A Sri Lankan cabinet minister said Friday the US is “nurturing and fostering” Muslim militant groups and creating another Taliban in the island by heeding Muslim accounts of the Buddhist mob violence against them, the Daily Mirror reported.
Champika Ranawaka, Minister for Technology, Research and Atomic Energy, told reporters that US Ambassador Michelle Sison is nurturing “Sri Lankan Jihadist groups” just as the US nurtured the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“The US is repeating the mistakes it made in Afghanistan by distorting the Aluthgama incidents and very soon will suffer dire consequences,” said Ranawaka, whose Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party is a key ally of President Rajapaksa’s UPFA coalition.
The minister further accused 'Islamic Jihad organisations' for the anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka earlier this week.
“By nurturing and fostering militant Muslim groups against a democratically elected government instead of helping to hunt down the militant elements within the Muslim community, the US has only strengthened the global Taliban movement,” he said.
“Jihadist groups and some Muslim politicians are attempting to internationalize this issue. The trouble broke out at Pathirajagoda which has a Sinhala majority. Muslim extremists are trying to show the world that Muslims are being prevented from living a peaceful life. We request the Muslims not to be misled by those who are trying to provoke them,” the minister said.
"We, as the JHU is ready to help resolve this matter as we did in the past. People must get together and act against extremism which is raising its ugly head in our country.”
Ranawaka claimed that the government did not reveal the damage done to the Buddhists, because it could have led to “a more disastrous situation” and that the security forces had allowed “Muslim extremists” to gather in their thousands but arrested the Buddhists who attended a gathering.
“The security forces allowed some 3,000 Muslims to gather in Aluthgama but disrupted the Aluthgama rally organised by the Buddhists. The law should be equal to everyone,” he said.
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