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Addressing the meeting of religious representatives, President Rajapaksa said there would be a comprehensive inquiry into the incident and the perpetrators would certainly be punished

When President Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped into the Regional Secretariat of Beruwala, fresh from his visit to Bolivia, even the President’s Media Unit did not know that the President had decided to visit the areas that were affected by violent clashes between Sinhalese and Muslim groups. It was just a two days after the President received a peace and democracy award from Bolivia – a highest award a person can receive from the Bolivian state – for his contribution to the peace and democratic values.

Rishad Bathiudeen, Champika Ranawaka, Palitha Thevarapperuma and Ranil Wcikremesinghe

The President was visibly shaken after seeing burnt down houses and properties in the Beruwala town – an area that is predominantly Muslim for so many decades. As he got off the vehicle near the Regional Secretariat in Beruwala, many people who were gathered at the premises surrounded him. The President was accompanied by several cabinet ministers including Mervyn Silva and Rohitha Abeygunawardena.

It was clear that the officers of the Presidential Security Division did not want journalists to photograph the President’s arrival at the Beruwala District Secretariat. The President was further annoyed by the high-handed behaviour of his own security officers. In the presence of journalists, he lashed out at his own security officers, ordering them to allow journalists to capture his photographs.
“We should not allow anyone to harm lives and properties of other people,” the President said while entering the Regional Secretariat building of Beruwala. He immediately convened a discussion with Muslim and Buddhist religious representatives in the area to get firsthand information on the issues on the ground.

Addressing the meeting of religious representatives, President Rajapaksa said there would be a comprehensive inquiry into the incident and the perpetrators would certainly be punished. He immediately instructed the Police Department to take necessary action and apprehend those who were involved in violent activities. Responding to President Rajapaksa’s remarks, religious leaders who were present at the meeting said they wanted to live in peace and harmony, and urged the President to help them in achieving that.
The heat of the clashes made its way into the weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, where several ministers raised their voice on this matter leading to heated arguments during the cabinet meeting which was presided over by the President.

Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, addressing the cabinet meeting, had pointed his finger at the President for not taking action against the Bodu Bala Sena and other extremist Sinhala-Buddhist organisations who, according to the Minister, incited violence in Beruwala, Aluthgama and Dharga Town. He had said the government should take the full responsibility for what happened on Sunday and Monday.

Bathiudeen’s accusation had annoyed the President and the latter had asked in a stern tone whether Bathiudeen was not a minister of the same government.

It was at this point that Bathiudeen had said, as Ministers, they did not have any say in the affairs of the government.
Following this remark, the President had lashed out at Bathiudeen reminding him of his past conduct. “You think only about your community. What will happen if the other ministers too start talking about their communities?” the President had asked. When the Minister attempted to respond, the President ordered him to “shut up”!

JHU Stalwart Minister Champika Ranawaka too had blamed Bathiudeen saying he was only favouring his community. Bathiudeen too countered Ranawaka’s allegation saying the government belonged to every ethnicity in the country and not only to the Sinhalese. He also said that Aluthgama incident would go down in the history as the darkest incident after the ‘Black July’ in 1983.
When this argument showed no sign of cessation, some senior Cabinet members intervened and urged the ministers to calm down and find a lasting solution to this problem. However, the cabinet meeting this week, which was characterized with heated verbal battles, was nowhere near finding a solution to the problem between hardcore Sinhala groups and the Muslim community.

UNP delegation turned back in Beruwala

The United National Party too strongly reacted to the problem by sending a high profile delegation to Beruwala and Aluthgama on Monday, a day after the clashes broke out. The UNP group was headed by its Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya and several other Parliamentarians of the party namely UNP Chairman Kabir Hashim, Tissa Attanayake, Ruwan Wijewardene, Eran Wickremeratne, Harin Fernando and Dr Harsha de Silva with WPC members Ifthikar Jameel, Lakshman Wijemanna, Mujibur Rahman and Fairoze Haji joined him in the tour.

The UNP Group faced an unexpected experience in Beruwala merely on the grounds that there were a few Muslims in the group. Angry mobs stopped the UNP MPs and forced them to turn back as they did not want Muslim representatives to enter Beruwala!
Dr Harsha de Silva, a member of the group, quickly posted a status update on his Facebook soon after they were turned back by angry mobs who happened to be “anti-UNP”!!

Harsha de Silva Facebook update said thus,

“Sad to say, the situation in Beruwela does not seem anything near ‘normal’ as told to us by the Government Ministry of Law and Order. The tension is very high. In fact we came face-to-face with an unruly-drunk-abusive mob in a ‘Sinhala area’ who threatened physical harm to the Muslim elected representatives in our group if not immediately sent back, presumably to a ‘Muslim area’. It was a strange and eerie feeling…

They told us that an angry Muslim mob had attacked them last night; and they were angry. We spoke to a person whose house had been attacked and damaged; but he was not violent, in fact he was attempting to bring back peace. Anyway, with the help of our MSD and the STF stationed nearby we were able to get them out of danger and we also had to turn back on the advice of our security personnel,”

