BBC Learning English
Words in the News
Sri Lankan religious tensions
18 February 2013
Words in the News
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2013
Page 1 of 2
bbclearningenglish.com
A new Sinhalese Buddhist group in Sri Lanka has called for the abolition of
Muslim laws about how certain foods should be prepared. This comes at a time of
rising religious tension in the country. Our reporter is Charles Haviland.
Not only at the grounds where thousands of Sinhalese gathered, but throughout
the surrounding streets too, the hardline nationalistic speeches resounded.
The Buddhist Strength Force, founded nine months ago, used explicitly racial
rhetoric. One monk, its leader, told the crowd that "only monks can save this
race", meaning the Sinhalese, who are about three-quarters of Sri Lanka's
population.
A poster depicted a lion, symbol of the Sinhalese, telling its cub: "This land
belongs to you and its soil is red with the blood of your people".
The group denies being anti-minority. But its youth activists wore T-shirts
denouncing the halal system whereby the Muslim minority certifies which
goods are acceptable to consume.
Referring to Muslim clerics in derogatory language, the monk said what he
called Christian and Muslim extremists were threatening Buddhists. He said there
were 400 such Christian organisations and a hostile army of 12,000 Muslims
allegedly trained in the Middle East.
But hundreds of monks were ready to fight: "Our country is a Sinhalese one and
we are its unofficial police", he added. Both Muslims and Christians deny
promoting extremism in Sri Lanka.
