US ambassador alarmed over anti-Muslim events in Sri Lanka

12 April, 2013 - The U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka has expressed alarm at rising hate speech and attacks against Muslims in the island nation and warned that such sentiments should not be allowed to fester. Hate speeches, vilification and even attacks on Muslim-owned businesses and places of worship by Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalist groups have occurred in recent months, and inaction by the government and police has spurred allegations that the government supports the campaign, which it denies. “(The) United States, along with many Sri Lankan citizens, is alarmed by the recent attacks on Muslim businesses and certain inflammatory calls to action,'' Ambassador Michele J. Sison told foreign correspondents in Colombo on Monday. ``This type of hateful sentiment must not be allowed to fester,'' she said, adding that the voices of tolerance must join to defeat extremism. A U.S.-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka at the U.N. Human Rights Council last month also expressed concern over religious discrimination. Groups led by Buddhist monks have spread allegations that Muslims are dominating businesses and trying to take over the country demographically by increasing their birth rate and secretly sterilizing Sinhalese-Buddhists. Muslims make up 9 percent of Sri Lanka's population, while Sinhalese-Buddhists make up almost 75 percent of the country's 20 million people. A Muslim volunteer group that wishes not to be named for fear of reprisals has documented 33 incidents since 2011 including attacks on places of worship. Sison also expressed concern over continued threats and attacks against local media nearly four years after the end of a civil war and the authorities' inability to resolve the numerous killings, abductions and assaults against journalists. (Source: AP)