aluthgama report final

seem to work against religious kinship and peaceful coexistence, neither in Sri Lanka nor in
any other country. 14
The BBS held its first National Convention at the BMICH on 28 th July 2012 with over 1200
bhikkhus and 300 bhikkhunis attending the event. 15 The head of the Bodu Bala Sena and
Director of the Buddhist Cultural Centre Nedimala, Ven. Kirama Vimalajothithera presented
the five resolutions passed at the conference. The first of such resolutions required the
government to take serious note of the dwindling growth rate of the Sinhala Buddhist
population and to put an end to the family planning surgeries and stop promotional payments
made by the government to doctors and the persons undergoing such surgeries. Secondly, it
was resolved to amend laws as the existing legal system based on Roman-Dutch and English
law is insufficient to protect and safeguard the rights and identities of local Buddhists.
Thirdly, they called for reforms in the educational system with a view to prioritizing religious
education. The fourth resolution demanded the government to implement recommendations
of the Buddha Sasana Commission report of November 1959. The fifth resolution called for a
regulatory body to supervise the content of books and other materials on Buddhism and to do
away with those that had distorted the doctrine. 16
Bodu Bala Sena gets vocal
Since then the Bodu Bala Sena has engaged in various protests against Islamic ‘extremism’
locally and globally. They protested in Badulla against the vandalism of Buddhagaya by the
Mujahideen terrorist group. 17 One of the early incidents of tensions created by BBS was in
January 2013 in Buwelikada, a town near Kandy where a group of Sinhala youth travelling in
a bus began a quarrel with Muslims, claiming that a van had obstructed the road resulting in a
clash that had several Muslims injured and hospitalized. 18 Anti-Muslim posters had been
pasted all over the town, Buddhist flags had been forcibly placed atop Muslim houses and
businesses and loudspeakers with Buddhist religious preaching had been installed on a
Muslim business building. The Police Special Task Force (STF) was unable to prevent or
punish the offenders. 19
In April 2012 a fire-bomb attack was directed against a mosque in the city of Dambulla,
following which 2,000 Buddhists including monks stormed the mosque demanding its
demolition claiming it was built illegally. 20 While the Prime Minister ordered for the
14 See “Statement regarding the alleged connection between BoduBalaSena and Norway”, 20 June 2014 as
found at www.norway.lk.
15 See “Buddhist clergy wants birth control operations banned”, The Island, 29 July 2012.
16 Ibid.
17 See “Bodu Bala Sena protest”, Daily Mirror, 25 October 2012.
18 See “Sri Lankan Buddhist chauvinists provoke violence against Muslims”, World Socialist Web Site, 9
January 2013.
19 Ibid.
20 See, “Sri Lankan Muslims Strike over Dambulla Mosque”, BBC, 26 April 2012.
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