Press Release
Buddhists Flagrantly Attack Muslims in Sri Lanka, So Why are our Armed Forces Kept in their Barracks

On Saturday 10 August 2013, a mob of Buddhists in Sri Lanka attacked a three-storey mosque and nearby houses in a central neighbourhood in the capital itself, Columbo. This is by no means an isolated incident. In recent months Buddhist groups have mounted an organized campaign against Muslim and Christian targets. In January 2013, a crowd of Buddhist monks stormed a college of law, yelling and shouting that that the exam results had been distorted to favour Muslims. A few weeks later, apparently abetted by the police, Buddhist priests attacked a slaughterhouse in the capital alleging that calves are being slaughtered inside which is illegal in the capital. Sri Lankan Buddhists are now taking so-called "direct action" every few days. Thus there is a growing wave of anti-Muslim activities in Sri Lanka carried out by Buddhists, in a country where 70% are Buddhist, whilst the second largest group is that of Muslims, at 10%, descendants of Muslim traders who came during the seventh century. Indeed, the Mushrikeen of all kinds are as Allah (swt) describes them to be (لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ النَّاسِ عَدَاوَةً لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا)"You will found the most prominent in hatred against the Muslims, the Jews and the Mushrikeen." [Surah Al-Maida 5:82]

What adds to the outrage is that the most prominent Buddhist group called the Buddhist Strength Force, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), has government support. Not only are attacks occurring with police abetting and within the government's stronghold and capital, at the BBS's opening ceremony for a new training school, the guest of honour was the powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, brother of the president. What a far cry from the justice that Islam provided all religions during the over millennium of Islamic rule in the Indian Subcontinent, conforming to the Hadith of RasulAllah (saw) demanding protection for the non-Muslims in the Islamic State "من آذى ذمياً فقد آذاني" "Whoever harms a Dhimmi (non-Muslim citizen of the state) has harmed me."

And what makes the blood boil is that Muslims are attacked, even whilst the combined armed forces of the Muslim World stand at six million, whilst the forces of Sri Lanka are  a mere three hundred thousand, a 20:1 ratio. And the nearest Muslim armed forces, Pakistan's armed forces, are seven hundred thousand strong with nuclear weapons. However in the time of the Khilafah "Caliphate", neither seas nor distance would save the oppressor from punishment. The armed forces of the Khilafah "Caliphate" under the leadership of Muhammad bin Qasim were mobilized from the Persian Gulf, when the Muslims of India were attacked by the mushrikeen. They ended the oppression and replaced it by the light of Islamic rule. But today, the current rulers pour salt in the wounds of the Muslims, by condemning the attacks, whilst they have more than enough means to prevent Buddhists and others from merely touching Muslims!

Thus the oppression of the Muslims in Sri Lanka is a grave reminder of the dire need for the return of the Khilafah "Caliphate". And it serves as a motivation for the sincere in the armed forces to come forward and give the Nussrah for the return of the Khilafah "Caliphate", Insha Allah, to one of two good deeds- victory or martyrdom for the sake of Allah (swt).

The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir