^{File photograph: Sri Lankan soldiers at a Tamil school.}

Sri Lanka’s controversial ‘One Country, One Law’ Task Force and a think-tank under the defence ministry have forced the withdrawal of an Islamic text book, reportedly over concerns that “they might contain ideas of extremist ideology”.

According to a report in the Sunday Times the textbooks for Grade 6 schoolchildren “contained some objectionable words”.

The withdrawal of the textbooks reportedly came on the recommendation of the task force, which came under criticism after the appointment of an extremist racist Sinhala monk with a history of incendiary statements and incitement to violence, as chairman.

The Institute of National Security Studies, a think tank that comes under Sri Lanka’s powerful Defence Ministry, reportedly also raised concerns.

“There is no need for significant changes to be made in those text books except for minor changes,” said Sri Lanka’s Educational Publications Department Commissioner General P.N. Illapperuma. “We will rectify them soon and distribute the amended books.”

Last week, Tamil poet and teacher Ahnaf Jazeem described the torture he faced at the hands of Sri Lanka’s security forces who arrested him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act over his Tamil poetry. “The officers said because I did not own the Buddhist books, that I am a terrorist,” he told The Morning.

Read more: ‘TID officers said I’m a terrorist because I didn’t own Buddhist books’ - Ahnaf Jazeem