BBS monk claims demands for Muslim burial are linked to “extremism”

Galagoda Gnanasara, an extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk, has made the unfounded claim that “Wahhabi groups are infiltrating society on the issue of cremation or burial of Muslims who die due to coronavirus”.

The monk stated the allowing for proper burial was allowing “Muslim extremism” to grow and the government should not allow it.

Gnanasara serves as the general secretary for Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), An organisation accused of racially charged hate campaigns and is currently an MP.

In recent months monks from the group stated that if Tamil demanded devolution a “river of blood will flow in the North and East”. Gnanasara said

“The Tamils have to willingly cooperate with the government and the Sinhalese during the Rajapaksas’ reign,” the extremist monks continued. “This is a Sinhala-Buddhist state. Therefore, we call upon the Tamils to not stray away but instead travel alongside the Sinhalese.

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) is particularly notorious, earlier this year Facebook banned Gnanasara from its platform due to his racist rhetoric. The International Crisis Group reported in 2013 that the attacks BBS carried out against Muslims energised Islamic fundamentalism in the country.

Gnanasara was pardoned in 2019 by President Sirisena after being convicted of harassing the wife of a journalist.

Read more from Lanka’s News Web.

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button

 

Business

Music

The website encountered an unexpected error. Try again later.