'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
April 26,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 26: City Police Commissioner P S Harsha on Sunday said that the news about the implementation of seal down in some wards of Mangaluru city is fake and urged the public not to pay any heed to it.

Taking to twitter, Mr Harsha wrote, ''Some miscreants are floating some old speculative…TV news reports of seal down in some wards of Mangaluru city. It’s fake news.....Don’t Heed to fake news.''

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 10,2020

In a shocking incident, a pharmacist-cum-production manager of an Ayurvedic product company in Chennai’s T.Nagar died after drinking a chemical preparation he reportedly formulated for tackling the Coronavirus.

The managing director of the company, who is an ophthamologist by qualification, was hospitalised after he fainted soon after he ingested the chemical component.

The deceased, K.Sivanesan, 47, of Perungudi, was with Chennai-based Sujatha Biotech, an Ayurvedic and herbal products company which was founded 30 years ago. It has a plant in Kashipur, Uttarakhand, where Sivanesan was working. Sivanesan had devised formulas of various products and used to visit his managing director Dr. Rajkumar frequently in the city.

Due to the lockdown, Sivanesan came to Chennai and stayed with his family in Perungudi. On Thursday morning, he procured the chemical component from a market in Parry’s Corner.

First he gave a small amount powder he derived from the chemical to 67 years-old Rajkumar who fainted after tasting it.

Even as he was being resuscitated, Sivanesan went into the kitchen of the house and gulped it in liquid form after adding water to it. He could not be revived.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, T.Nagar, Ashok Kumar, said, “Our investigation revealed that Sivanesan died after drinking the preparation he claimed would help COVID-19 patients. His managing director fainted after tasting it initially. Further investigation is on.”

Sivanesan was rushed to a private hospital in T.Nagar and declared dead by the doctors there. Later his body was shifted to Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem. Teynampet police registered a case under section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code for unnatural death.

N.S.Vasan, designer-cum-media manager of the company said, “Due to the lockdown, Sivanesan stayed in the city and one day told us he heard of some medicine from U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent speech for curing Coronavirus. He said it would bring more immunity and help to prevent COVID-19. Deciding to test the effect of the medicine, he went to Parry’s Corner and bought the powder.” He added that Sivanesan must have taken a heavy dosage of the ‘drug’ and he was killed instantly.

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News Network
June 14,2020

Kozhikode, Jun 14: A mosque in Kuttichira of Kozhikode has found a unique way to avoid crowding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee that runs the mosque has started issuing smart cards to people for offering prayers and simultaneously encouraging social distancing.

"The committee has given smart cards with numbers to the people in the surroundings of the Masjid. One who enters the mosque premises has to rub their hands with sanitizers. They also have to tell their identity on camera. The automatic system has been put in place to save the address and phone number. Next time onwards they have to say their smart card number only so that other details will be automatically filled," said Muhammad Sajjad, who is part of the Mosque committee.

"The door of the mosque will open automatically after swiping the card. We have fit in a sensor on the doors. We have also made marks inside the mosque area so that people can abide by social distancing norm," he added.

A couple of days back the Kerala government has rolled out an order allowing the opening of places of worship, malls and restaurants from June 9 in strict accordance with guidelines and social distancing norms. As per the guidelines, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities should not visit any places of worship. Those with symptoms should not be allowed.

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