Sri Lanka’s Muslims Are Under Attack
In the wake of the ISIS inspired Easter Attacks, there has been a growing and increasingly political attack on the safety and dignity of Muslims in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan Muslims warned of these attacks multiple times and the fault was with the government, specifically the President. However, or perhaps because of this, the President more than anyone has put the safety of the entire Muslim community at risk. A Sri Lankan Muslim today is at risk of daily humiliation, state or police abuse and mob violence at any time.
This is wrong. So many things are wrong, but the fact that this has become politically coordinated is what’s worst of all. But first let’s go into the many ways that a Sri Lankan Muslim today is at risk:
Casual discrimination towards Muslims, especially women, has become normalized. Women wearing the headscarf are told not to enter supermarkets, harrassed on the bus or on the street, and are pressured out of schools and workplaces. The government has focused on policing women’s dress codes with little thought or communication which has resulted in people ‘taking the law into their own hands’ and discriminating against visibly Muslim people, especially women.
Economic discrimination against Muslims has become normalized through widespread calls…
