Reflections On The Brink

Of The Next Abyss

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara
How could we not have seen what was coming, until it had
arrived in our midst, clanking and smoking?
John Banville (hroud!
( June "#, "$%&, 'olombo, ri (anka Guardian! )resident *ahinda +a,a-aksa is .urious/ 0ot
about the 1luthgama riots2 that, in his eyes, was a 3most minor incident4/ He is .urious about
the -eace.ul -rotest (Hartal! against the 1luthgama riots/
(ittle wonder then that Galagoda51tte Gnanasara Thera is not only .ree but was allowed to
hold another 3religious meeting4 in 6andy/
1ccording to )resident +a,a-aksa, murder and mayhem constitute .ar, .ar lesser crimes than a
-eace.ul -rotest7 89uring the con.lict -eriod the (TT: killed -eo-le irrelevant o. their
ethnicity/ 'ertain grou-s that didn4t dare stage a single hartal cam-aign during the (TT: -eriod
have now started them/ (arge scale (*aha loku! hartal cam-aigns are organised .or even the
most minor incidents/
;s it any sur-rise that the -olice, instead o. arresting the criminals o. 1luthgama, are hot in
-ursuit o. the organisers o. the -eace.ul Hartal?
;n this conte<t, i. *inister =asudeva 0anayakkara succeeds in bringing a law against hate
s-eech, it will be used to silence not the BB>JH?>+avana Balaya but to incarcerate those who
criticise the hatemongering o. Galagoda51tte Gnanasara et al/
@nce, not so long ago, this )resident ,usti.ied attacks on *uslims by claiming (entirely
a-ocry-hally! that only child ra-ists have been targeted/ This week he dismissed an outbreak o.
violence which claimed .our lives and in.licted a .estering wound on the ethno5religious .abric
o. ri (anka as a 3most minor incident4/ 'an his government be trusted to discover the truth
about 1luthgama and -rosecute those res-onsible?
1ccording to )arliamentarian *angala amaraweera, the 1luthgama riot was a conce-t o.
Gotabhaya +a,a-aksa, im-lemented by certain military o..icials/ *r/ amaraweera, given his
-ast a..iliations, would know what the +a,a-aksas are ca-able o./ 1nd he would not have made
such an e<tremely serious allegation outside -arliament unless he had some evidence to show
.or it/ 1ny government interested in ,ustice, order and its good name would launch an im-artial
inAuiry into such a grave charge/ 1ny society interested in -eace and .air5-lay would demand
such an inAuiry o. its government/
;nstead the regime seems to be -lanning a witch hunt against *r/ amaraweera/ 1ccording to
-olice s-okesman an investigation might be launched against *r/ amaraweera under the
@..icial ecret 1ct .or 8divulging in.ormation regarding national security and in.ormation
about the security .orces / ;s the regime accusing *r/ amaraweera o. revealing state secrets?
Bouldn4t such an accusation be tantamount to acce-ting that *r/ amaraweera s-oke the truth
about 1luthgama riots?
;. *r/ amaraweera lied, why not arrest him .or slander and other lesser crimes?
;. *r/ amaraweera did not lie, then the 3great betrayal4 ri (anka4s viscerally @rwellian army
s-okesman was blathering about was committed not by *r/ amaraweera but by Gotabhaya
+a,a-aksa and his brothers/
Be.ore Black July, ri (anka e<-erienced two minor riots, in %CDD and %CE% (the burning o. the
Ja..na library!/ Had Jayewardene regime res-onded sanely, sensibly and law.ully to these
outbreaks, had inhala society condemned these outbreaks uneAuivocally, Black July and many
other conseAuent disasters could have been avoided/
1re we living in a similar interregnum? ;s this is the uneasy calm be.ore the ne<t bloody
tornado? Bill we evade the abyss or -lunge into it, singing -atriotic songs and waving the (ion
and 3Buddhist4 .lags?
