Sri Lankans are still in shock from last Sunday’s harrowing incidents in the country. For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history was a large scale terrorist attack on innocent people worshiping at churches. The other target were people enjoying breakfast at hotels. Both these soft targets of the attackers brought down a calamity of immeasurable magnitude. As the investigations revealed members from a group of religious extremists carried out the attack, religious leaders came together to plead sanity to prevail among the public and to stop targeting one community. The Sunday Observer spoke to eminent Muslim educationists, religious leaders and the Kandy Forum to get their views on the attack and to find out what needs to be done to preserve the country’s multi-religious and multi ethnic identity.
Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Javid Yusuf spoke to the Sunday Observer about the recent terrorist attack on Easter Sunday and on how the country could go ahead now. He said, “The recent attack on Easter Sunday is a terrible incident in our country. Christians and Catholics were worshipping on a day which was very special to them and they as well as various innocent civilians in hotels have been targeted and it is clearly an act of terrorism. Nobody can ever condone an action of this type.
It is very unfortunate that when there was sufficient intelligence available that attacks may take place, no law enforcement agencies took preventive action. If they took preventive action, the lives of innocent people could have been saved. In this moment of great national crisis, the leadership given by Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the Catholic clergy in particular as well as other religious leaders is commendable and has played a great part in maintaining peace in this country. With regard to this terrible incident, we must remember that this is not only an attack on the Catholic community and their places of worship but it is an attack on all sections of the Sri Lankan community and the country as a whole.”
“When one section of the nation is hurt, we as fellow citizens feel the hurt to the same extent. One of the significant things that I noticed here is that we as a country are maturing. Even if people do things which are harmful, hurt people and carry out acts of violence, as a nation we are now mature enough to deal with it. Several political leaders have acted with a great sense of responsibility. The Muslim community completely condemns this action and disowns what has happened.
These actions of the misguided few has shocked the Muslim community as it is completely alien to the teachings of Islam which is a religion of peace and never endorses violence in any form. Islam totally prohibits committing suicide and those who commit suicide are destined to go to hell and it is a great sin and a punishable act. If one commits suicide and harm other innocent lives as a result, it is definitely against the teachings of Islam,” he added.
Yusuf said that now as a country what has to be done is that all those who are responsible for these attacks have to be identified and brought before the law. “Currently, the security of the people and country should be seen to and everyone should keep their tempers down and curb their emotions. When things become normal and the security system in the country is normal, then we have to see where we went wrong and what can be done to prevent this type of incidents happening again as the country has suffered enough. Also, one has to be very cautious and alert to the current situation,” he said..
The Vice President of All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), Ash-Sheikh Mufthi Yoosuf Haniffa condemned the terrorist attack on churches and other places. “In Islam or any other religion, there is no room for such terrorism activities. After independence in 1948, there has been peace, harmony and co-existence between Muslims and other communities but now as a result of this incident, the status and place of the Islamic religion in Sri Lanka is tarnished. All communities including the Muslims should co-orperate with the Security Forces and the relevant authorities to carry out search operations. The dignity and identity of all communities should be respected as Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic country. If not, it may allow room for the radicalisation of interested parties in future,” he said.
Mufthi Haniffa said that negligence on the part of the relevant authorities even after the detailed warning is the reason for this disaster. “We are not aware about this terrorist organisation but we knew the people who are involved in this. We had a discussion with Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith soon after the attacks on Sunday and I am very happy about the way the Cardinal acted during this crisis. If every leader can have such characteristics, it would be great and the public should respect such leadership qualities.
In order to show solidarity to the affected communities, the ACJU requested the Muslim community to fast on April, 25, 2019 and pray to ease the current situation and for the victims. We also requested people to pray Dhuhr in their homes instead of Jummah prayers on Friday (April 26, 2019) due to fear of imminent threats from the same terrorists to mosques with Ziharams (Shrines). We have also planned to support the churches with re-building and other necessities,” he said.
A member of the Kandy Forum and retired professor of Tamil at the University of Peradeniya, Prof. M.A. Nuhman said that the Kandy Forum vehemently condemns the barbarous terrorist attacks carried out simultaneously across the country. “We are shocked and surprised to know that the culprits belong to a fringe group of religious extremism unfortunately identified with the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. We wish to state that terrorism has no place in Islam, by definition Islam is a religion of peace. The Qur’an categorically says that, “if any one slew a person it would be as if he slew the whole people and if any one saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people” (5:32). This is the spirit of Islam.
The Kandy Forum members said that terrorists have no religion and have no place in humanity. We would like to openly state that this barbarous terrorist group is not Islamic but anti-Islamic in their ideology and actions. As reported in the press, they might have acted as stooges of an international terrorist group known as ISIS which is a byproduct of the destructive activities of the Western Imperialists in the Middle East during the recent past. It is also anti-Islamic in its ideology and actions”.
“We wholeheartedly express our heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the victims and their families. Sri Lankan Muslims never had any grievances against the Christian community and never had conflict and confrontation with them in this country. It is in this context a terrorist group, unfortunately identified as Muslim, madly unleashed tremendous disasters on them, pushing the whole Muslim community into a disastrous situation. We appeal to the Muslim community to extend sympathy and help in all possible ways the families of the victims, to rebuild their lives and heal their psychological trauma. We also urge the Government and the law enforcement authorities to take strong legal action against the culprits and the perpetrators behind them, and also appeal to the Government to avoid indiscriminate arrest on suspicion as it was allegedly done in the past especially under the PTA, which it was believed to have contributed to worsen the situation,” they added.
“We also appeal to all political parties, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Islamic religious leadership, civil society organisations and the public to work jointly to eradicate terrorism, religious and ethnic hatred and to promote mutual understanding, religious and ethnic harmony, reconciliation and nation building for a bright future of Sri Lanka,” added the Kandy Forum member.