PROBLEM OF MISSING PERSONS WILL PERSIST UNTIL ADDRESSED -- Jehan Perera
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- Monday, 11 March 2013
Problems can be denied as non-existent, they can be blamed on others, or they can be faced up to and addressed so that they are resolved. There is a story from Columbia, which has been wracked for many decades by civil war with tens of thousands of extra judicial killings and disappearances. In early 2002 there was a systematic rise in violence. It started with killings and disappearances of young men. A woman came back to her home after working in the family coffee plantation and found her husband had disappeared. She checked with the local military commander about her husband who denied any knowledge and then threatened her for asking and sent her home. Months passed into years but without any news.
PERMITTING PROTEST IS PART OF DEMOCRACY -- Media Release 07-02-2013
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- Thursday, 07 March 2013
A protest to be held in Colombo, intended to culminate in the handing over of a petition to the UN office, organized by northern civic groups under the banner of the Families of Disappeared, and supported by the National Peace Council, was blocked by the police in Vavuniya in the North. According to participants, the reason given by the Police was that they could not guarantee the safety of the travelers in the night. The family members were surrounded by Police and did not allow them to leave. The buses they were going to travel on were blocked by Police trucks. When contacted by the organizers, the Inspector General of Police had said he was not aware of what had transpired and shown polite interest.
HALAL ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION -- Jehan Perera
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- Monday, 04 March 2013
The immediate crisis over the issue of Halal certification by the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama has been defused with the government’s appointment of a high level ministerial committee to make recommendations on how to address it. The appointment of a parallel committee by the UNP is also noteworthy, not only because it is the main opposition party, but also because of the totally different composition of the two committees. The ten member government committee includes nationalist Sinhalese politicians, some of whom have expressed strong views against the ethnic minorities. On the other hand, the six member UNP committee goes to the other extreme and comprises only Muslims.
DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST MUSLIMS NEEDS TO BE COUNTERED -- Jehan Perera
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- Tuesday, 26 February 2013
The Budu Bala Sena, which is an organization that seeks to protect the rights of the Buddhist majority, has issued a ten point manifesto directed against Muslim religious practices that they claim are impinging on the rights of non-Muslims. Chief amongst these is the issuance of Halal certification of consumer products for a fee. A recent public rally in the suburban Buddhist stronghold of Maharagama attracted over 2000 Buddhist monks and several thousand other supporters. The recent upsurge of anti-Muslim sentiment, and its open manifestation amongst sections of the ethnic majority population, has come as a shock and hurt to Muslims. They are very much concerned that their community and its practices are being unfairly maligned. But they have not resorted to public protests, preferring instead to sort things out through quiet diplomacy.
