DISCRIMINATION OF MUSLIMS
- ricrotaract
- Jul 10, 2021
- 10 min read
Updated: Jul 31, 2021
Undoubtedly we are all aware of the mounting discrimination of Muslims in countless parts of the world that have resulted in thousands of helpless people being endlessly assaulted, displaced and downright tortured. Grim tales that portray this reality emerges from all over the world; of camps in China, of the Rohingya crisis – one of the worst refugee and humanitarian crises in the world, that has forced the minority community to flee their homes and survive under poor living conditions and of individuals injured and in extreme instances lives lost as a result of hate attacks in other countries all over the world.
Similarly, here at home, strong bouts of hatred have been directed at the Muslim population, reflecting a lack of broader understanding about the faith and compassion. While a very small few may argue that the tiny pearl that is Sri Lanka is a united one where people from different ethnicities coexist amiably, the harsh reality is that it has seen vast and growing levels of unrest for a number of decades now and that the more recent past has been ever more chaotic. This has been there thanks to narrow-minded ideologies that have been adopted by far too many people both in the country and around the world.
The Muslim community in Sri Lanka that makes up roughly 9% of the Sri Lankan population has greatly been subjected to persistent racial attacks. Consequently, they have been the target of violent mob attacks, verbal harassment and growing discrimination in their own country to their devastation.
They have constantly been in the receiving end of racial slurs and women more especially have been the subject of harassment in public as a result of face coverings and headscarves. Tension has always prevailed between the ethnic groups but some extremists have been able to successfully spur unnecessary and fierce physical attacks on the minority group. One of the first most brutal of anti-Muslim attacks occurred in March of 2018 in the Ampara and Kandy districts. Houses and shops were burnt, destroyed and brought to the ground – which resulted in the death of one man, at least one mosque was targeted and the safety of Muslim families was highly at stake.
Hostilities only intensified upon the massacre that was the Easter Sunday Attacks that were executed by extremist Islamist militants. Inevitably, in a country so divided, new and more brutal waves of hate surged and mob violence spiked, threatening the community to larger degrees as hordes of small minded citizens blamed a harmless community for atrocities carried out by extremist Islamists. Fueled by unjust anger at the people of the ethnicity, shops were being vandalized and some homes utterly destroyed. Families were being terrorized by mobs of men that had their minds set on inflicting pain on Muslims.
It still continues. Many false and baseless charges being made against Muslims that were and are still being rounded up around the country and convicted, in some occasions in the absence of any credible evidence, in relation to the attacks.
Groups of people campaigned for the boycotting of shops which would have resulted in substantial economic losses while some traders were requested outright to halt trading in local markets on the basis of attempts to prevent unrest. While face coverings were banned as a measure to ensure national security, women that wore headscarves were denied entry to public places – hospitals, banks and government institutions. Still this persists in the country and a religious attire, something that is incredibly true to their beliefs, is being disrespected on the basis that it poses a threat to the nation’s security.
More recently, as the ongoing pandemic emerged last year, to the despair of the community, the cremation of victims were made mandatory. This came despite the WHO ruling out the risk that burials would contaminate the ground water. The pleas of the community fell on deaf ears as countless Muslim victims were forcefully cremated against the beliefs of the religion and human rights were violated. This continued until the steady pressure of both local and international activists drove the authorities to provide burial rights to families that lost a member to the virus.
This highlights the importance of narrowing the rift that has been created, for more people to be educated enough to be able to differentiate extremists that have gripped more radical views of a faith from harmless people that simply belong to an ethnic group and hold their beliefs. It is dishUndoubtedly we are all aware of the mounting discrimination of Muslims in countless parts of the world that have resulted in thousands of helpless people being endlessly assaulted, displaced and downright tortured. Grim tales that portray this reality emerges from all over the world; of camps in China, of the Rohingya crisis – one of the worst refugee and humanitarian crises in the world, that has forced the minority community to flee their homes and survive under poor living conditions and of individuals injured and in extreme instances lives lost as a result of hate attacks in other countries all over the world.
