“Over two million Sri Lankans left the country during the war and live abroad... Those countries have given them shelter and work. And our people here are attacking some 30 refugees.”
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| On September 27, 2017 Sri Lankan Buddhist and Aung San Suu Kyi supporters protest at the U.N. office in Colombo against Rohingyas (Photo: Getty Images) |
Source/Credit: The Hindu
By Meera Srinivasan | September 30, 2017
“An insult to humanity” — that is how the leftist political party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna termed the recent Buddhist monk-led attacks on a United Nations safe house sheltering Rohingya refugees in suburban Colombo. The men in robes were calling for the refugees to be deported.
The incident not only alarmed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) — the agency caring for them here — but also outraged many Sri Lankans, including politicians. Condemning the attacks, Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne slammed both the hard-line monks, calling them “animals”, and the police for “not preventing” the incident. A magistrate court has summoned three attackers, including two monks, local media reports said.
In a country where the Buddhist clergy wields enormous political power, people are familiar with the impunity that comes with saffron robes. All the same, those who are troubled by it see a condemnation by political leaders as being crucial to challenging the now-familiar, almost routine, anti-Muslim aggression seen among certain radical monk groups.
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