah jail in an alleged cyber case, was set free recently. He is allowed to continue his work in the same company. 

The 49-year-old Mangalurean, has been working for a Maintenance company in Jeddah for more than 13 years. He is known for his efficiency and sincerity in the company with good experience in his field of work. 

His company usually assigned him on duty in Jeddah sea port to take the delivery of the goods consigned to his company. As a part of his duty, he normally takes pictures of the goods before the transportation. He did the same in February 2023 too. 

The security personnel informed the police about his act that amounts to be a violation of the port security rule. He was unaware of the rule as he was doing it normally in the port during the release of the goods. Since then, he was detained by the police on the charge of photographing inside the port premises. After more than 6 months detention, he was released and allowed to work in the same company. 

The detainee’s brother based in Jeddah was constantly pursuing the case.

P A Hameed Padubidri, a pro-bono NRI lawyer and social worker based in Riyadh, extended his socio-humanitarian help in this case upon the request of his family and relatives. 

He actively involved trying to set him free from the jail on humanitarian grounds with the coordination and help of the Consulate General of India (CGI) Jeddah. The CGI keenly followed up the case with the concerned Saudi authorities. He was released from the jail recently and shared his happiness with his family and thanked good samaritans. 

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