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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sustharapuncha" data-source="post: 14524373" data-attributes="member: 383427"> Threats To The Peaceful Existence Of Buddhists In Sri Lanka – OpEd  By <a href="http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/admin/" target="_blank">Eurasia Review</a> -- (February 21, 2013)      By Shenali Waduge Response to Mr. Hameed Abdul Karim No nation with a clear majority in terms of race, religion and a  history that boasts over 2600 years of civilization held together by  Sinhalese Buddhist Kings would need to appeal to the world to understand  why they are beginning to feel alienated. That is the predicament that  has befallen the Buddhists of Sri Lanka. The debate with Mr. Hameed  Abdul Karim is being pursued to showcase that though Muslims and  Sinhalese had been living in peace it has to be acknowledged that it is a  new wave of incursions taking place upon the Buddhist space and  territory which are disturbing and infringing on the sensitivities of  the Buddhist people all of which post-independence politicians have  conveniently sidestepped. The apprehensions and the subconscious fears  of the Buddhists of this country now need to be raised and articulated  properly. Why Sri Lanka fears it would be called a “Once Buddhist nation” Given the present trends we foresee a future date where Sri Lanka  will be termed a “once Buddhist” nation as Afghanistan, Bangladesh,  Maldives, Malaysia, Indonesia and probably Thailand and Burma in time to  come will face. Yet, many Buddhists in Sri Lanka are not prepared to be  passive observers and watch in silence their religion and culture fade  away into the sunset without any resistance on their part. Assurances  has not qualified to allay our fears given the dramatic changes we see  happening round the world. Sri Lanka’s Buddhist status never discriminated against any religion  at any point in time as seen by the freedom Hindus, Christians and  Muslims enjoy freely. It is the Buddhists who are forced to always  compromise and sacrifice their vital interests to appease the  unrelenting demands of unreasonable ethnic and religious minorities. It is sad to watch the historic status of Buddhism enshrined in  Article 9 of the Constitution been reduced to the status of a white  elephant and used only for ceremonial purposes. Buddhist tolerance has  been treated as a weakness and exploited to advance the political agenda  of other religious faiths. False notions of Buddhist racism In desperation when Buddhists vocalize their justifiable fears they  are called “racist”, “communal”, “extremist” and in some cases  “militant” – just because they demand to know why Muslims were  encroaching on Buddhist temple lands, why they were bribing officials to  take sacred land areas, why historically non-existent mosques are  emerging in areas that are sacred to the Buddhists and why loudspeakers  from mosques were targeting largely non-Muslim residents? Buddhists are  also asking why politicians are giving one minority community to dictate  how other communities should purchase their food as well as why it is  violating Article 9 of the Constitution that says it is only Buddhism  that has to be fostered and other religions only to be protected – which  questions why a Government should build non-Buddhist places of  worship?. Is there any Christian or Muslim country in the world where the State  has contributed to building a Buddhist Place of worship – I look  forward to Mr. Karim’s response! Principle of Halal Certificate objected People forget that it was the principle of the halal that was being  questioned. Why did the politicians not take note of how a private  institute not permitted according to its statute of incorporation to  issue certificates, were charging a fee to issue halal certificates on  all food items that are purchased by the population of Sri Lanka. The  principle behind this was that if Muslims ate food without halal labels  all this time why was there a need for a halal label now, if  export-import took place all this time why is there a sudden insistence  for halal labels? The argument also revolves around the fact that this  institute does not even have a state-of-the-art lab to test the  thousands of food for halal compliance whereas beverages like Coke/Pepsi  with 0.001% alcohol remains one of the most fast moving soft drinks  consumed by Muslims. Moreover, the Koran does not say of a halal certificate to be  demanding that as a religious right since like loudspeakers it is only a  recent addition to the faith. In view of the how food was consumed and  the recent demands it appears to be a commercial leverage based on a  religion aimed to make a political statement to the rest of the world –  “we are Muslim/Islam and every non-Muslim must comply with what suits  our religion”! The same applies to the dress as seen in all areas where  Muslims numerical numbers show a majority and whatever Mr. Karim says  the examples prove otherwise. Again we are told to be “tolerant” as  Buddhists should be and virtually look the “other side”. GOSL must declare Sri Lanka a Buddhist nation What post-independence Governments have failed to do was to clearly  articulate that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist nation – no one can argue  against this and historical proof prevail to justify and with good  reason why Sri Lanka should remain a Buddhist nation. The country’s  leaders certainly need to redefine the nation reaffirming the status  given to Buddhism. It is too important a function to be left exclusively  in the hands of highly vocal minorities. The multi-religious, multi-cultural norms have turned western nations  upside down. People do not know their country’s history. It is a  country’s history that holds countries together because people want to  preserve what their ancestors fought hard to achieve and which had been  protected and passed down through posterity. Wealth and political  influence cannot sacrifice the ancient past. Mr. Karim does not seem to realize that when the Buddhists say the  country’s majority Buddhist population is feeling alienated in their own  hinterland it is because of a new wave of demands and aggressive  behavioral patterns now pursued by a community