On Wednesday the 25th of September 2019 Tamil Solidarity called a protest outside the Sri Lankan High Commission condemning the latest atrocity that has been committed by the racist chauvinistic Buddhist monks.
Over 100 protesters mostly the young Tamils in the UK took a stand to condemn the racist and illegal actions committed by the state, its security forces and Buddhist monks.
On the 23rd of September 2019, a Buddhist mob led by monks defied a court order to cremate the body of a Buddhist monk on a piece of land that is considered holy by Hindu worshippers. The startling fact is that this was implemented with the help of the police whilst Hindu worshippers and lawyers protested over the illegal and immoral actions committed by the country’s religious leaders and security forces.
This is not just an issue of Hindu religious minorities demanding their rights. This goes to the heart of the problems now faced by the Tamil minority, in general – in terms of how they are treated in Sri Lanka. Chauvinist Buddhist monks did this to provocative action to assert their domination and superiority. This is not just about conducting a funeral service to a monk. Good monks have enjoyed respect from all communities. But this act of violence is designed by the openly racist monks – not to conduct a funeral service – but to politicize the whole event to belittle the Tamil community. Hence the reason this act provoked enormous anger and disgust among many from all communities.
Local Tamils who protested the cremation of the body on holy land were kettled in by senior ranking police officers, creating a safe passage for the monks and its mob to carry out their provocative act without any kind of obstruction.
Even after a court order, which prohibited the cremation of a Buddhist monk on land owned by the Neeriyadi Pillayar Hindu Kovil can only spell out the obvious. The minorities in the land of Sri Lanka have no real basic rights, let alone democratic. It begs to ask the question if court orders are not respected by the very security forces of Sri Lanka, what chance do the minorities have in getting the justice to which they have been denied for decades?
The people who live around the Neeriyadi Pillayar temple in Mullaitivu have been protesting regarding land grab long before this issue. These people ended up getting violently beaten up by the racist mob under police watch. Not long ago the muslims of the Island were targeted whilst the police and other security forces spectated. Budhist monks were heard asking ‘did you not know Buddhism receives first rights in Sri Lanka’?
Therefore the demands that were laid out by TS on the 25th of September 2019 were:
- Stop the racist Buddhist chauvinistic oppression on the minorities.
- Reinstate the minorities right to their lands and livelihoods.
- Allow people’s freedom of speech and the right to protest.
- Stop the racist Buddhist violence on the minorities.
- Justice to the victims
- Respect the right to religion and stop land grab
Ketheswaran
