'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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coastaldigest.com news network
February 16,2020

Udupi, Feb 16: A man, who was trapped in 15-feet-deep hole following a landslide during borwell digging work at a remote area in the coastal district, was finally rescued after a prolonged effort today.

The man, identified as Rohit, suffered minor injuries in the incident.

The incident took place at Maravanthe village near Baindur in Udupi district.

Rohit was trapped when the land around borewell was being dug collapsed suddenly. It took around six hours for the rescue workers to rescue him.

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News Network
March 31,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 31: The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Karnataka rose to 98 on Tuesday, according to the state government.

This includes 3 deaths and 6 patients who were cured and discharged, leaving the active cases to 89.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj S Bommai said that his government has succeeded in tracking more than 24 people in Bengaluru, who attended the Tablighi Jamat event in Delhi held earlier this month.

"Over 24 people, who attended Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi, tracked in Bengaluru. We have quarantined 54 people. 8 people also in Bidar. 1 person found positive in Bidar and we have quarantined him. There are people who attended jamaat from almost all districts of the state," Bommai told news agency here.

Delhi's Nizamuddin area emerged as a hotspot after a religious meeting was held at Markaz by the Tableeghi Jamaat earlier this month, and several COVID-19 positive cases have been found among those who attended the gathering.

At least 24 people staying at Markaz building in Nizamuddin area of the national capital have tested positive for coronavirus, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday.

"All of them are being screened. We are not certain of the number but it is estimated that 1500-1700 people had assembled at the Markaz building. 1033 people have been evacuated so far - 334 of them have been sent to the hospital and 700 sent to quarantine center. A total of 24 positive cases have been found so far," he said while speaking to reporters here.

The minister also slammed the organizers of the religious event saying that they have committed a grave crime.

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News Network
May 16,2020

Bengaluru, May 16: At least 23 new COVID-19 positive cases have emerged in the past 19 hours, raising Karnataka''s tally to 1,079, a health official said on Saturday.

"New cases reported from Friday 5 p.m. to Saturday noon are 23," said the official.

Among the 1,079 cases, 548 are active and isolated in designated hospitals across the state, 494 patients got discharged and 36 died of the virus.

In the past 19 hours, cases spiked in Benglaluru Urban, the place hosting the highest number of coronavirus cases in the state.

Of the new cases, Bengaluru Urban reported 14 cases, followed by 3 in Hassan and Mandya, Ballari, Bagalkote, Davangere, Dharwad and Udupi, 1 each.

All the 14 cases, men, from Bengaluru Urban were secondary contacts of positive case 653.

All Hassan, Dharwad and Bagalkote cases had a history of inter-state travel to Mumbai, Maharashtra, India''s largest sufferer of Covid.

A 46-year-old man from Ballari had a travel history to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, another major COVID-19 hotspot state in India.

A 40-year-old man from Mandya had inter-district travel history to Kolar and Bengaluru.

A 1-year-old infant girl from Udupi had international travel history to Dubai.

Among the new cases, 15 are contacts of earlier cases.

Of the all cases, 20 are men and three women.

Only four of the 23 cases are above 50 and 18 below 40.

Of the 1,079 cases, 12 per cent patients were senior citizens, 66 per cent men and 34 per cent women with a discharge rate of 44 per cent.

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