Muslim Ministers of the Sri Lankan Government today expressed their “unequivocal and unreserved” condemnation on the Saturday’s attack on a Muslim Prayer center in Grandpass, Colombo calling the attack premeditated and planned.
The group of Muslim ministers in a joint statement requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa to immediately conduct an independent investigation into the “sad and dastardly act of violence” inflicted on the devotees assembled in the mosque for prayers.
The Muslim ministers asked the President to instruct law enforcement agencies to apprehend and punish the perpetrators of the “anti-national act.”
They said the lukewarm and ineffective measures taken by the law enforcement agencies on previous occasions when Muslim communities and their mosques were deliberately attacked seemed to have emboldened the extremist groups to create chaos in the country.
“The notion that there are elements in our society who can act with impunity should be totally eradicated from the public perception that has now taken root in our society,” they said in the statement.
The Muslim Ministers said the latest incident has created tension and fear among the Muslim communities in Colombo.
The group urged the President to take a decisive action to halt the trend of “openly espousing religious hatred” towards the Muslim community.
The Ministers asked the President to take urgent measures to pay compensation to the victims and set up a credible institutional mechanism to ensure inter religious harmony.
“The State has a fundamental duty to ensure that our religious freedom is preserved in this multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation,” they noted.
The Ministers appealed to the President and the Buddhist prelates to take appropriate action to halt the mob violence and zealotry.
Senior Minister A.H.M. Fowzie, Ministers Rauf Hakeem, Rishad Bathiyutheen, A.L.M. Athaullah, and Basheer Segu Dawood, and Deputy Ministers M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, Faizer Mustapha and A.R.M. Abdul Cader signed the joint statement.
COURTESY:COLOMBO PAGE