Similarly, here at home, strong bouts of hatred have been directed at the Muslim population, reflecting a lack of broader understanding about the faith and compassion. While a very small few may argue that the tiny pearl that is Sri Lanka is a united one where people from different ethnicities coexist amiably, the harsh reality is that it has seen vast and growing levels of unrest for a number of decades now and that the more recent past has been ever more chaotic. This has been there thanks to narrow-minded ideologies that have been adopted by far too many people both in the country and around the world.
The Muslim community in Sri Lanka that makes up roughly 9% of the Sri Lankan population has greatly been subjected to persistent racial attacks. Consequently, they have been the target of violent mob attacks, verbal harassment and growing discrimination in their own country to their devastation.
They have constantly been in the receiving end of racial slurs and women more especially have been the subject of harassment in public as a result of face coverings and headscarves. Tension has always prevailed between the ethnic groups but some extremists have been able to successfully spur unnecessary and fierce physical attacks on the minority group. One of the first most brutal of anti-Muslim attacks occurred in March of 2018 in the Ampara and Kandy districts. Houses and shops were burnt, destroyed and brought to the ground – which resulted in the death of one man, at least one mosque was targeted and the safety of Muslim families was highly at stake.
Hostilities only intensified upon the massacre that was the Easter Sunday Attacks that were executed by extremist Islamist militants. Inevitably, in a country so divided, new and more brutal waves of hate surged and mob violence spiked, threatening the community to larger degrees as hordes of small minded citizens blamed a harmless community for atrocities carried out by extremist Islamists. Fueled by unjust anger at the people of the ethnicity, shops were being vandalized and some homes utterly destroyed. Families were being terrorized by mobs of men that had their minds set on inflicting pain on Muslims.
It still continues. Many false and baseless charges being made against Muslims that were and are still being rounded up around the country and convicted, in some occasions in the absence of any credible evidence, in relation to the attacks.
Groups of people campaigned for the boycotting of shops which would have resulted in substantial economic losses while some traders were requested outright to halt trading in local markets on the basis of attempts to prevent unrest. While face coverings were banned as a measure to ensure national security, women that wore headscarves were denied entry to public places – hospitals, banks and government institutions. Still this persists in the country and a religious attire, something that is incredibly true to their beliefs, is being disrespected on the basis that it poses a threat to the nation’s security.
More recently, as the ongoing pandemic emerged last year, to the despair of the community, the cremation of victims were made mandatory. This came despite the WHO ruling out the risk that burials would contaminate the ground water. The pleas of the community fell on deaf ears as countless Muslim victims were forcefully cremated against the beliefs of the religion and human rights were violated. This continued until the steady pressure of both local and international activists drove the authorities to provide burial rights to families that lost a member to the virus.
This highlights the importance of narrowing the rift that has been created, for more people to be educated enough to be able to differentiate extremists that have gripped more radical views of a faith from harmless people that simply belong to an ethnic group and hold their beliefs. It is disheartening to see so many laws that attempt to target minority groups, individuals being detained for attempting to spread extremism through their content when they have done nothing of the sort and to see so much hatred projected on a people that do not deserve a shred Undoubtedly we are all aware of the mounting discrimination of Muslims in countless parts of the world that have resulted in thousands of helpless people being endlessly assaulted, displaced and downright tortured. Grim tales that portray this reality emerges from all over the world; of camps in China, of the Rohingya crisis – one of the worst refugee and humanitarian crises in the world, that has forced the minority community to flee their homes and survive under poor living conditions and of individuals injured and in extreme instances lives lost as a result of hate attacks in other countries all over the world.
Similarly, here at home, strong bouts of hatred have been directed at the Muslim population, reflecting a lack of broader understanding about the faith and compassion. While a very small few may argue that the tiny pearl that is Sri Lanka is a united one where people from different ethnicities coexist amiably, the harsh reality is that it has seen vast and growing levels of unrest for a number of decades now and that the more recent past has been ever more chaotic. This has been there thanks to narrow-minded ideologies that have been adopted by far too many people both in the country and around the world.
