SL MUSLIM HISTORY - ලක්මව ඉස්ලාමයෙන් දූෂණය වූ ආකාරය


MUSLIM  HISTORY AND INVOLVEMENT  IN  SRI LANKA
 
 
The history of Muslims in Sri Lanka starts with a small groups of Muslim traders arriving from South India for purposes of trade in the late 14th century or some 700 years ago. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that Muslims were permanent inhabitants of Sri Lanka at that time. Being tradesmen, they came got what they wanted and left. It should be stated emphatically, that there were no Muslim settlements in Sri Lanka for 1000 years as erroneously claimed by some quarters. The Muslims of South India were descendents of Arab traders.  
 
 
Settling down in Sri Lanka of some Muslim merchants from South India took place during the late 14th to early 16th century period. This was a politically unstable period in Sri Lanka owing to invasions and atrocities of Tamil speaking South Indian Dravidians and later by the ruthless Portuguese. It was the period when the capital city of the traditional Sinhala kingdom – Polonnaruwa, had to be abandoned owing to insecurity and the capital relocated in different places such as  Yapahuwa, Kurunegala, Dambadeniya, Ganpola, Kotte and Mahanuwara. This period popularly known as the period of the “drift to the South west” was largely a time of political unrest.  Muslim presence and influence was rising in South India during this time.  It was at this time, especially during the 14th to 16th century period, that Muslim merchants started to arrive in Sri Lanka. It happened both before and after the arrival of the Portuguese. Those who settled along the western coast married Sinhala women. Coming from South India and being exposed to the Tamil language, some of these Muslims married Tamil speaking women in Sri Lanka. All of these women were converted to Islam.
 
 
Persecution of Muslims by the Dutch
 
 
Muslim merchants were given a hard time by the Portuguese whose primary  interest in Sri Lanka, was also trade and commerce. During the Dutch period of occupation of our coastal areas the Muslims were ruthlessly persecuted by the Dutch throughout the 17th century. The Muslims had to run to the Kande-Uda-Rata or the Sinhala Kandyan kingdom for safety among the Sinhala people.  King Senerat and King Rajasinghe II took the initiative of settling large numbers of Muslims in predominantly Sinhala areas  among the Sinhala people in the hill country and in the Batticaloa area, to work as paddy farmers. Many were integrated into the Sinhala society. In fact, some of our kings gave Muslims duties in the king’s administration.
 
 
Hospitality of the Sinhala Buddhists
 
 
There are several historic records such as those of Robert Knox which report how the Muslims were received favourably in the Sinhala Kingdom and how the Sinhala people gifted land to Muslims. Most Muslims adopted Sinhala ways and mannerisms. In Galagedara there are yet two villages occupied only by Muslims, surrounded by Sinhala villages, where the lands were donated to them by the Sinhala king. Present Katupalliya and Meera Makkam Masjid in Mahanuwara were built on land gifted by the king. The architecture of the Katupalliya is Sinhala Udarata. Ridi Vihare in Kurunegala gave part of its land for a Muslim Masjid.
 
 
In 1930, Muslim boys of Rambukkhana had their education in Buddhist monasteries. Many studied Sinhala and indigenous  medicine. Facilities were provided for the Muslim boys to recite  their prayers and attend Quoranic classes, while living in Buddhist temples.  Muslims made voluntary contributions towards the vihara and they participated in the Esala Perahera. Drummers voluntarily stopped their music when they passed Muslim mosques. This was the extent of cordiality and accommodation accorded to Muslims by the Sinhala Buddhist people in those challenging times with Dutch atrocities.
 
 
Dr. Lorna Devarajah in her in-depth research on Muslim history in Sri Lanka says “Having adapted to the local conditions in various ways and also contributing largely to the island’s economic prosperity, the Muslim community of Sri Lanka, unlike the Hindu Tamils of the Northern Province, has saved itself from any major clash with the indigenous Sinhalese population. They have also been able to receive a fair share in the country’s politics and administration by virtue of their hard work and also of being an important minority whose support has been vital to all the political groups in the country. Although it may be said that the Muslim community was not politically dominant at any stage, yet, it is certainly true that they maneuvered their political activity without much noise, unlike the Tamils”.
 
 
Post Independence Opportunities  
 
 
Muslims continued to benefit from various forms of privileges available to them after Sri Lanka attained political independence in 1948.  Muslims were given many opportunities to improve their commercial businesses and socio-economic conditions and quality of life. Sinhala political leadership accorded Ministerial and high professional opportunities for Muslims. The Muslim community benefited much by having  Muslim Ministers running the Education Ministry for many years. The education of Muslims received priority attention during this time. Several well- equipped exclusively Muslim schools were established in predominantly Muslim areas during this time. Muslim children and youth had preferential treatment in the area of education and admission to universities. It is a well known fact that, Muslims were accorded preferential treatment in employment when a Muslim minister was in charge of the Ports Authority and also in Foreign Affairs.  Port employment is known to be lucrative both then and now.
 
