SRI
LANKAN GOVERNMENT URGED TO PROBE ANTI-MUSLIM HATE CRIMES
S
ri Lanka-based Western diplomats have urged the
Colombo government to investigate anti-Muslim hate crimes after a series
of attacks targeted mosques and Muslim-owned businesses on the
Buddhist-majority island.
Tung-Lai
Margue, the European Union delegation chief, in a statement demanded the
government to ensure perpetrators were prosecuted swiftly.
"It is
important that the government and the police ensure that there is no impunity
for hate crimes," Margue said.
Margue made the
remarks after he visited the Dewatagaha mosque on Thursday in Sri Lanka's
capital to express solidarity with Muslims in the wake of the attacks.
He was
accompanied by top diplomats from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway,
South Africa and Switzerland.
Sri Lankan law
enforcement agencies have yet to make any arrests in connection with a series
of arson attacks which targeted mosques, shops and a cemetery in recent weeks.
The attacks
have been blamed on a hardline Buddhist leader who is now on the run.
Rights groups
have accused Sri Lankan security forces of failing to stop a series of hate
crimes and not prosecuting a controversial Buddhist monk who went into hiding
last week.
Activists have
warned that police inaction could spur communal unrest similar to anti-Muslim
riots in 2014 that left four dead.
The riots in
mid-2014 were widely seen as the catalyst that led to then president Mahinda
Rajapakse's downfall in January 2015.
President Maithripala
Sirisena had vowed to investigate anti-Muslim hate crimes after assuming
power in 2015.
Muslims make up
10 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million population. They have, however, emerged as
kingmakers in a country where the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community is split
down the middle between two national parties.
Muslims have
called on the government to protect them from hate attacks by Buddhists. READ MORE
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