Deadly Alliances against Muslims
New York Times
Editorial
Oct. 15, 2014
On his 79th birthday
in July, the Dalai Lama appealed to Buddhist extremist groups in Myanmar and
Sri Lanka to stop instigating attacks against Muslim minorities that have
killed scores. Instead, in an affront to Buddhism’s core message of compassion,
leaders of those groups announced an alliance to make common cause against
Muslims.
“The time has come to
ally internationally,” Galagodaththe Gnanasara, the leader of the radical Sri
Lankan Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena, announced at a convention held in Colombo
last month. The guest of honor was Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist radical whose
picture Time magazine put on its July 1 cover as “The Face of Buddhist Terror.”
The government of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa ignored pleas by Sri Lankan
Muslim and Christian civil groups, fearful of more anti-Muslim violence in
their country, to deny Mr. Wirathu a visa. Granting Mr. Wirathu a visa can only
reinforce the fears of many Muslims that the government — and perhaps more
powerful regional allies — back Bodu Bala Sena, which translates as Buddhist
Power Force.
Last week, Mr.
Gnanasara claimed he was in discussions “at a high level” with the right-wing
Indian Hindu group Rashtriya Swayam Sevak to form what he called a
“Hindu-Buddhist peace zone” in South Asia. A Rashtriya Swayam Sevak spokesman,
Ram Madhav, promptly denied that there were any such discussions. But Mr.
Madhav, now general secretary of India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, has
written comments sympathetic to Bodu Bala Sena and Mr. Wirathu’s group 969 in
Myanmar on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.
It is folly for the
governments of Mr. Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, President Thein Sein of Myanmar and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India, or their political allies, to give even
the appearance of tolerating these Islamophobic groups in a region that has too
often been convulsed by religious sectarian violence. They should condemn this
mad alliance before it can spread further.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/opinion/deadly-alliances-against-muslims.html?emc=eta1