8/12/2019 Aluthgama Violence Where Was Sri Lanka’s President

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Aluthgama violence: Where was 

Sri Lanka’s President?

• by Groundviews 

• - on 06/18/2014

The horrible killings and destruction inAluthgama on Sunday was blacked out by almost all mainstream media in Sri Lanka atthe height of the violenceand the morning after. However, the violence was in detail

and close to real time covered extensively over social media, leading to adocumentation many times greater and more detailed than what the Government of

Sri Lanka would have liked.

This documentation generated an unprecedented response from theSecretary Generalof the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a vote block that has staunchlysupported Sri Lanka at resolutions moved at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The statement,…expressed serious concern at the recent incidents of violence by extremistindividuals against Muslims in the towns of Aluthgama, Beruwala and Draga Nagar inSri Lanka. The reports of several fatalities and dozens injured as well as attacks onhomes, businesses and mosques are deeply regrettable.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, expressing his concern about the attacks on

Muslims in Sri Lanka, urged “the Government to investigate alleged attacks on

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members of religious minority groups” as well as “take necessary measures to preventany deterioration of the situation and to launch an immediate investigation into theincidents”.On 16th June, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillayexpressed herdeep alarm around the violence, noting that,

“I am very concerned this violence could spread to Muslim communities in other partsof the country,” Pillay continued. “The authorities must immediately bring theperpetrators of such attacks to book and make it clear to the religious leadership on

both sides, and to political parties and the general public, that there is no place forinflammatory rhetoric and incitement to violence.”

The US State Department in its Daily Briefing condemned the violence in Sri Lankaand noted that,

We are concerned by inflammatory rhetoric that has incited violence in recent days,resulting in several deaths, scores of injuries, and destruction of personal property. Weurge the Sri Lankan Government to fulfill its obligations to protect religious minorities,including protecting all citizens and places of worship, conducting a full investigationinto the violence, and bringing those responsible to justice. We also urge all sides torefrain from violence, exercise restraint, and respect the rule of law. The United States

Government continues to stand by the many millions of Sri Lankans who want apeaceful and unified country.

This echoed a statement by the US Embassy in Colombo which also condemned the

violence, and urged both the “government to ensure that order is preserved and thelives of all citizens, places of worship, and property are protected” and “the authorities

to investigate these attacks and bring those responsible to justice”. The statement wasreleased in Sinhala and Tamil as well.

On 16 June, Andrew Bennett, Canada’s Ambassador for Religious Freedom ina seriesof tweets as well as an official statement offered “condolences to the families andfriends of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to those injured”. Condemningthe violence, Amb. Bennett went on to say that,

“This is one of a number of recent and troubling attacks targeting the Muslim

community in Sri Lanka. It is of the utmost importance that every person is able topractise his or her faith free from the threat of violence. We urge Sri Lankan authorities

to act quickly to ensure the safety of all communities. These attacks are completelyunacceptable and a clear violation of the right to religious freedom.”

Amongst others, by Tuesday, 17th June, the National Christian Evangelical Alliance ofSri Lanka (NCEASL), National Peace Council (NPC), Ven. Davuldena GnanissaraThera, the Chief Prelate of the Amarapura Sect (see original letterhere), and SriLanka’s Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe had made official statements

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regarding the violence.But where, one may ask, was Sri Lanka’s President in the middle of all this violenceand what was he doing? He was getting an award which recognises contributions topeace and democracy from Bolivia.

One may also ask, in light of very real fears over the escalation and expansion ofviolence, what the official response of the President of Sri Lanka was to the worstcommunal riots to hit the country in years?

Seven trite tweets – two in English, two in Sinhala, three in Tamil. Plus two retweets

from his son. Cute.

The tweets were published in response to the overwhelming pressure over socialmedia, late Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning, for the President’s

Office to issue some kind of statement to quell the escalation of the

violence. Incredibly, there is not a single word of condemnation, condolence, regret orconcern to date around the violence in Aluthgama from the President’s office. The onlyofficial statement by Government around the violence was made by the Prime Ministerto Parliament yesterday, and predictably sought to downplay the killings anddestruction.

The President’s official Facebook page has nothing to date on the violence. ThePresident’s Twitter profile has pinned a tweet of him attending the G77 summit, from15th June. The scale of violence and its aftermath get no mention at all.

The President’s official website doesn’t have anything on Aluthgama at all.Ayeshea Perera, writing in Firstpost, captures the problem around this callousnesssuccinctly,

By tweeting, the President was only addressing the people who actually knew of whatwas happening via the same social channels. Because while the news was gettingout, it was only getting out to the minuscule portion of the Sri Lankan population with

access to social media.

This meant that for a majority of the people – and most importantly for thepeople affected on the ground – their leaders had not spoken. They had

chosen to turn a blind eye to the inflammatory speech made byGalagodaaththe Gnanasara, the leader of the extremist Sinhala group, the

Bodu Bala Sena which started the violence.When combined with the downright bizarre responses to the violence by Sri Lanka’sdiplomatic corps, the question must be asked – how much faith can one have in thegovernment to reign in perpetrators and high-level architects of this outrageous

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violence, including thugs garbed in saffron, when it can’t even issue an officialstatement?As was accurately observed on Twitter,Vidura @ApelankaweFollow

 With 2 tweets in two days responding to carnage in #Aluthgama @PresRajapaksa is

giving good competition to JR's indierence to !" riots

10:51 AM - 17 Jun 2014