OIC countries call on Govt. to protect Muslim community

• Request Govt. to take tough action against perpetrators of communal violence
• Say Muslim community still living in fear, lives and livelihoods threatened 
• Call for unity in diversity, champion SL’s heritage of tolerance 

Ambassadors and the High Commissioners of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries yesterday releasing a joint statement called for the Government to prevent communal violence and take swift judicial action against perpetrators.     

“Communal violence targeting Muslims in Sri Lanka has regional and global security implications. The developing situation over the past few days has been extremely worrying with regard to the safety and protection of the Sri Lankan Muslim community, including some foreign Muslim refugees,” the statement said. 

The lives and livelihoods of Muslims, including their local stores and large business establishments, are threatened by the prevailing conditions with unforeseen, dangerous consequences. The Muslim community across Sri Lanka is deeply worried about the politically motivated intimidations and provocations, which President Maithripala Sirisena pointed out in his Iftar reception statement last evening, the statement noted.  

“We all know that even the smallest incident in an isolated Sri Lankan village can be recorded and shared online for mass viewership, stoking widespread violence and counter-violence. And the ongoing divisive, hate speech that demonises and excludes the other hardly helps remedy this grave situation but worsens it, which should be a cause for our shared concern.” 

“As longstanding friends of Sri Lanka, the diplomatic representatives of OIC countries promote peace, stability, and harmony among the people of Sri Lanka. And we encourage them to seek unity in diversity, which underpins the attractiveness of Sri Lanka as a tolerant and peace-loving nation with a heritage that fosters ‘doing no harm to others’.”

Therefore, the representatives of the OIC countries, urged the “friendly Government of Sri Lanka to take every measure necessary to prevent communal violence and to take swift, stern judicial action against the perpetrators, regardless of their religious and political influence in Sri Lankan society”.

The OIC is an international organisation founded in 1969, consisting of 57 member states, with a collective population of over 1.8 billion as of 2015 with 53 members being Muslim-majority countries.