Thread by @TheBunLady1

#SriLankaBombings
I have read so many commentaries on Easter day bombings in Sri Lanka. Many are way off the mark and show complete lack of knowledge of Sri Lanka and its Muslim community.

Some strategic thinkers and opinion writers have not done homework of reading.

Thread

Now that ISIS has claimed the bombings, let's us keep aside the 'who did it.' Was it carried out by them or inspired by them? We do not know, yet.

theguardian.com/world/2019/apr…

Sri Lanka has had a very tough ethno-religious conflict. The genesis of its Civil war was not started because of Tamil-Sinhala linguistic conflict but actually by Hindu-Buddhist conflict. It just happened that language and religion were almost divided identically.

In 1951, an organisation wanted to "to examine the question of giving Buddhism its rightful place in the land." Remember, the country in 1951 and even now is majority Buddhist and are ruled by Buddhists. This was denied by government. But they went ahead with an unofficial report

To oversimplify it but not inaccurately describe it - the report said that Buddhists were victims under colonialism and Christian missionaries and institutions were given preference.

Remember this - it started as a victimhood.

Then came one of the most important elections in Sri Lanka - the 1956 elections. Without studying this election, years preceding it and after, no one can understand the Sri Lankan conflict.

In short - the election was rallied on the basis of religion and Buddhism won.

Language followed religion. Sri Lanka didnt have many Tamil Speaking Buddhists. In fact, I am not sure whether it had any or has any. When 1956 elections determined the primacy of religion, it didnt bother much to the other ethnic group, Tamils.

Then came the blow - Sinhalese was given precedence in education and government. The shift from Religion to language was very fast. In fact, it moved in tandem.

Once the passion was whipped on religious lines, by taking references from past, the Tamils were seen as outsiders.

The act was called as "Sinhala Only Act" - how terrible!

It doesnt stand today. But it officially started then.

Lets rewind a litte and travel to 1915.
Unknown to many, in 1915, there was a Buddhist Muslim riots in Sri Lanka. And more funnily, it was because of what then colonial masters considered our music as noise. Yes, you read that right.

1915 contd: Police took a decision to divert a Buddhist procession from a Mosque and there was a riot.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/lseih/2018/03/…

Before you jump, I am not the one who will justify what happened on Easter or even give reasoning for any act of violence. So chill :-)

So what you had in Sri Lanka is a religious majority which saw itself as victim of discriminatory colonial practices.

There are two 'others' in Independent Sri Lanka. It manifested in many ways - ethnicity, language, religion etc. But all came back to Buddhist victimhood.

But from 1956, it revolved around Sinhala-Tamil issues.

Tamils wanted equal rights. That was all they wanted. When equal rights were constitutionally denied, they wanted more autonomy and finally a separate state. No amount of spin will change these facts.

When the actual conflict broke out, Muslims decided they were not part of this and there were clashes between Sri Lankan Muslims and LTTE.

But the larger point here is that even the Tamil Speaking Muslim population of Sri Lanka didnt want a separate Eelam.

They infact believed that a Tamil state in north and east of Sri Lanka was detrimental to thier rights. In 1990, a prominent leader threatened violence.

nytimes.com/1990/01/11/wor…

Promptly, LTTE ordered Muslims to leave the Northeast. Yes, they were just ordered.
It is to be noted that there cannot be any good and bad segregation in conflicts. All conflicts invariably will find heroes and villians in same group.

The civil war continued and no one bothered to study Muslim politics in Sri Lanka as the bigger conflict was Tamil- Sinhala conflict.

The global Muslim narratives which started in 1970s went largely unnoticed in Sri Lanka but had captured its own place there.

When Genocide of Tamils was completed, the focus turned to Muslims. Left unnoticed, there were minor issues but simmering issues persisted.

After the war, the focus was on reconciliation and there were pointers to funamentalism even then. This is from 2007. But the seeds of it were sown long back.

hindustantimes.com/world/rise-of-…

It didnt stop in 2007 and it came back to the fore after the war ended in 2009.

One said "the Muslim political establishment, which had aggressively supported the war against the LTTE that killed more than 40,000 innocent Tamils, can win their demands from the government" 😢

When a war ends, people are there to enjoy the spoils. This is not new. But it was just tragic. The same person also noted that fundamentalism was growing in Muslim population.

asianews.it/news-en/The-Mu…

History rolls and we just miss its markers all over. Ironically, the Rajapakse regime, after wiping out LTTE presence turned to Muslims. The Sri Lankan state did know the trouble it was grappling. I am not sure why it was not pursued.

thestar.com/news/world/201…

That was not some visionary identifying a threat. Far from it. There were clashes and attacks aimed at Muslims by Buddhists who were by then emboldened after the war.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-asi…

This was post 2001 and era of internet. It was easy to train minds into fundamentalism. The role of Wahabi ideas into Easter attacks must be academically studied with respect to Sri Lankan realities.

Now let's come back to this hitherto unknown organisation "National Thowheed Jamath."

In a bizzare news, it must be noted that one 'Thowheed Jamath' (there are more than one Thowheed Jamath) and another Buddhist right wing org was funded by same group.

srilankamirror.com/news/796-thowh…

The impact of this organisation in everyday life is unknown now. But what can be said is that various Thowheed Jamaths have wielded influnces. It is important not to confuse names and paint all in one stroke. It is easy to get carried away.

There is a Thowheed Jamath in Tamil Nadu, India as well. Let us not confuse the two. There are more than one Thowheed Jamaths in Lanka. So, it is better to be utmost cautious before we throw the name and spoil image of an entire org.

In initial analysis:
1. Islamic fundamentalism has turned into violent extremism in Lanka
2. There is a local flavour. It is directed against Christians now but it could have been anyone.
3. There is a global narrative that leads to this barbarity.

However the investigations go, this will inevitably touch shores in India, especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

A prayer for those who lost their lives and those who are hurt.
(End)