NPP government-Muslims ignored ?

In the immediate aftermath of late Prime Minister Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranaike’s United Front government was elected to power in May 1970 there were reports of leftist youths attacking police stations to establish a socialist government .

I was keen to find out more about to write an article for Sunday Observer where I was employed. I managed to meet Mahinda Wijesekara, President of “ Deshapremi Student Front of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, JVP, who later became a minister, with two young Buddhist monks at wanathamulla at Borella at night.

He said they wanted to wipe out everything to do with capitalism including the closure of American Embassy in Colombo and uproot all tea plantations described as symbol of European colonialism . The article providing an in depth view was published in the Sunday Observer on the third week of August 1970.

In April 1971 the JVP violent uprising shook the country. Analyzing the uprising eminent lawyer and veteran leftist politician Dr Colvin R,De Silva gave a detailed account in his book “April 1971-A foredoomed Ultra leftist Adventure”.

In the 21 July 1977 elections J.R Jayewardene led United National Party won a landslide victory with 140 0f 168 seats. JR’s government opened the economy and brought economic relief to suffering people. His presidential constitution turned the country into an elected dictatorship.

However the July 1983 violent riots against Tamils led to armed Tamil separatist movements which turned the island into a killing field . The separatist war also brought Indian armed forces and Israelis who were earlier expelled .

The end of 30 year separatist war was a golden opportunity to bring communities together,heal the wounds, and march towards a stable country . Instead the government adopted racist policies and opened the country to Israel and India dismissing Muslims

who feared their presence in view of their extreme hostility towards Muslims .

Equally frightening for Muslims was the Rajapaksa government’s growing ties with India’s thrice banned Rastriya Seva Sangh -RSS -front BJP government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi known for their hostility towards Islam and Muslims. Modi , as chief minister of Gujarat, was accused of instigating the anti Muslim carnage on Gujarat where more than 2000 Muslims were killed besides causing billions of damage to Muslim owned property.

It was a strange coincidence that while Sri Lanka’s relations continue to warm up with India and Israel the government backed Sinhala racist elements began unleashing violence against peaceful Muslims which culminated in the Easter Sunday Massacre .

Short sighted and destructive violent racist politics, widespread crime and corruption, declining law and order situation and several other factors led to economic bankruptcy forcing the country to turn to International Monetary Fund .

Meanwhile Israelis started penetrating the island. The poor coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza by the local media indicate that Israeli have successfully penetrated the local medias to hide their almost three year old ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

Equally threatening is the island’s growing ties with BJP ruled India extremely hostile to Muslims and responsible for ongoing violence against Muslims in North India.

India’s expansionist design on Sri Lanka has been common knowledge since partition in 1947 .Indian statesman and diplomat K.M. Panicker once said that Sri Lanka holds critical geopolitical significance for India. In his 1945 writings, including India and the Indian Ocean,Panicker argued that India’s security is indivisible from the island's, asserting that the Indian Ocean region must remain fundamentally under Indian strategic influence .

Panicker viewed Sri Lanka as the crucial "sentinel" of the Indian subcontinent. His core views on the island nation include ;

• Naval Domination: He warned that any hostile power dominating Sri Lanka's strategic ports,such as Trincomalee, would pose an existential threat to peninsula India.

• Maritime Defense Integration: He advocated that Indian security calculations must inherently include the island, paving the way for the defense agreements that later shaped modern Indo-Lankan relations.

Thus the US-Israel and India had their own agendas on Sri Lanka. Their presence is graduallyresulting in the erosion of the Island’s political freedom won after four and centuries of Portuguese, Dutch and British rule.

The growing Indian-Israeli ties were such that Amnesty International in its latest report titled,“ India arms Israeli genocide” said India supplied 2596 ship load of weapons to Israel to facilitate its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. This shows the growing relations between India and Sri Lanka and their spy networks Mossad and RAW.

This is the reason why many are concerned about the island’s growing ties with Israel and India especially at a time when many countries in the world distance themselves from Israel due to its ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza .

Meanwhile people voted for JVP’s new version National Political Party –NPP- to power with two-thirds parliamentary majority in November 2024, winning 159 out of 225 seats. Most Muslims also voted for NPP in the hope their grievances will be attended to .

However the first shock for Muslims came when the NPP government formed its new cabinet of ministers without a Muslim which has been the right of the community since independence in1948. Furthermore when the speaker of the parliament resigned Muslims expected the deputy Speaker, a Muslim, to succeed . However it was not done .

Muslims were not seen in most of the government committees and commissions and this indifference became the talking point among disillusioned Muslims. Then came the new delimitation commission without Muslim members.

And now comes the uniform controversy of Muslim nurses triggered by Kalmunai North Hospital which refused to allow nine Muslim nurses for wearing hijab.Already former Parliamentarian Mohamed Harees has accused the involvement of Israeli in triggering this unwanted crisis.

The government, temporarily transferred the nurses to Asharf memorial hospital .However Muslims feel that this decision rewards racists.

Similar crisis was triggered in April 2018 when the Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College in Trincomalee management and principal prohibited four Muslim assistant teachers from wearing the traditional hijab to work.

Later the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) ruled that prohibiting Muslim teachers from wearing the traditional Abaya/Hijab at Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College in Trincomalee was a direct violation of the Sri Lankan Constitution.

The landmark ruling established that national schools cannot enforce local dress customs that override absolute constitutional and fundamental human right

In an article titled SC Orders Govt. Institutes To Permit ‘Hijab’ published on 24 July 2014 in the London based website Colombo Telegraph had this to state;“De facto Chief Justice Mohan Pieris in the Supreme Court today recalling a visit he made to an

international school in Colombo in which Muslim students were dressed in traditional Punjabi attire and said that “I see no reason why this should not be permitted”. Isn’t it time the government introduce a gazette notification allowing Muslims girls to wear

hijab ‘abaya in all government and private sector establishment?

Latheef Farook