FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nSTATEMENT ON ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE, MAY 2019
\nSRI LANKA<\/p>\n
We as Sri Lankans who are committed to justice, equality and meaningful peace in Sri Lanka. We write this in urgency, as anti-Muslim mob violence has erupted in several locations across the island.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, violence erupted in Chilaw, in the North Western Province, as a mosque and several Muslim-owned shops were attacked by a mob. Today, we heard reports of similar violence across the North Western Province, in Kiniyama, Kottampitiya and other localities.<\/p>\n
Many of us lived through the pogrom of July 1983, when anti-Tamil violence took hundreds of lives. We lived through a bitter war which claimed thousands more. We watched in fear and horror as anti-Muslim violence unfolded in 2014 in Aluthgama and last year, in Digana. We are still grieving for all those lives lost, those injured, and families broken due to the violence on 21st April, Easter Sunday.<\/p>\n
We write this as an appeal to our collective humanity. We urge all Sri Lankan citizens to reflect deeply on one\u2019s values, faith, religion, and humanity, and to resist violence at all cost. We urge our representatives to quell the violence immediately with unified political leadership, and commit to accountability and justice. We urge all communities to ensure we are not yet again set down the path to an unstoppable war.<\/p>\n
There will be no meaning in mourning for more dead, nor will there be meaning in platitudes, in the aftermath. We will not be able to absolve ourselves or explain away our complicity. After everything we have experienced as a nation, if we cannot prevent another Black July, what would we have achieved?<\/p>\n
We are holding all citizens, particularly those especially vulnerable, in our collective prayers. We must act against violence. We must learn from history.<\/p>\n
I used to wonder about \u2026
\nthose who stood and watched the killing:<\/p>\n
does the memory
\nof so many pleading eyes
\nstab like lightning through their days and years<\/p>\n
and do the voices
\nof orphaned children
\nweeping forlornly before dying
\nhaunt their nights?
\n\u2026.
\nForty years later
\nonce more there is burning
\nthe night sky bloodied, violent and abused<\/p>\n
and I – though related
\nonly by marriage –
\nfeel myself both victim and accused,<\/p>\n
(black-gutted timber
\nsplinters, shards and ashes
\nblowing in the wind: nothing remains) –<\/p>\n
flinch at the thinnest curl of smoke
\nshrink from the merest thought of fire
\nwhile some warm their hands at the flames.
\n(excerpts)
\nAnne Ranasinghe, July 1983 (1983)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE STATEMENT ON ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE, MAY 2019 SRI LANKA We as Sri Lankans who are committed to justice, equality and meaningful peace in Sri Lanka. We write this in urgency, as anti-Muslim mob violence has erupted in several locations across the island. Yesterday, violence erupted in Chilaw, in the North Western Province, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,16,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conflict-peace","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n