District reconciliation committees to resolve ethnic, religious issues

President Maithripala Sirisena has proposed to set up district level national reconciliation committees to resolve ethnic and religious issues.

The District Secretary is to be appointed as the convener of these committees. Cabinet also released a statement condemning the recent attacks on Muslim shops,

businesses and religious institutions and directed the Attorney General to expedite action taken against all perpetrators.

The media however questioned as to why no action has been taken against the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary, Ven. Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thera whose organisation is alleged to be involved in many of the incidents and has four police teams after him on contempt of court charges.

Co-cabinet spokesperson, Minister Rajitha Senaratne and Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara addressing the weekly Cabinet briefing however assured that the Police will soon take necessary action.

Q. Azath Sally has stated that a government minister is providing protection to Ven. Gnanasara Thera?

Minister Senaratne: Minister Champika Ranawaka’s name had come up in relation to the BBS but he made a statement in Cabinet yesterday saying that he had no connection to them and that it was Attorney-at-law Manohara De Silva who was representing them. Silva happens to be working for Mahinda Rajapaksa and he knows where he is.

Q. Why is there a delay in arresting him?

A. They will arrest him soon.

Q. In the burning of the factory in Nawalapitiya, Minister Hakeem stated that it had been set on fire but the owner said it was due to an electrical failure. Won’t such statements harm reconciliation?

Minister Senaratne: Yes, unnecessary problems crop up when statements are made without people knowing the full facts.

Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara: The police must be allowed to do their work. If Azath Sally is making such statements, he must give these details to the Police so they can carry out their investigations. Simply alleging that a minister is involved will not solve anything. Ministers do not have any need to hide anyone. We all want action to be taken and the process of reconciliation to go ahead. We are ready to take action against any force which is against that.

Q. When the shops in Maharagama were set on fire no action was taken?

Minister Senaratne: As ministers we need to take action not talk. When the shops were initially burnt, I called the IGP and asked him to take action but he said it was some other case. But then I said there have been 23 such cases so far, all cannot be something else. Muslim MPs then showed me CCTV footage of the shops being set on fire and I showed it to the Police and thereafter they found who was responsible. The police are working on arresting other suspects related to these attacks.

The suspect has admitted to be a member of the BBS and he had participated in many of their protests. Thereafter we only had one incident reported in Mahiyangana where a shop run by a Muslim was set on fire.

This government did not come into power on the race card. On January 8, we won on a platform against racism and we showed that Sinhalese politicians can win without using racism to stir ethnic tensions and violence and by standing for rights of all. So the government will stand by that principle and take action against any who go against that.

Q. How can you put the blame on Gnanasara Thera alone? There are many monks who are supporting him, do you not think this is a conspiracy to get him arrested?

Minister Jayasekara: On one side you have people saying that Muslims with the intervention of certain politicians are grabbing lands, on the other side Gnanasara and groups have come under attack for religious violence. The actions of both these groups are affecting national unity and reconciliation. We have the police, archaeology department and other government institutions to solve these issues but without letting them do their job, these people jump in and scold those officials.

The more people who try to take it into their own hands, there will be more problems between ethnic groups. As a government we want to resolve this issue but we are being accused of taking sides

Minister Senaratne: From the time this government came into power, the number of incidents have decreased. We are at least looking for Gnanasara Thera, what did the previous regime do? What happened to Aluthgama? No action taken

Q. The current government promised an investigation into Aluthgama too. What action have you taken with that regard?

Minister Senaratne: I am not sure, I will have to find out about that. 

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