Muslim lawmaker Mujibur Rahuman has filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) against Bodu Bala Sena monk Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero. On television and social media he had made comments that induced hatred towards the Sri Lankan Muslim community.

The monk claimed the mastermind behind 2019’s Easter bombing was Allah and that a similar attack would occur in the future. Rahuman claimed that with these remarks, Thero was hiding information about a possible future attack. Thero also made hateful statements against Muslims such as they were walking bombs. He has served six months in prison before for intimidation someone in court and has been accused of hate crimes and anti-Muslim violence before. He received a presidential pardon within a few months of his sentence.

Father Cyril Gamini, former director of the National Catholic Center for Social Communications also asked for an in-depth investigation into the possibility of another attack due to Thero’s comments.

Nearly a month ago, 22 Sri Lankan Muslim organizations had condemned the terror scene which took place in New Zealand. These outlier incidents have nothing to do with those organizations, yet due to hate speech propaganda from people such as Thero, condemnations are made. The person who committed the heinous crimes may have been of Sri Lankan origin, but their actions do not represent others.

While attending the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris invited the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Yousef Al-Outhaimeen to come to Sri Lanka to witness developments as well as different communities living and working together while keeping their own identities. The Secretary General had been concerned about communities living in isolation because it could create division.

Of note, Groundviews has a piece on how the Rajapaksa family used the Buddhist-Sinhala majority to win the Sri Lankan vote. The author writes of two anti-Muslim riots within the last ten years, anti-Muslim progaganda accelerated by prominent monks, and how Sri Lanka’s destiny is falsey tied to that of the Rajapaksas. The author says it is false to believe that the country will fall if the Rajapaksa family does.