Sri Lanka, Buddhist radicals claim Islamic veil promotes drug dealing
Colombo
(AsiaNews) - The radical Sinhala-Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) is
demanding the Government of Sri Lanka ban the Islamic veil because it represents a
serious threat to national security and promotes the trafficking of drugs. Speaking
to AsiaNews Faizun Zackariya, a Muslim activist for human rights, the group is
using "the rhetoric of nationalism and patriotic fervor to justify exclusive,
violent and destructive attacks against minorities."
The
BBS and other organizations have been behind similar
attacks - verbal and physical - against the minority communities of Sri
Lanka, targeting Muslims in particular. Such
groups "justify" their persecution and violent discrimination by claiming
they are protecting the Sinhalese population and Buddhist religion.
"What
we are witnessing today - explains the Zackariya - is an ultra-nationalism that
is fomented by political protection and access to state institutions. This
dangerous trend is trying to carve out a new consensus, without freedom,
dignity and social justice. For over four
years [since the end of the Civil War, ed] the government has promised
democracy. Instead, what we see is a use of religion for political purposes, an
ultra-nationalist ideology back in vogue, an increase in human rights
violations ,
a progressive centralization of power. "
From
1983 to 2009, the Sri Lanka was the scene of a bloody civil war between the
rebel Tamil Tigers (Liberation of Tamil Tigrs Eealm, LTTE) - which called for
the creation of an independent Tamil provinces in the north and east of the
island - and government forces. It
quickly became a real ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese (the ethnic
majority, 73.8%) and Tamil (8.5%), which ended with a military victory.
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