 
For whatever reasons – political or other, the several extra privileges, benefits and opportunities made available to the Muslim community by the Sinhala political leaders, resulted in a rapid improvement in living conditions of the Muslim community. In fact, at present, these privileges coupled with the initiative of the Muslims themselves, have made their life far better than that of the large majority of the Sinhala people.
 
 
Today, Muslims more or less dominate the import-export trade, shipping business, and commercial enterprises such as hardware, timber, clothing, computer hardware and software, telecommunication equipment, automobile and related spare parts sales, meat and poultry industry and sales, foreign employment agencies and related service industry, international school business, among several others. 
 
 
Muslims have the benefit of having ad preferential treatment in employment in the oil-rich Middle Eastern Muslim countries and thereby have gained substantially, as compared to our Sinhala housemaids and most other employees who continue to be grossly exploited by the Middle Eastern Muslim employers.  
 
 
Undue Privileges
 
 
The Muslims as a small minority settler community enjoy undue privileges that are not enjoyed by the large majority of Sinhala people who form the dominant and indigenous community of the nation. With all the benefits and preferential privileges, unemployment of Muslims is far lower as compared to the Sinhala.
 
 
Muslims are well known to be running successful businesses in predominantly Sinhala majority areas with the Sinhala people as their customers. They are involved in wealth generating employment connected with tourism and travel.  The household income of Muslims far exceeds those of ordinary Sinhala people. The per capita income of the Muslim community is far higher than that of the Sinhala majority community.
 
 
Investments that are of Common Benefit
 
 
It is a well evident fact that Muslim leaders and most Muslim professionals are focused on furthering the interests of their Muslim community rather than society as a whole. It is time that Muslims invested more on hospitals, schools and other national social welfare activities and contributed tangibly for infrastructure development activities that benefit everyone and not necessarily the Muslim community.
 
 
It is time that Muslim establishments refrain from exclusively hiring Muslims, especially for responsible positions in their establishments.  There have been many instances of Muslim encroachment of places that are of Buddhist historic value, and the destruction of Buddhist monuments and items of archeological value in the Eastern Province in particular.  This definitely has to stop. If Muslims are involved in the illicit drug trade as often reported in the media, this is national crime and has to stop.
 
 
Being an Active Part of the Nation
 
 
Muslims should consider it their duty to participate more actively in national events such as the National day festivities and other important national events and international events as Sri Lankans and cheer Sri Lanka and rejoice in their international attainments in all fields including cricket and sports in general.  The  indigenous cultural norms and values upon which this nation is founded should be well understood and respected by all citizens of this country, irrespective of their religious or other affiliations.
 
 
Although forming a mere 7% of the total population of the country, Muslims are accorded religious holidays as public holidays in our country.  They are represented in the national flag of Sri Lanka with a green belt. Most importantly, there are no restrictions in Sri Lanka for the construction of mosques in predominantly Sinhala areas.  It is a well known fact that Muslim countries do not permit even the display of a Buddha image, let along building Vihares.
 
 
In activities connected with Muslim mosques, especially in early morning prayers using load speakers, the Muslims should pay more attention to the comforts and conveniences of the non-Muslim neighbors.         
 
 
Gratitude for the Opportunities Afforded
 
 
A good part of buildings and land in most urban areas in the country, especially in predominantly Sinhala areas are owned today by Muslims.  No comparable minority in any major country in the world have been given such preposterous benefits, which are not rights but ridiculously high privileges enjoyed by the Muslims and Tamil settler minorities in our motherland. Since the privileges of one person can only be had at the expense of the rights of another, this shows that, in fact, it is the indigenous Sinhalas,  who account for more than 70% of the population, who are discriminated against in Sri Lanka.
 
 
 After securing so much from the country, and from the majority Sinhala community who had all along provided them with hospitality and generosity, it is disappointing to see many Muslim leaders and Muslim people of today, especially those living in the Eastern province having the audacity and ingratitude to claim autonomy for the lands that they are occupying in predominantly Muslim areas. Do they realize that some of these lands were given to them by Sinhala kings and governments led by Sinhala leaders.
 
 
Inciting Violence Against Buddhists
 
 
It was not long ago that Islamic fundamentalists and armed Muslim extremists were inciting violence against legitimate Buddhist activities in the East - Pottuvil region.  Muslims were forcibly encroaching upon land that rightfully belongs to Buddhist temples on the southeast coast. They were demolishing some archeological sites of Buddhist significance in the East.  Also, the Sri Lanka Muslims Congress and several Islamic groups of our country had the audacity to oppose the construction of Buddha’s statues on the island’s southeast coast. 
 
 
In recent years there have been many incidents that involved disagreements between the Muslim community members and the Sinhala people. There had been protests by Sinhala Buddhist nationalists urging the Government to crack down on Islamic groups that are opposing the construction of Buddha’s statues in some towns and villages on the island’s southeast coast. Hundreds of Buddhist monks and their lay supporters demonstrated against “anti Buddhist activities of Muslim extremists”.
 
 
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and several civil society groups have opposed the construction of Buddha’s statues on the southeast coastal areas which were predominantly Buddhist areas in the recent past and which have Buddhist historic monuments and important archeological remains which are part of the cultural wealth of the nation.
 