+ioters are law5breakers/ ;. the government im-lements the law, without .ear or .avour,
another, greater, disaster might be avoidable/ But the regime is not interested in -rosecuting
criminals but in -ersecuting enemies/ o ?0) -rovincial councillor, *u,ibar +ahaman has
been Auestioned, Batareka =i,itha Thero has been arrested and *angala amaraweera might be
summoned to the Fourth Four/
*eanwhile the criminals o. 1luthgama remain as .ree as air/
Governments can instigate>encourage riots2 but such violence cannot .lourish in the absence o.
societal a--robation/ ;n July %CEG, the rioters were em-owered by the sense that a large
com-onent o. inhala society (i. not the ma,ority! a--roved o. what they were doing/ Bithout
that o<ygen, the .ires o. Black July would not have blaHed .or as long as they did/
(ankan Buddhists, lay and ordained, led by the 'hie. )relates have to make a decision7 who is
our Teacher?
;s it the Buddha with his message o. com-assion and non5violence .or all living beings? @r is it
Bhikku *ahanama, 1nagarika 9harma-ala and Galagoda51tte Gnanasara Thera, with their
anti5Buddhist ,usti.ication o. violence against 3unbelievers4?
1re we Buddhists, the .ollowers o. the Gautama Buddha? @r are we *ahawamsa59harma-ala5
Gnanasara disci-les?
The 0ew Bar?
;n "$$E, as the war was grinding towards a victorious conclusion, the -rinci-al o. a school in
Galle ordered the .ather o. a *uslim -u-il out o. his o..ice .or wearing a -rayer ca-/
That was an early sign o. the new disaster which is almost u-on us/
)ost5war, we inhalese should have made a conscious e..ort to -rove to minorities that we are
not what we were in %CI#, %CD", %CDG and %CEG/ ;nstead, under +a,a-aksa aegis and
into<icated by the 3great -atriotic victory4, we acted as i. there was nothing wrong with %CI#,
%CD", %CDG and %CEG/
To win the war, the +a,a-aksas a--ealed to the .anatic in the inhala soldier and the inhala
civilian/ 0ow to maintain themselves in -ower they are a--ealing to the .anatic in inhala5
Buddhist citiHens and monk/
The +a,a-aksas need enemies and inhala5Buddhist su-remacists have enemies/ The
+a,a-aksas need a new war, to ,usti.y the im-osition o. a .amilial autocracy on an im-er.ect
democracy2 inhala5Buddhists su-remacists are never without a handy casus belli/
The Tamils have been taught a lesson2 now is the turn o. the *uslims/
omeday, the turn o. the 'hristians too will arrive/
Fanatics inhabit a di..erent mental universe, a -sychological wasteland in which reason does
not e<ist and any barbarity is -ermissive in the name o. the chosen 3cause4/ That was the logic
o. Black July/ That mindset hel-ed the Tigers to trium-h over the more moderate Tamil o-tions/
The (TT: in turn hel-ed the +a,a-aksas to -ower/
The moderate *uslim leaders, the ones who believe in democracy and non5violence, are being
discredited and are discrediting themselves/ Their successors will be neither non5violent nor
democratic/ 1luthgama would have lent credence to the voices o. immoderation in the *uslims
community/ ;. a bigger outbreak .ollows, it will be a death knell .or the moderate, non5violent
and democratic *uslim/ ;n his>her -lace will be the Jihadist/
The +a,a-aksas may not mind that/ The inhala5Buddhist .anatics may not mind that/
But is that the .uture we want?
The allegation that there were %,$$$ Jihadists in a mosAue in 1luthgama is inane/ ;. there were
even a singhel Jihadist he>she would not have ,ust lobbed stones/
9o we want ri (anka to become a target .or real Jihadists out there in the world? 9o we want
suicide bombers and bombs again, -robably on a larger scale?
;t is easy to con,ure s-ectres2 getting rid o. them when the work is done is Auite another matter/
Be.ore we allow the +a,a-aksas and their craHy acolytes to damage inhala5*uslim relations
beyond the -oint o. recovery, we should ask7 9o we really want another war?
+e.erences2
The 'olombo Telegra-h J "G/#/"$%&
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