However, now the situation became to the peak as the law breaking thugs are challenging the law and order as well.
As the citizen of Sri Lanka, we all have a role to play in this juncture to come out and demand the equal treatment to all in front of the law, if the rule of law to be established.
The report of the OHCHR of Geneva could be seen as following link and this is followed by the text message.
Herman
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/
GENEVA (2 July 2014) – Three United Nations experts on freedom of religion, minority issues, and summary executions today called on Sri Lanka to adopt urgent measures to stop the promotion of racial and faith-based hatred, and violence against Muslim and Christian communities by Buddhist groups with extremist views, and bring perpetrators of this violence to justice.
More than 350 violent attacks against Muslims and over 150 attacks
against Christians have been reported in Sri Lanka in the last two years. Muslim
and Christian communities are reportedly subjected to hate speech,
discrimination, attacks and acts of violence throughout Sri Lanka frequently.
On 15 June 2014, a local group promoting extremist Sinhalese nationalist
views, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS – The Buddhist Power Force), staged a large
protest rally in Aluthgama that resulted in inter-communal violence, during
which four people lost their lives and about 80 were injured. Homes and shops
owned by Muslims, as well as mosques were vandalized and some set ablaze.
“This violence is fueled by the atmosphere of impunity in Sri Lanka,”
the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt,
said. “Impunity and inadequate response from the police and judicial
authorities aimed at protecting the lives, physical security, the property and
places of worship of these communities may encourage further attacks and a risk
of spiralling violence.”
Mr. Bielefeldt urged Sri Lanka to guarantee the right to freedom of
religion or belief of members of minority religious communities and stop any
advocacy of racial and religious hatred.
“The Government must end the violence and put in place urgent protective
measures to ensure the personal security of all individuals belonging to
religious minority communities living in the country,” the Special Rapporteur
on minority issues, Rita Izsák, stressed.
“The full range of rights of religious minorities must be guaranteed in
law and protected in practice,” she noted welcoming the President’s
announcement of the appointment of a high level panel to investigate those
incidents.
The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, Christof Heyns, called on the Sri Lankan authorities “to take
urgent and firm measures to bring the perpetrators of killings to justice, and
ensure the immediate adoption of robust protective measures.”
“Showing determination to ensure accountability in such cases must be a
key element of the Government’s efforts to prevent the attacks and guarantee
the safety of the members of religious minority communities” Mr. Heyns said.
Alongside BBS, other groups promoting extremist views in Sri Lanka, such
as the Sinhala Ravaya and the Hela Bodu Powura, purport to be the protectors of
Sinhala Buddhism, which they claim is being threatened by Muslim and Christian
religious minorities.
These extremist groups reportedly proclaim the racial superiority of
Sinhala Buddhists and spread fear among local population, for example, through
allegations that Buddha statues are being bulldozed by religious minorities, or
that evangelical Christians are forcibly converting youths and sick patients in
their hospital beds, or that Muslims are smuggling drugs and birth control
pills in order to destroy Sinhalese people and prevent their reproduction.
“These statements contribute to spread a climate of fear among Sinhala
Buddhists, who constitute the majority population in Sri Lanka, and resentment
towards minorities,” the UN human rights experts said.
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