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On Sunday, the Sri Lankan media, in a rare show of unity, condemned the nation’s police forces for failing to control anti-Muslim Buddhist extremists. Religious tensions continue to grow in the island-nation in the wake of riots in the south. Four people were killed, 80 were wounded and over hundreds of shops and homes were destroyed in the anti-Muslim riots which had erupted a week ago.
Only a day earlier, a Muslim-owned shop was burnt to the ground outside capital city Colombo, with the privately-owned weekly The Nation publishing its editorial on the front page, carrying the blunt headline “The IGP (Inspector-General of Police) must resign”. Other media also joined in and blasted the police for failing to stop hardline Buddhist groupBodu Bala Sena (BBS), also known as the Buddhist Force, blamed for most of the unrest.
Sri Lankan police are investigating the cause of the fire, which Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem, a senior Muslim member of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s cabinet, had on Saturday called an arson attack.
The Sunday Leader newspaper demanded the arrest of Galagodaatte Gnanasara, the leader of the BBS, in its headline; Gnanasara has publicly denied inciting the violence.Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times said that the burning of a Muslim-owned store “is an indication that some people might want this violence to spread”. It also said that most Buddhists in Sri Lanka do not support the extremist views of a few monks behind the hate campaign, adding that they need to be dealt with before the violence escalates. Some media reports suggested that support from senior government leaders may have repressed the police force from taking action against the BBS.
Justice Minister Hakeem asked the government to start an independent investigation into the riots. In a statement issued late on Saturday, Hakeem blamed the government for not being able to control the BBS. “Irrespective of who is responsible for the terrible events that unfolded… none would dispute that it was a serious dislocation of the ability of the state to maintain the rule of law”, he said, after his emergency meeting with Rajapakse.