aluthgama report final

Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusions
There was evidence that the hate speech cultivating hate sentiment against Muslims had had
an extremely deleterious effect on communities’ perceptions of one another. The fact that
rumours circulating in the aftermath spoke of violent attacks by Muslims against monks and
temples, and that the people believed such stories to the extent that they joined mobs that
were perpetrating violence against Muslims is a sad comment on the state of law and order in
society.
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 transition from war to peace, or the manner in which
southern Muslims’ sensibilities were affected. The government response attempted to downplay
the seriousness of the incident and mitigates the damage to its reputation in the
international arena. The government response suggests that its concern was with regard to
dealing with perceptions that the government was unstable, or racist: to manage the narratives
emerging out of the events in a way that did not damage their reputation. In doing so, the
government lost the opportunity to do the necessary reconciliation work among the
communities. The government also reinstituted the idea of Muslim marginality, Buddhist
superiority and the fact that the BBS could act with impunity. It also exposed the limitations
of the government’s capacity to understand the extent to which such incidents affect
individuals and communities. Even the swift response of the government to rebuild homes
and buildings suggests that the government’s strategy is to deal with only infrastructure
problems. The larger, more complex and serious issues of community relations, minority
insecurities, majority dominance were ignored or not even recognized.
In addition to the attacks on Muslim houses in Dharga Town, six houses in Pathirajagoda and
one house on Mihiripenna Road belonging to Sinhalese were also attacked. The attacks in
Pathirajagoda occurred at the same time as the other attacks in Dharga Town. One Sinhala
house in Adhikharigoda was attacked later in what may have been a retaliation. The attacks
on the Pathirajagoda houses occurred at the same time as those on the Muslim houses in
Dharga Town and we feel therefore that they could not have been in retaliation. While we
acknowledge the victims’ testimonies that they recognized neighbors among Muslim persons
who showed the mobs the way, evidence indicates that the mobs that attacked the Sinhala
homes were organized and carried out the attacks in a manner similar to those who attacked
Muslim houses. The similarities include minimal harm to persons, organized and systematic
looting of jewelry and cash, using domestic materials including furniture, books and car tyres
for the burning. These similarities speak not to a spontaneous attack either by Sinhala mobs
or by Muslim neighbors but part of a larger organizing strategy. It is also curious that the
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