I am really surprised that such a country would be involved in racism. A country that is famous for Buddhists who practice and learn the Dharma. What is going on there is really heartbreaking as people's lives are at stake, some died and many homeless just because of religion. Please do not defame Buddhism like this especially when you have vows and in robes. Do not use Buddhism as a reason to be nasty and naive. But have wisdom and compassion instead like what the Buddha taught.
Aluthgama, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- In the areas surrounding the southwest Sri Lankan town of Aluthgama, an idyllic coastal settlement popular with tourists, Muslims and Buddhists have lived side by side peacefully for generations.
But a wave of deadly communal violence that followed a rally Sunday by hardline Buddhist nationalist monks has changed that.
"The house I owned was burnt down. My family has nowhere to go," Muhsin Shihab, a father of eight children, told CNN Tuesday. His family, which has been sheltering at a local mosque since being displaced by the rioting, hadn't eaten for a day and a half, he said.
The rally, organized by the far-right Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force), was called in response to an alleged altercation in the area between a group of young Muslims and a Buddhist monk and his driver on an important Buddhist religious holiday days earlier. Addressing the crowd of thousands Sunday, the BBS's leader, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, gave an inflammatory speech.
Video footage from the event shows the orange-robed monk using derogatory terms for Muslims and, to approving roars from the crowd, vowing that if any Muslim laid a hand on a member of the Sinhalese majority -- let alone a monk -- that would "be the end" of them.
After the rally, Buddhist mobs marched through Muslim neighborhoods, torching and destroying dozens of homes and shops, witnesses told CNN. Following consecutive nights of violence, in which local medical staff say at least four people were killed and sixteen seriously injured, those made homeless by the rioting were sheltering in the town's main mosque Tuesday, shell-shocked and fearful of what may come next.
'A nightmare'
Among them was Fasniya Fairooz, an 80-year-old grandmother of three, who was at home when the mob stormed into her house in Seenawatte, a local village comprised of Sinhalese and Muslims. "We pleaded with the attackers not to harm us. They used abusive language," she said. "They took the Holy Quran and burnt it outside... Then they looted the house." I have lost all my belongings. My house was burnt down. All I own today are the clothes my children wear. Her family had nowhere to go, she said.
Ahmed Rahamatulla, a father of four from Seenawatte, was also made homeless by the riots.
"I have lost all my belongings. My house was burnt down. All I own today are the clothes my children wear," he said.
"I don't know where to go from here. My children are all frightened and in a state of shock."
The surrounding area is in lockdown in the aftermath of the rioting, the country's worst communal violence in years. Soldiers on armored troop carriers watch over once bustling streets; shutters are drawn on the charred remains of arson-hit stores.
In a nearby house, U.S. citizen Rameeza Nizar, 47, found herself unexpectedly stranded in her bedridden mother's home during a visit from Washington D.C. for a family event. "Every night has been a nightmare," she told CNN. "We have not slept for fear there would be attacks. We kept our lights switched off but remained together inside the house."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/19/world/asia/sri-lanka-muslim-aluthgama/
Police officers on a street in Aluthgama as shops burn. A curfew has been put in place to prevent further violence.
Sri Lankan Muslims leave seeking sanctuary following mob attacks by a hardline Buddhist group.