 
The protestors claimed in a memorandum submitted to the Buddha Sasana Ministry that Islamic fundamentalists and armed Muslim extremists were inciting violence against legitimate Buddhist activities in the Pottuvil region. According to the Memorandum, the Muslims are forcibly taking land that rightfully belongs to Buddhist temples on the southeast coast. 
 
As far as the present government is concerned, there appear to be increased interest in consolidation of national unity. Under the circumstances, divisive tendencies of any nature should not be encouraged or tolerated for that matter.  With our massive success in containing Tamil terrorism and our determined efforts to bring the various communities together as One Nation, it is important that divisive tendencies in our society be eliminated. This is especially necessary in the light of a national resurgence that is clearly noticeable in the country at the present time and increased interest in fully restoring democratic principles of social organization. It is important that we try to prevent polarization of our communities by all means available and all communities are duty bound to see that this takes place for the benefit of everyone that calls this their motherland.   
 
 
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

Jihad against Mobitel - මොබිටෙල් ආයතනයට එරෙහි ඉස්ලාම් ජිහාඩය



දිනෙන් දින අපට එරෙහිව නැගීගෙන එන මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රහාර වලින් හෙළිවූ 160 වෙනි ප්‍රහාරය මෙන්න. 
 
Islam Attack on Mobitel - ජාතික සන්නිවේදකයා මොබිටෙල් වලට එරෙහි ඉස්ලාම් ප්‍රහාරය 


මොබිටෙල් වලට එරෙහි අන්තවාදය

"හලාල්" සලකුණට එරෙහිව ක්‍රියාකරන ලද "බොදු බල සේනා " සංවිධානයට අරමුදල් රැස්කිරීමට උදවු කලබව කියමින් මොබිටෙල් ආයතනයට එරෙහිව අන්තර්ජාලය තුල ප්‍රචාරණ ව්‍යාපාරයක් ඇතැම් මුස්ලිම් පිරිස් විසින් ආරම්භකර තිබේ.

මොබිටෙල් ආයතනය ඔවුන්ගේ m tunes තුලට බොදු බල සේනා සංවිධානයට අයත් තේමා ගීතයක් ඇතුලත් කර තිබෙන අතර, එය තරුණ පිරිස් අතර ඉතා ඉක්මනින් ජනප්‍රිය විය. තවද එලෙස බොදු බලසේනා තේමා ගීතය ඇනවුම් කිරීමෙන් ලද මුදල් බොදුබල සේනා සංවිධානය වෙත ලබාදීමට මොබිටෙල් ආයතනය කටයුතු කරණ ලදී.

මෙම ක්‍රියාවට මොබිටෙල් ආයතනය වෙත කෘතගුණ දක්වනු මින්බොදු බල සේනා සංවිධානය තම Twitter ගිණුමෙහි ස්තුති කිරීමක් සිදුකර ඇති අතර මීට ආසන්න දිනයකදී බොදු බල සේනා සංවිධානය පානදුරේදී සංවිධානය කල රැස්වීමේදීද ස්තුති කිරීමට කටයුතු කර තිබේ.

මෙයින් වියරුවටපත් ඇතැම් අන්තගමින් මුස්ලිම් පිරිස් අන්තර්ජාලය තුල මොබිටෙල් ආයතනයට අයත් Face Book Fan Page සහ Twitter Fan Page තුල අසභ්‍ය වදනින් අදහස් දැක්වීම් සිදුකර තිබෙන අතර මොබිටෙල්හි පාරිභෝගික සේවා දුරකථන අංක වෙත ඇමතුම් ලබාදෙමින් අඛණ්ඩව බැනවදීම සිදුකර තිබේ.

පසුව මොබිටෙල් ආයතනය ඔවුන්ගේ Face Book Fan Page තුල ලිපියක් පළකරමින් කියා සිටියේ m tunes තුලින් බොදු බල සේනා තේමා ගීතය ලබාදීම මත ඔවුන් කිසිඳු ජන වර්ගයක් අපහසු තාවයකට ලක්කිරීමට අපේක්ෂා නොකළ අතර යම් හෙයින් කිසියම් ජන වර්ගයක් ඉන් අපහසුතාවයට පත්විනම් එයට සමාව ඉල්ලා සිටින බවයි.

m tunes යනු පුද්ගලයන්ගේ කැමැත්ත මත ඇනවුම් කළහැකි සේවාවක් වන අතර කිසිඳු අයෙක් මත බලෙන් ලබාදී ගාස්තු අයකිරීමක් සිදුනොකරයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ දෙවන පරිච්චේදයේ Articles 10 and 14(1)(e) ට අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය බුද්ධ ශාසනය ප්‍රවර්ධනය සහ ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට කටයුතු කල යුතුය. ඒ අනුව යමින් රජ්‍ය ආයතනයක් වන මොබිටෙල් ආයතනය නීතියෙන් වරණයට ලක්නොවූ ඕනෑම බෞද්ධ සංවිධානයක් සමග ගනුදෙනු කිරීම වරදක් වශයෙන් සැලකිය නොහැක.

