{"id":17610,"date":"2013-03-03T20:49:03","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T01:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=17610"},"modified":"2013-03-03T20:49:03","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T01:49:03","slug":"bodhu-bala-sena-stages-massive-anti-muslim-rally-at-the-rajapaksa-family-stronghold-weeraketiya-in-hambantota-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=17610","title":{"rendered":"Bodhu Bala Sena Stages Massive Anti-Muslim Rally at the Rajapaksa Family Stronghold Weeraketiya in Hambantota District"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <\/p>\n<p>Dharisha Bastians<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> The Joint Opposition laid the blame for rising anti-Muslim sentiment squarely on President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s shoulders yesterday, after the Bodu Bala Sena held a massive anti-Halal demonstration in Weeraketiya, in the Hambantota District on Saturday (2).<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n Addressing a media briefing of the UNP led Vipakshaye Virodhaya, Colombo Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil said the town in the deep south was Rajapaksa country.Weeraketiya is in the heart of the President\u2019s kingdom,\u201d he charged.<\/p>\n<p> Muzammil said that the Government had made no move to prevent the anti-Muslim rally in Weeraketiya even though it was clearly well within their power to do so. He stated that the President was making statements about fostering harmony between communities but took no action when it came to anti-Muslim sentiment spreading in the heart of his electorate.<\/p>\n<p> The Colombo Mayor said that the message to the rest of the island was clear by the Government\u2019s inaction in the south.<br \/>\n\u201cIt is a clear license for the anti-Muslim groups to hold these rallies and demonstrations anywhere in the country \u2013 if it can be held in Weeraketiya where the Government enjoys the most support,\u201d Muzammil said.<\/p>\n<p> The Colombo Mayor charged that the protest in Weeraketiya proved there was more to the anti-Halal movement than meets the eye.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Government is failing in the handling of the Halal issue,\u201d Muzammil told the media.<\/p>\n<p> He said that it was regrettable that the Government was dismissing the compromise offered by the All Ceylon Jamaiythul Ulama (ACJU) for the Halal certification process to be taken over by a State institution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow can the Government say it doesn\u2019t involve itself in religious matters when it facilitates the Haj Pilgrimage with the Muslim ministers every year?\u201d the Mayor queried.<br \/>\n<em>COURTESY:DailyFT<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"tweetbutton17610\" class=\"tw_button\" style=\"float:right;margin-left:10px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdbsjeyaraj.com%2Fdbsj%2F%3Fp%3D17610&amp;text=Bodhu%20Bala%20Sena%20Stages%20Massive%20Anti-Muslim%20Rally%20at%20the%20Rajapaksa%20Family%20Stronghold%20Weeraketiya%20in%20Hambantota...%20&amp;related=&amp;lang=en&amp;count=horizontal\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  style=\"width:55px;height:22px;background:transparent url('https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-tweet-button\/tweetn.png') no-repeat  0 0;text-align:left;text-indent:-9999px;display:block;\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dharisha Bastians The Joint Opposition laid the blame for rising anti-Muslim sentiment squarely on President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s shoulders yesterday, after the Bodu Bala Sena held a massive anti-Halal demonstration in Weeraketiya, in the Hambantota District on Saturday (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17610"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17612,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17610\/revisions\/17612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}