The ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has shocked the
world and drawn attention to rising Islamophobia in Asia. Now Muslims in
Sri Lanka are under dire threat as well.
The similarities with Myanmar are striking and foreboding. Buddhist
monks are at the forefront of the rising hatred, the government is
taking sides against Muslims and attacks have begun.
Full scale violence is threatening to break out to create another
catastrophe for Muslims in the region. There have already been a series
of attacks on mosques and Muslim places of work.
Hard line, ultra nationalist groups led by Buddhist monks such as Buddhist Strength Force (BBS)
and Sinhala Echo preach the same message as those of the Buddhist
Rakhine in Myanmar: “Muslims are taking over, they are building too many
mosques and are trying to destroy our culture.”
On this week’s INFocus we document the rising crisis in Sri Lanka and
attempt to bring the world’s attention to the issue before it’s too
late.
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