aluthgama report final

Senenayake were present. While there was an invitation extended to both Muslim and
Buddhist clergy in the area, the Ven. Gnanasara of the BBS had arrived with his own
entourage. At the outset, it is interesting that state representatives considered it necessary to
invite the Ven. Gnanasara to the meeting given that the meeting in Aluthgama and his speech
at the meeting were regarded by many to have had a role to play in the violence. We believe
that it speaks to the government’s agenda of limiting the story of Aluthgama to the version
propagated by the BBS. Our informant stated that at that meeting it was agreed that forces
will be deployed from the east in order to control the situation, and additionally there was an
understanding between the Ven.Gnanasara and the IGP to release seven of the eleven people
who were arrested in connection with the incident. In exchange, the Ven. Gnanasara had
agreed to cancel the scheduled BBS meeting in Mawanella. We were also told that during the
discussion several persons had attempted to state ideas that were contrary to BBS ideology.
In one instance when Minister Kumara Welgama had made an intervention, the Ven.
Gnanasara had shouted him down resulting in Kumara Welgama being asked to leave the
room. 74
Official Statements on the Aluthgama Riots: The Sri Lankan Government
representatives
The first response to Aluthgama from the executive was via a tweet from President Rajapaksa
who urged people to remain calm. As will be documented in the next section, the media
coverage of the attack in the aftermath was limited and the government consistently
attempted to downplay the incident and to propagate a narrative regarding the incident that
did not take account of all the contributing elements. At no point did the government
acknowledge either the extent of the violence, the severe breakdown of relations in the
affected areas, the seriousness of the fact that an event of this nature occurred in the period of
transitioning from war to peace, or the manner in which southern Muslims’ sensibilities were
affected. In its attempts to downplay the seriousness of the incidents, the government lost the
opportunity to engage in necessary reconciliation work among the communities. In doing so
the government reinstituted the idea of Muslim marginality, Sinhala Buddhist superiority and
the fact that the BBS could act with impunity.
For instance, the State Response to queries into the incident at the ongoing UNHRC meeting
related the following sequence of event:
On 12 th June, a Buddhist monk was assaulted by three Muslim youth, following a
dispute. The three suspects were produced before the Magistrate and remanded, while
the monk, who made a statement to the Police, was admitted to hospital.
74 JHU provincial council member Udaya Gamapila in an article in the Ceylon Today of 6 th July 2014 refers to
this meeting on the 16 th and reiterates the narrative of a peaceful procession being pelted with stones while
passing the mosque. It also includes the disputed story of the monk being assaulted as fact, and attributes the
story to the IGP.
| 49