“But before the ugly incident we visited a ‘temporary refugee centre’, a school that we were told housed over a thousand Muslim women and children whose homes had either been damaged or they feared to be in their normal places of residence. We were told of more than the three deaths reported by the media. Thereafter we paid respects to the main Buddhist priest of the area, the Chief Prelate of the ‘Kandey Vihare’ temple and most respectfully requested him to intervene to keep the peace by advising the villagers. We felt the tension and it was certainly very high. The STF and heavily armed military personnel were visible pretty much everywhere. I sincerely hope the authorities bring the situation under control because a lapse would result in unspeakable mayhem,”

Palitha Thevarapperuma’s
reunion with Ranil

Palitha Thevarapperuma was another UNP Parliamentarian who did a remarkable job during the mayhem, helping the Muslims who were affected by clashes that erupted in Beruwala. While others were observing what was happening on the ground, Thevarapperuma, who is known as a controversial politician, displayed his courage by taking injured Muslims to hospital and protesting them from goons.

Palitha Thevarapperuma too came under attack from Sinhala mobs while transporting injured Muslims in a vehicle belonging to one of his supporters. They damaged the vehicle and assaulted the UNP MP mercilessly as if he had committed a crime by transporting those who were injured in the clash.

Although the MP did not receive serious injuries due to the attack, his vehicle was severely damaged.
While attacking them, the hooligans had said the MP had to be punished for betraying the “race”.

Two days after the attack, Thevarapperuma was present in Parliament with a plaster covering his left eye. Opposition Leader Ranil Wcikremesinghe, who was shocked to see the injured UNP Parliamentarian, went near him and held his hand with affection. It was just a few months ago that media reports said Palitha Thevarapperuma attempted to assault UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Parliamentary group meeting of the party, for not granting nomination to his son to contest the Western Provincial Council election.

However, the Opposition Leader clearly showed in Parliament on Wednesday that he held no grudge against Thevarapperuma.
Wickremesinghe requested Thevarapperuma to make a statement in Parliament the following day as to what exactly happened during the clash. Upon the opposition leader’s request, Thevarapperum raised a privilege issue in Parliament explaining the horrific experience he underwent on Monday.

“I used a vehicle that belongs to a person from that area and I visited Welipitiya. I took a number of people from the area with me; 16 people boarded the van in total. There were five infants among them, as well as two expectant mothers and two elderly women. After traveling for sometime, the Police Mobile Patrol noticed the vehicle I was traveling in and moved aside. At that moment, a violent group attacked those who were inside the vehicle in an inhumane manner.

The vehicle was badly damaged. I did not stop the vehicle, Honourable Speaker. There was a small hole visible in the front of the vehicle — I could only see the road in-front of me through that small hole. Honourable Speaker, the age of one of the children was only nine months. The child was injured the back and was rushed to the ICU in Colombo,” Thevarapperuma said.

Controversy surrounding
BBS Founding Leader

Although the Bodu Bala Sena seems to be in a very powerful position, media reports of a possible internecine crisis have sent shockwaves across its rank and file. This came with the reports that its founding Leader Kirama Wimalajothi Thero has distanced himself from the activities of the BBS due to present state of affairs in the organisation.

Kirama Winalajothi Thero, along with Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero, formed the organisation, mainly to counter the threats to Buddhism coming from within and outside the Bikkhu community. At the inception of the BBS Wimalajothi Thero was unanimously appointed as the leader of the organisation while Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero was appointed as the General Secretary. At the outset, the BBS fought against elements of the Buddhist community who allegedly distorted the ‘Dhamma’. After some time, things took a violent turn when the BBS started a campaign against ‘Halal’ and resorted to hate speech against the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama and the Muslim community of the country.

However, with the passage of time, Bodu Bala Sena’s ire was directed at ethnic and religious minorities of the country and the ‘Muslims’ at large became a prime target of the organisation.

After the story of Wimalajothi Thero’s stepping down broke out, many journalists contacted Wimalajothi Thero and asked him about the veracity of the story. Although he said that he had not “resigned” from the organisation, the Thero admitted that he had distanced himself from the activities of the BBS. Speaking to Derana TV, he expressed displeasure over the protest rally the BBS organised in Aluthgama and criticized the conduct of some of its monks.

Speaking to media, Wimalajothi Thero said he was not involved in the activities of the Bodu Bala Sena for more than six months due to other commitments. With Wimalajothi Theroa openly expressing displeasure over what happened in Beruwala,Aluthgama and Dharga Town, it is now clear that there is a serious difference of opinion in the organisation over its conduct and approach.
Wimalajothi Thero, who is a senior and erudite monk, has written many books and essays about Buddhist tradition and philosophy. It was because of him that many Buddhist monks were attracted to the BBS at the initial stages. Although he is known as a staunch Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist, he is someone who would never justify violence against ethnic and religious minorities. He wanted the BBS to go in the direction of protecting rights of the Sinhala-Buddhist community by fighting the ‘good fight’.
However, speaking to media, CEO of Bodu Bala Sena organisation Dilantha Withanage said its Founding Leader Wimalajothi Thero had not resigned from the organisation. Commenting on the media reports he said there were many parties who wanted to create divisions in his organisation. However, just a day after this clarification, Wimalajothi Thero himself admitted that he was no longer involved in the BBS activities.

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2014/06/22/cabinet-meeting-heated-over-aluthgama-clash/