Cabinet discusses attempts to spread racial hatred

Cabinet has discussed attempts being made to spread racial hatred in the country once again, a Minister said today.

Media Minister Gayantha Karunatillake said that some recent incidents had been brought to the notice of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Karunatillake said that those incidents will be dealt with under the law. Concerns had been raised this week over a spate of events with ominous portents for ethnic and religious harmony and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

These include the increasing use of hate speech against minorities by some members of the Buddhist clergy and by other protest groups, and by widespread anti-minority hate speech in social media.

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) had said that there appears to be an element of orchestration, of deeper political agendas aimed at reversing the country?s current path towards peace, reconciliation, and reform, and especially where members of the clergy have been involved, police and civil servants have succumbed to the culture of deference rather than restore order.

CPA had noted that the President and the Prime Minister have an obligation to provide strong and principled leadership against these invidious forces, to restate their commitment to the democratic values of pluralism and tolerance on which they were elected, and ensure that police and civil servants are given the confidence to enforce the law in the face of intimidation and threats of violence. (Colombo Gazette)