ඇමරිකානු ව්‍යවස්ථාව තුලින් ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගම ප්‍රවර්ධනය සිදුකරන අතර අරාබියේ ශාරියා නීතිය මගින් ඉස්ලාම් සඳහා පමණක් අවසර ලබාදී තිබේ. ඕනෑම රටක් එලෙස ඔවුන්ගේ බහුතරයට අයත් ආගම ප්‍රවර්ධනය සිදුකරයි. එහෙත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඇතැම් පිරිස් සිතා සිටිනුයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ සර්ව ආගම ප්‍රවර්ධනය සහ ආරක්ෂා කරන ලෙස දක්වා ඇති බවයි.
මේ හිදී එක් ආගමක් ප්‍රවර්ධනය යනු තවත් ආගමක් විනාශකිරීම නොවන බව අවධාරණය කලයුතුය.

මේ හේතුවෙන් කිසිඳු නීත්‍යානුකූල පදනමක් නොමැතිව මෙලෙස අන්තර්ජාලය හරහා සිදුකරන ද්වේෂ සහගත ප්‍රවර්ධන්යන් සහ අදහස් දැක්වීම් සියලු පාර්ශව නවතා දැමිය යුතුය.

මෙම ආගමික ගැටුමට මුලාශ්‍රය සැපයීම ශ්‍රී ලංකා උලමා සංවිධානය 91% වූ මුස්ලිම් නොවන ජනයා වෙත මුදල් අයකරමින් "හලාල්" ලකුණ ලබාදීම මත සිදුවූ අතර , එම ක්‍රියාවලිය නීති විරෝධී සහ ආගමික සහජීවනයට තර්ජනයක් බව පසුව තීරණය විය. මේ හේතුවෙන් පලුදු වූ ආගමික සහජීවනය නැවත ඇති කිරීමෙහිලා ශ්‍රී ලංකවේ වෙසෙන මුස්ලිම් ජන කොටස් වඩා වගකීමෙන් ක්‍රියාකල යුතුව ඇත.

- Ex Gossip විමර්ශන -

බොදු බල සේනා ලෙස සඳහන්  Twitter ප්‍රකාශනය


මොබිටෙල් ආයතනයේ නිවේදනය


මොබිටෙල් විරෝධී ප්‍රකාශන - 




Read more: http://www.exgossip.com/2013/03/blog-post_1261.html#ixzz2OuphDp41
Follow us: exgossip on Facebook



කපටි ඉස්ලාමයට ඔබේ විරෝධය පල කරන්න



මේ ව්‍යසන සියල්ල මැද, අපට ඉතිරිව ඇති එකම ආරක්ෂාව නම් සැඟවුනු මුස්ලිම් අලුගෝසුකම් සියලු හෙළයන්ට වහ වහා අවබෝධ කර දීමයි. ඔබටත් ජාතිය ගැන හැඟීමක් ඇති නම්, පහත ලිපිත් බලන්න

  

MUSLIM MENACE - බුරුම මුස්ලිම් අන්තරාව

MUSLIM MENACE IN MYANMAR
 
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane
 
 
The Muslim community associated with Myanmar or former Burma, known as Rohingya Muslims are not indigenous to Myanmar. They are a relatively recent migrant community of Myanmar. Most of these Muslims are illicit immigrants who migrated from Muslim neighborhood regions of Bengal India during the British colonial period and later from East Pakistan or the present Bangladesh. The Myanmar government s of the past and present  do not consider Rohingya Muslims as legitimate citizens of Myanmar. The people of Myanmar consider the Rohingya people as illegal immigrants. Myanmar’s Muslims account for an estimated 04% of the total Myanmar population of about  60 million. In 2012, there were about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims living in Rohang, the western state of Myanmar known officially as Rakhine or Arakan.
 
 
 
THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BURMA (MYANMAR)
 
 
The indigenous people of Myanmar are ethno-linguistically Sino-Tibetan and are predominantly Buddhists as opposed to the Rohingya Muslims  who are ethno-linguistically related to the Indo-Aryan Bengali people of India and Bangladesh and their religion is Islam.  The language spoken by the Rohingya Muslims is different from that of the indigenous people of Myanmar. It is derived from  a Indo-Aryan sub-branch of the greater Indo-European language family and is closely related to the Chittagonian language spoken in the southernmost part of the present Bangladesh bordering Myanmar.  Therefore, culturally the Rohingya  Muslims are quite different to the indigenous people of Myanmar. 
 
 
ROHANG AND THE RAKKHITA BUDDHIST COMMUNITY
 
 
It was mostly during the British colonial period that these Muslim people crossed the borders and settled in border regions of Burma, concentrating largely in Rohang which was also known as Rakhine or Arakan, located in the immediate neighborhood of Bengal. Their numbers increased substantially during the British colonial period, and thereafter. Rakhine State consists of a population of about 3,8 million, with the indigenous Rakhine people forming the overwhelming majority in the State, who live mainly in the lowland valleys.  Most of the indigenous people living in Rakhine State adhere to Theravada Buddhism. In spite of the government rule limiting Muslims to two children per family, the Muslim population in Myanmar shows an increasing trend.
 