The Muslim community in Sri Lanka that makes up roughly 9% of the Sri Lankan population has greatly been subjected to persistent racial attacks. Consequently, they have been the target of violent mob attacks, verbal harassment and growing discrimination in their own country to their devastation.
They have constantly been in the receiving end of racial slurs and women more especially have been the subject of harassment in public as a result of face coverings and headscarves. Tension has always prevailed between the ethnic groups but some extremists have been able to successfully spur unnecessary and fierce physical attacks on the minority group. One of the first most brutal of anti-Muslim attacks occurred in March of 2018 in the Ampara and Kandy districts. Houses and shops were burnt, destroyed and brought to the ground – which resulted in the death of one man, at least one mosque was targeted and the safety of Muslim families was highly at stake.
Hostilities only intensified upon the massacre that was the Easter Sunday Attacks that were executed by extremist Islamist militants. Inevitably, in a country so divided, new and more brutal waves of hate surged and mob violence spiked, threatening the community to larger degrees as hordes of small minded citizens blamed a harmless community for atrocities carried out by extremist Islamists. Fueled by unjust anger at the people of the ethnicity, shops were being vandalized and some homes utterly destroyed. Families were being terrorized by mobs of men that had their minds set on inflicting pain on Muslims.
It still continues. Many false and baseless charges being made against Muslims that were and are still being rounded up around the country and convicted, in some occasions in the absence of any credible evidence, in relation to the attacks.
Groups of people campaigned for the boycotting of shops which would have resulted in substantial economic losses while some traders were requested outright to halt trading in local markets on the basis of attempts to prevent unrest. While face coverings were banned as a measure to ensure national security, women that wore headscarves were denied entry to public places – hospitals, banks and government institutions. Still this persists in the country and a religious attire, something that is incredibly true to their beliefs, is being disrespected on the basis that it poses a threat to the nation’s security.
More recently, as the ongoing pandemic emerged last year, to the despair of the community, the cremation of victims were made mandatory. This came despite the WHO ruling out the risk that burials would contaminate the ground water. The pleas of the community fell on deaf ears as countless Muslim victims were forcefully cremated against the beliefs of the religion and human rights were violated. This continued until the steady pressure of both local and international activists drove the authorities to provide burial rights to families that lost a member to the virus.
This highlights the importance of narrowing the rift that has been created, for more people to be educated enough to be able to differentiate extremists that have gripped more radical views of a faith from harmless people that simply belong to an ethnic group and hold their beliefs. It is disheartening to see so many laws that attempt to target minority groups, individuals being detained for attempting to spread extremism through their content when they have done nothing of the sort and to see so much hatred projected on a people that do not deserve a shred of it.
Minimizing and discouraging such forms of prejudice is no easy feat as it would require the views and ideas that have been engrained in a person’s mind, for almost their entire lives in the case of the older generations, to be completely changed. However, these opinions could be challenged if we voice our disagreements and persistently speak up if and when there are racial views being shared in a conversation be it with friends or family.
The upcoming generations and the youth could be taught the importance of not judging other religions and their culture on the basis of their own values. They must be allowed to understand and explore the different cultures of other ethnicities other than their own, form bonds and perhaps engage in festivities outside of their own in order to gain deeper knowledge which may aid in preventing prejudice in the future.
Articles, posts on social media platforms and books that may portray the perspectives of other ethnicities exist which can be shared and read to open minds and build compassion among people.
Doing so would ultimately help lessen disrespectful comments thrown at minorities and the hatred projected at them, unite more people, enrich diversity and help a country such as ours come out of unnecessary and catastrophic unrest that makes it so fragile.
References
Content By; Rtr. Manisha Weragala, Bsc. Economics and Management , 3rd Year
Design By; Rtr. Tishan Gunawardena, Bsc. Management and Digital Innovation, 3rd Year
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