‘Nobodies to somebody’ through Wayamba incidents

We are passing the third week following the terrible Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. Yet, the uncertainties created through those attacks are still looming around the lives of people. Though the officers representing the authorities responsible for security, including the popular Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara, are constantly appearing on TV and uttering “we are safe” like a manthra, it seems that people are not taking the aforementioned assurances seriously. Normalcy in the public’s life has not been restored and the stress which disturbs people’s daily routines continues to linger.

The latest insertion to the series of heretic incidents that began on 21 April were the plethora of mob attacks across the North Western Province (NWP) and the incident in Minuwangoda. It is unnecessary to mention the needful: Every lawful citizen of the country should condemn these attacks and the culprits should be brought to book as quickly as possible. The violence which erupted in the NWP has unbolted a new passage in the discussion of not only Islamic fundamentalism, but the terrorism that Sri Lankan fundamentalist groups have spawned.
Following the incidents in the NWP, breaking their three-week silence, some men and women of the so-called “Colombo civil society” jumped into the discussion through various means, such as written pieces, meetings, briefings, and protests, trying to restart their “lifelong campaign against the Sinhalese Buddhists” of this country. Based on the incidents in Hettipola, Bingiriya, Kuliyapitiya, and Minuwangoda, some prominent “reporters” in Colombo (who also act as part-time foreign correspondents to some international media outlets) have launched “multi-barrel” attacks on Sinhalese Buddhists in their submissions to their respective foreign capitals in London, New York, Doha, etc. Their words accommodate an identical argument under different guises: “Minority was attacked by the majority Sinhalese”, “since the majority of the Sinhalese Buddhists have helped the previous Rajapaksa regime, these attacks have a link to the incumbent party”, or “Buddhism has been betrayed by the Buddhists”.

It is important to note that some of these media personnel completely disappeared after the Easter Sunday attacks on 21 April. Since the Easter Sunday incidents didn’t have any links with the Sinhalese Buddhists, the said journalists were not enthusiastic. A story such as “a group comprising one minority (Muslims) attacks another minority (Catholics)” would not have got much attention, according to their books.

By way of the NWP incident, they have received a golden opportunity to submit some interesting stories. Aligning with their existing story of the Easter attacks, they could now successfully carry on the story of their preference: “Majority attacks the minority in Sri Lanka”.

Blame where it’s due

Dr. Charitha Herath

As mentioned above, I maintain that the culprits of the NWP incidents should be investigated substantially and taken into the legal system – regardless of their political links. We need to consider such people enemies of progressive people in this country. Most importantly, the same logic applied to the group of terrorists who killed more than 250 people should apply to them. Although, just as we acted with regard to that incident, we should not be judgmental of the Sinhalese-Buddhist community as a whole as it is only some individuals of the community who have wronged others, based on immoral reasoning of their own.

Since some parts of Colombo’s civil society comprising local correspondents of international media have pointed their guns at the Sinhalese Buddhists, I wish to mention the way I look at this issue as a whole.

I believe we should understand this issue as a series of incidents based on socio-cultural conflicts in our society. If we leave out the theoretical aspects which have created the ideological ground for radical Islamist fundamentalism or radical Buddhist extremism, we have to observe this series of incidents from top to bottom. Taking a holistic approach would prove efficient. The way the Colombo group colours the incidents as “Buddhist violence against a minority” is not only a factually false claim, it would also not serve any purpose.

In my opinion, the first episode of this incident was the brutal terrorist attacks on innocent Catholics and foreign tourists on 21 April by the Islamist fundamentalist terrorists. It changed the way in which society functioned and the Government was forced to begin an investigation. The second episode of the event was the way that the Government had carried out that investigation.

It seems to me that the majority of the people of this country believe that some members of the Cabinet and some governors of the provinces have links with the terrorists and should be questioned. But as a result of their political links and power, it seems that no investigations could be carried out. Other investigations were also controlled by the Government and the common people were left in the dark. This situation made the larger part of society angry and frustrated with the Government. The third episode of this was unfortunate isolated incidents which took place in the NWP and Minuwangoda.

If we could follow that line of thinking, I believe that we could get a balanced view of the issue. If we leave aside such balanced approaches and only consider the one-dimensional views of Colombo’s civil society, it would give a complete misinterpretation. That kind of analysis would only serve the purpose of them becoming “somebody” from being “nobody”, in relation to this issue.

(Dr. Charitha Herath is a senior lecturer at the Peradeniya University. He can be contacted on Twitter @charith9)