According to historians of Myanmar, the name ‘Rohingya' is of recent origin and appears to have been created in the1950’s, by the descendants of the Muslim Bengali people who settled down in the Rohang or Arakan region of Myanmar. The name Rohingya has not been used or recognized in the Burma population census conducted by the British in the year 1824.  It is also noteworthy that the name Rohingya is not found in any historical source in any language before the 1950’s. 
 
Rohang is an important  region of Myanmar inhabited from ancient  times by the Rakkhita, Rakkha or Rakhaing people, who belong to the indigenous Buddhist community of  Burma.  From historic times, this was a highly respected Burmese community, well known for the honourable life they led. They were well known for their contribution to the development  and preservation of the national cultural heritage and Buddhist spiritual values.  These Rakkhita people had their own language and their livelihood was strongly based on Buddhist principles. The name of the state Rakhine is derived from the Pali word Rakkhita or Rakkhapura which means "the land of the Rakhasa" or Rakkha or Rakhaing. 
 
There were striking differences in the customs, traditions and livelihood patterns of the two communities – the indigenous Burmese Buddhists of the Arakan region, especially the Rakkhita community and the Muslim immigrants from Bengal. These cultural incompatibilities and differences resulted in open conflicts between the two communities, which were well evident from about the mid 20th century.  Soon violence broke out in the Arakan region and the Muslim Rohingyas became a serious threat to the people of Myanmar. Occasional isolated violence involving Myanmar's majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities has occurred for decades, even under the authoritarian military governments that ruled the country from 1962 to 2011.
 
 
BRITISH RESPONSIBLE FOR AGGRAVATION OF THE PROBLEM
 
 
According to Aye Chan, a historian at the Kanda University, communal violence between the Arakanese or the indigenous Myanmar (Burmese) Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslims began during World War -II in 1942.  The British were primarily responsible for the aggravation of disharmony between the Rohingya Muslims and the indigenous people of Myanmar.
 
 
During the World War, when the British were retreating, they took action to arm Muslim groups in Northern Arakan in order to create a buffer zone against the Japanese invasion.  Furthermore, the British promised the Muslims living in Burma (Myanmar) at this time, that if they supported the British during the war, the Muslims will be given their own "national area" within Burma.
 
 
Once acquiring arms, the Muslim Rohingyas became a serious threat to the people of Myanmar. They soon began a spree of violence against the Buddhists of the Arakan region. They began destroying Buddhist villages in Arakan, using the firearms given to them by the British.  In 1942, a major armed confrontation occurred between the Rohingya Muslims and indigenous Arakanese people  which led to many casualties on both sides.  Rohingya Muslims massacred about  20,000 Arakanese in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships.  In retaliation, about  5,000 Muslims in Minbya and Mrauk-U Townships were killed by the Arakanese.
 
 
In the mid 20th century, Rohingya Muslims living in Arakan organized into several militant groups. They formed an aggressive movement known as the Mujahideen movement which was active during the 1947 to 1961 period.  There were several Mujahideen uprisings in Arakan.  The aim behind the riots of the Rohingya militant groups was to separate the northern part of Arakan, or the Muslim populated Mayu frontier region and create an independent Muslim state for the Rohingya Muslims and annex it to the newly-formed Muslim East Pakistan as an exclusively Muslim country.  
 
 
In 1947, when a new Islamic country of Pakistan was about to be formed, Rohingya Muslims who had already possessed arms from the British, wanted to obtain a "national area" for them within Burma, in accordance to the assurance given to them by the British. They formed the North Arakan Muslim League  and  met  Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and requested that Mayu region of Myanmar be annexed to East Pakistan which was about to be formed. Jinnah however, was not in favour of such a move. This did not stop the Rohingya Muslims in their agitation for separation from Myanmar.  During the 1960’s and early 1970’s, there were several uprisings which were popularly known as Arakan State Riots.  A widespread armed insurgency started with the formation of a Muslim political party called Jami-a-tul Ulema-e Islam, demanding separation.  
 
 
The Burmese central government refused to grant a separate Muslim state in the Mayu region and the Muslim militants of Northern Arakan declared jihad on Burma. The Mujahid militants began their insurgent activities in the Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships within the Mayu region that lies on Burma-East Pakistan border, led by a long-term Muslim criminal named Abdul Kassem who was a leader of the Mujahid movement. There was  widespread violence in the Arakanese villagers and the Buddhist Arakanese inhabitants of Buthidaung and Maungdaw were forced to leave their homes. By June 1949, the Mujahid rebels were in possession of all of northern Arakan. In the meantime, the Mujahid extremists encouraged and supported illegal immigration into the Arakan region of thousands of Muslim Bengali people from the over-populated East Pakistan.  

 

CONTAINING MILITARY OPERATIONS OF MUJAHID MILITANTS

 
When the rebellion was becoming intensified the Burmese government declared martial law and took firm action to contain the militants. This led to the subjugation of the Mujahid insurgency and the Muslim insurgents fled to the jungles of northern Arakan. Between 1950 and 1954, the Burmese army launched major military operations against the Mujahid rebels in Northern Arakan. All major centres of the Mujahids were captured and several of their leaders were subdued. Towards the end of 1961, most Mujahids surrendered, but some formed small armed groups and continued to loot, harass and terrorize the Burmese Buddhists, especially in remote regions in Northern Arakan. 
 