that came far later. Is  it so difficult to understand why it is wrong to be demanding the  country adjust to suit the religious beliefs of the Muslim people when  it may be violating the beliefs of the other cultures? Is it not the  community that came later that must adjust itself to be in harmony with  the ethos of the older culture i.e. Buddhist ethos? Can Mr. Karim deny that it is having reached beyond the level of  tolerance that the Buddhists are now coming to say enough is enough and  even finding fault with the political establishments for not demarcating  the boundaries so that people do not cross them. It is when boundaries  are crossed, incursions take place and these incursions have been  clearly defined to Mr. Karim. What was needed was for Mr. Karim and  others to realize that these new practices, behaviors and actions was  what had upset the Buddhists and it had nothing to do with any dislike  for Muslims because the way Muslims had lived in the past is what  everyone expected them to continue – not the new changes which reflect  the conflicts taking place round the world. Buddhist fears are confirmed Whatever Mr. Karim says the recent article by Mr. M B M Zubair –  Retired Registrar High Court Kandy has let the cat out of the bag. When  he says “the fact that Islam is spreading fast all over the world must  be admitted by everyone. It is a prophecy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)  that Islam will spread”, he has spelled out what is in store for Sri  Lanka as well and which is what our fears are all about. Do we as an older Buddhist culture not have the right to be alarmed and to address these factors? No matter what reasons are given by Mr. Karim or others it cannot  change the fact that Maldives was once a Buddhist nation. The Dhanbidhū  Lōmāfānu copperplates in Maldives dating to 1193AD relate how Buddhist  monuments were destroyed and Buddhist monks were beheaded and mosques  were built on top of the destroyed Buddhist temples and monasteries. Destruction of ancient history and idols is part of what Islam’s  iconoclasm is all about and we know how through all conquests Islamic  rulers destroyed churches, kovils and Buddhist temples and recent events  have not shown that Muslims have changed their behaviors. Is that not  good enough reasons for our fears, Mr. Karim? Effects of Islam’s Iconoclasm Bamiyan Buddha was not destroyed by a “lunatic fringe” as Mr. Karim  claims. Many attempts had been made to destroy the Buddha statue because  idol worship is against Islam. From the time of Aurangzeb in the 17th  century till finally in 2001 attempts had been made to destroy the face  of the Buddha. Mullah Moh. Omar stated “Muslims should be proud of  smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them”  while the Afghan Foreign Minister stated that “We are destroying the  statues in accordance with Islamic law and it is purely a religious  issue”. If destroying statues is part of being Islam as seen by the recent  attacks on Buddhist statues in Bangladesh and Maldives where steps are  afoot to remove every piece of evidence that ties their country’s  history to Buddhism, we can but wonder whether if after the insistence  of halal, mosques and other such Muslim demands whether Sri Lanka will  also be targeted for the removal of its historical Buddha statues and  history one day? Apologies after attacks will never bring back history that is being  calculatedly destroyed and no one has a right to remove history from  being preserved. How can peaceful co-existence be argued when what is  dear and precious to another community with a history that dates far  beyond its own is targeted to be destroyed? Given the historical and  contemporary status quo of things, Mr. Karim cannot accuse Buddhists of  being unnecessarily alarmed. Thus, we are conveying fears that are likely to take place many years  from now if the Buddhist people keep dormant and behave like ostriches  simply because the world demands that they be “tolerant” while for  Muslim’s being tolerant appears to imply that the older culture must  keep silent about halal labels, halal certificates, proliferation of  mosques, incursions on sacred land areas, encroachment of temple lands,  destruction of sacred sites and undermining of Lanka’s historic legacy  of an animal friendly cultural heritage – all leading to a possible soft  usurping of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist civilization. What Mr. Karim and others must realize is that we see a stark  difference in the attitude, behaviors and practices of the Muslims and  these very practices taking place in other parts of the world have led  to far serious issues which we do not want to see replicated in Sri  Lanka. The wakeup call is realistically for the entire population  especially the policy makers and those that govern the country and  questions them about why they have not been alert to these changes that  correspond with similar issues abroad. The basic issue is that we are feeling exactly what Western society  is now feeling when numerically the numbers of Muslims increase and the  older cultures in these countries are asking the same questions that the  Buddhists of Sri Lanka are asking. Like the West we are being subject  to demands that politicians have fallen prey because they have failed to  endorse the rightful place of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Had this clearly  been articulated people would not intrude as they now do. So we know the  fault lines. In countries where Muslims have significant numbers they are  demanding for Sharia Islamic laws based on the Qu’ran and Hadith – these  laws related to women, dress and non-Muslims are what we feel do not  conform to the type of governance that the Sinhala Buddhist kings had  passed down over centuries and nothing of which Tamils or Muslims felt  discriminated against. It is the parliamentary statutes that followed  after colonial rule that have led to a series of breaches because of the  policy of divide and rule. The facts are very clear and it is opportune for people to take note. Sri Lanka is a Buddhist nation – it has a proud history that covers 2600 years.</blockquote>

Verification: Haya warak paha keeyada? (haya wadi kireema paha)

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