THE RADICALIST MOVEMENTS (1971-1988)

 
During Bangladesh Libration War in 1971, the Rohingya Muslim who resided in the Myanmar-Bangladesh border had the opportunity to collect weapons.  In 1972,  the Rohingya Muslims formed  the Rohingya Liberation Party (RLP) with activities based in the jungles of Buthidaung.  Military Operation conducted by the Burmese Army in 1974 led to many Muslim insurgents fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.
 
In March 1978, the Burmese government launched a campaign to check illegal immigrants residing in Burma. This led to many thousands of Rohingyas in the Arakan region crossing the border to Bangladesh.  Arrests of illegal migrants by the Burmese army created unrest in Arakan and as a result, there was a mass exodus of  around 252,000 refugees to Bangladesh.
 
In late 1982, the Burmese Citizenship Law was introduced and most of the Rohingyas were denied Burmese citizenship. Radical Rohingya militant group took this opportunity to recruit many Rohingya Muslims who were occupying the region along the Bangladesh-Burma border. In the early 1980s, radical Muslims formed the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) which soon became the most militant faction among the Rohingyas on the Burma-Bangladesh border.  Using the Islam religious card the RSO  was able to obtain various forms of assistance and  support from the Muslim world, including the JeI in Bangladesh and Pakistan, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami (HeI) in Afghanistan, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir and the Angkatan Belia Islam sa-Malaysia (ABIM), and the Islamic Youth Organization of Malaysia.
 
In 1991 and 1992, there was forced relocation of Muslims by the government and the creation of new Buddhist settlements in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. This provoked another mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh.
 

CONNECTIONS WITH TALIBAN AND AL-QAEDA (1988-2011)

 
The military camps of Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) were located in the Cox's Bazaar district in southern Bangladesh. In 1991, it possessed a large number of military equipment, including light machine-guns, AK-47 assault rifles, RPG-2 rocket launchers, claymore mines and explosives. They were equipped with UK-made 9mm Sterling L2A3 sub-machine guns, M-16 assault rifles and point-303 rifles.  Afghan's Taliban instructors were associated with RSO camps along the Bangladesh-Burma border. Many RSO rebels were undergoing training in the Afghan province of Khost with Hizb-e-Islami Mujahideen.
 
The expansion of the RSO in the late 1980s and early 1990s made the Burmese government  launch a massive counter-offensive to clear up the Burma-Bangladesh border. In December 1991, Burmese troops crossed the border and attacked a Bangladeshi military outpost. The incident developed into a major crisis in Bangladesh-Burma relations, and by April 1992, more than 250,000 Rohingya civilians had been forced out of Arakan, western Burma.
 
In late 1998, Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) and Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF) combined to form the Rohingya National Council (RNC) with its own armed wing, gathering the different Rohingya insurgents into one group. In 2001, they underwent training in Libya and Afghanistan, in guerrilla warfare and the use of a variety of explosives  and heavy-weapons. They had several meetings with Al-Qaeda representatives.
 
Throughout  2012 and in 2013,  there have been a series of riots and much violence in Northern Arakan in the Rakhine State, between extremist Rohingya Muslims  and the indigenous Rakhini or Arakanese  people.   Muslim fanatics are largely responsible for the outbreak of violence. The 2012 riots began after a Rakhine teenage girl was brutally raped and cut into pieces by three Muslim fanatics. This immediately led to an outrage and retaliation by the Rakhine community. This was followed by the extremist Muslims resorting to extreme forms of violence, destroying many villages in their entirety and murdering many innocent people. Those displaced by these riots exceeded 50, 000.  The situation in the Rakhine state remains tense. 
 
In 2013, the worst violence in Myanmar was in Meikhtila city, which resulted in widespread bloodshed  and destruction of property, and the  displacement of nearly 10,000 people who were forced out of their homes. A State of Emergency was declared and the army took control of the city.  The devastation was reminiscent of last year's clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya that left hundreds of people dead and more than 100,000 displaced. The struggle to contain the violence has become a major challenge to the government.  Buddhist and Muslim communities live in near-total segregation, constantly fearing more violence. The violence in Meikhtila city began once news spread that a Muslim man had killed a Buddhist monk. Soon, Buddhist mobs rampaged through a Muslim neighborhood and the situation quickly became out of control.

A CURSE TO HUMANITY
 

Those conversant with global affairs, are aware of the fact that, especially in recent years,  Muslims have become a curse to humanity, resorting to violent and unethical means of serving their religious ends, or to ‘resolve’ their obsessive religion-based issues and self-created problems.  Peace and harmony in many countries in the West and East,  have been impaired greatly owing to unwholesome actions of Muslim religious fanatics.  
 
 
As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, Muslim encroachment of traditional Sinhala Buddhist land and the demolition of historic sites and archeological remains of Buddhist heritage  show the sheer lack of respect for Buddhism and related and cultural heritage of the country that gave them shelter.  The situation does not seem  too different in Myanmar or Thailand.  
 
 
There is clear evidence of disregard and disrespect on the part of most Muslims, for the Buddhist cultural heritage of our country. There is evidence of destruction of archeological and historic cultural monuments and remains, especially in areas inhabited by Muslims. The fundamentals of ‘Islam’ that are being widely propagated by the Muslims have serious negative implications as far as the national culture is concerned.
 
 
ISLAM AND VIOLENCE  
 
 
Buddhists cannot consider Islam as a religion of compassion and peace. Those professing Islam have been the biggest enemies of Buddhists and Buddhism throughout history. There are ample historic records which describe vividly the atrocities committed against millions of Buddhists in several countries. Their criminality has not subsided in spite of their living among other religions in different countries.         
 
 
It is a well known fact that Buddhism disappeared from India under the sword of Islam. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the great Indian Buddhist leader said that there is absolutely no doubt that the fall of Buddhism in India was due to the invasions of the Musalmans or the adherents of Islam. For five centuries, from the 13th to 17th centuries, most parts of India were under Muslim rule. Over 50 million Buddhists and Hindus were massacred by Islamists in greater India (which in the past included   Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afganistan). 
 
 
Islam destroyed Buddhism not only in India but wherever it went. Before the onslaught of Islam, Buddhism was the religion of almost the whole of Asia - ancient countries/regions such as Bactria, Parthia, Afghanistan, Gandhar, Chinese Turkestan, along with Tibet and Inner Mongolia were Buddhist nations that formed almost the whole of the Asian continent. Buddhism was the dominant religion of the people of this vast area of the Asian continent. Islam destroyed and eliminated Buddhism from almost all these countries.
 
 
BANGLADESHI  BUDDHISTS
 
 
Buddhists of Bangladesh have been subject to untold violence by Muslims in recent years. The Chakmas form the community of Buddhists that inhabit the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Chakma Buddhist monks were forced to flee their traditional lands due to Islamic persecution and violence in the early 1990s. Some obtained Indian citizenships and formed the organization called  Peace Campaign Group and are actively focusing on working against human rights violations  systematically carried out by Muslims in Bangladesh.
 
 
According to Jumma Buddhists, successive governments of Bangladesh were engaged in implementing a policy of ethnic cleansing to eradicate the indigenous Jumma Buddhists. The government has settled more than 400,000 Muslim settlers in the ancestral lands of Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tract region. This encroachment of land owned and occupied previously by Buddhists is said to be continuing on a rapid scale even at present. In addition, more than 100,000 military and paramilitary personnel have been stationed in the Chittagong Hill Tract making life insecure and miserable for the Jumma Buddhist community. The region today is crime prone, characterized by arson, killing, rape, land grabbing, and destruction of Buddhist temples, extra-judicial arrest and detentions. Between 1986 to1989 more than 70,000 Jumma Buddhists have fled Bangladesh and sought refuge in the Tripura state of India.
 
ARMED STRUGGLE AND PEACE ACCORD
Violence centering on land issues has been going on in this region since 1978, when the government decided to settle Muslim people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts which is land traditionally owned and occupied by Buddhists.  Many Buddhists were harassed and were forced to leave their traditional land.  Owing to continued harassment the Buddhists collectively protested and launched an armed struggle during the early 1980s, demanding full autonomy for the Chittagong Hill Tracts. This continued for two decades and an Accord was signed between the Jumma People’s political party of the Buddhists and Bangladesh government in December 1997, to withdraw the new settlers and the military from Chittagong Hill Tract. Expecting a peaceful situation following the Peace Accord, many indigenous people who had fled to refugee camps in India during times of violence, started returning home, only to find their land encroached upon by Muslims. The Buddhists allege that the Accord was not respected by the government.
 
BUDDHIST RIGHTS VIOLATED BY MUSLIMS
 
 
Thousands of Jumma Buddhist families who were displaced owing to violence have not been resettled  as yet,  and the number of poverty-stricken Jumma refugees have increased substantially. Among them are thousands of children who are deprived of their education. Human Rights abuses  continue to occur with the military resorting to violence against Buddhists. On 20th April 1999, the military and Muslim settlers attacked the Jumma Buddhists at Babuchara bazaar killing and wounding many Jumma Buddhists. 
 
           
In recent years Muslim extremism and violent tendencies appear to have intensified.  
In the early part of 2010, the Chittagong Hill Tracts region was rocked by violence, flaring up decades old ethnic-religious tensions, as Muslim settlers set fire to hundreds of homes of indigenous Buddhists resulting in many deaths and many injuries. Thousands of Buddhists have been left homeless. These attacks were meant to forcibly grab land and properties of Buddhists. This violence was committed in the presence of law enforcement officers  including soldiers who were Muslims. According to Jumma people, Muslim military personnel have been involved in gross human rights violations with impunity, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts for many years. Many indigenous Buddhist people of affected villages continue to live in hiding, in dense forests and some have abandoned their ancestral land and had moved to other villages and are leading desperate lives. 
 
 
 
THAI BUDDHISTS
 
 
Muslims are a very small minority settler community in Southern Thailand, smaller than the Muslim settler community of Sri Lanka. Their objective is to have a separate country for Muslims in Sothern Thailand. Buddhist civilians and monks have been frequent targets of Muslim attacks in Southern Thailand in recent years. In late 2005, Muslims again started killing Buddhists in Southern Thailand. The bloodshed here could mark a resurgence of a long-simmering Muslim insurgency and, some officials fear, fertile ground for Islamic terrorists. More than 500 people were killed in 2006, in three southern Thai provinces, including attacks targeting Buddhists in possible bids to drive out non-Muslims.
 
 
Authorities are investigating possible links between these Muslim separatist groups and Islamic terrorist organizations such as Jemaah Islamiyah, which seeks a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia. It is blamed for attacks including the 2002 bombing in Bali that claimed 202 lives. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, an assistant professor of international relations at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University says "We have not yet seen escalation, "but I still think we may be headed from bad to worse." "The gruesome fashion of beheadings of Buddhists by Muslim assailants ... is not normal violence," said Pongsudhirak. "It is driven by deep animosity and hatred."
 
 
 
RISE IN ISLAMIC FUNDAMANTALISM
 
 
In the last few decades, owing to the newfound wealth of oil rich Islamic countries and massive immigration to the West, Islamic fundamentalism has been on the rise and the dormant spirit of Jihadism has been rekindled.  This fervor has been translated into upheavals, revolutions and    terrorism , and world peace has been put in jeopardy. Millions of lives are now in danger. Islam encourages aggressive spirit explicitly.  Muslim believe that he can go to paradise if he kills non Muslims. The Quran tells Muslims to slay the unbelievers wherever they find them (2:191), do not befriend them (3:28), fight them and show them harshness (9:123), and smite their heads (47:4). It prohibits Muslims to associate with their own brothers and fathers if they are non-believers (9:23), (3:28).
 
 
Buddhists have been the most victimized and harassed religious community in the world, owing to actions of Muslims guided by their theistic traditions and beliefs. Throughout the ages the Buddhist religion experienced many calamities.  As far back as in the 10th century, as a result of the Muslim invasion of what is modern day Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, the Buddhist religion which formed the basis of life of the people of this part of the world, was viciously wiped out in an act of virtual genocide.
 
In some Asian countries indigenous Buddhist spiritual traditions have been severely weakened by decades of persecution. Muslim terror and atrocities have inflicted severe damage to Buddhism in many Asian countries, some of which were exclusively Buddhist at one stage in their histories. The destruction of the colossal Afghan Bahmian Buddha statues is not the first destruction resulting from Muslim fundamentalism.
 
In the last three decades the exclusively Muslim Army of Bangladesh, motivated by religious fanaticism have caused havoc to Buddhists of Bangladesh and destroyed many Buddhist shrines and monasteries. Religious persecution and destruction of places of worship is commonplace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts ( CHT ) even in present times. Religious persecution takes place in the form of torture, murder, intimidation of Buddhist monks and deliberate and systematic destruction of their places of worship. Fanatical Muslims destroyed and desecrated the renowned "Navajyoti Buddhist Vihara" (Navajyoti Buddhist Temple) at Lalyaghona Village in Baghaichari Upazillact)  breaking down many Buddha images. Muslim religious fundamentalism and intolerance of Buddhists and other religious minorities are on the rise in Bangladesh. The country’s military has become ruthless in this regard. In 2006, a group of illicit Muslim settlers led by Rafique Uddin destroyed the Buddhist temple of Challyatali village under Longadu, Rangamati and occupied the temple land.
 
The biggest problem with Muslims is their belief that Islam is one and only ‘chosen religion’ and  Muslims are the one and only ‘chosen people’. In an Islamic state people of other faiths are not tolerated. Non-Muslims cannot establish their shrines or  monasteries in any of the Middle Eastern Muslim countries. They cannot hold their religious functions or prayers in public in these countries. 
 
 
In our country although they are a relatively small settler community, the Muslims insist on living an alienated and un-integrated life and are  agitating for concessions specified by their Islamic religion and Muslim Shariah law. The interests of the country as a whole is not their concern, because Sri Lanka is not an Islamic country. They are least interested in joining the national “mainstream” and work towards national unity and well-being. No meaningful dialogue on Islam or on the divisive attitudes and activities of Muslims is possible because they unnecessarily feel intimidated whenever  legitimate questions on Islam or the Quran are posed. Those who question are immediately branded as racists or anti Muslim. Most Muslims lack the courage to respond to even the most abject injustices evident in Islamic beliefs and practices. . No Muslim gives any other religion a status of equality with Islam. They fail to realize that true open-mindedness consists of contemplating all premises and weighing the evidence. Reasoning involves deduction and induction. Why do Muslims cause disharmony and bring about conflicts and confrontational situations in all societies they infiltrate? Why?   Buddhists need to be vigilant and need to initiate actions against the abuse of privileges, aggression and misdemeanor by Muslims.