Identity and identification of extremists and extremism

Just over a year ago, on March 6, 2018 to be precise, following inter-religious unrest in Digana and elsewhere Lakshman Kiriella (UNP) said in Parliament that ‘a resolution should be brought and Buddhists should apologize to the Muslims in connection with the violence.’ Kiriella has not, as yet, called on Muslims to apologize to Christians and people of other faiths who perished in the Easter Sunday attacks.   

Kiriella was out of order and that is not surprising. He is not alone either. His political bed-mates, ideologically speaking, often use broad brush strokes to vilify the Sinhalese and the Buddhists. They have not, interestingly, applied the same principle of engagement to other communities. Indeed, some have laboured to distinguish communities from extreme elements in that community. As they should, of course. It’s the selectivity that is problematic.   

The people need not be out of order, however. There is folly in conflating a community with either sections of that community or those claiming to speak and act on behalf of that community.   
The white supremacist terrorist group, Ku Klux Klan (KKK), swore to uphold Christian morality. The political leadership in the USA whenever that country unleashes terror across the globe invokes ‘god’ and it is the Christian god whose blessings are asked for. The political leadership in the UK, similarly, has historically spoken and acted ‘in the name of god and king/queen’. The Bodu Bala Sena acts in the name of Buddhism. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was and is about Hindu supremacy. None of these organizations or states can claim to reflect the views of the particular religious communities in their relevant entireties.   

The problem is that religious doctrines come with words. Words describe, confuse, distract and mislead. They are also open to multiple interpretation. This makes for pernicious selectivity for purposes arguably at odds with the intent of the prophets; although the selectors will vehemently argue that theirs is a strict adherence to tenets. The Quran as well as the Old and New Testaments, as such, can be read as texts that justify and call for violence. Extremists and pick and choose. Others could also pick and choose, and indeed do so. Differently.  

Bishop Duleep De Chickera, at a panel discussion at the Sri Lanka Press Institute six years ago, acknowledged that religions or rather religious communities have caused much grief throughout history. He also pointed out that faith has also been a tremendous source of succor for people throughout history. This is true. People have often turned to their respective faiths and found relief as they contented with the vicissitudes of life, especially the ‘down sides’ of the Eight Worldly Conditions (Ata Lo Dahama) — sorrow, loss, blame and dishonor. Religion helps people come to terms with tragedy. Religion offers pathways to closure.   

Right here, though, freedom is ours to secure or squander. This government, power-drunk and revenge-consumed completely compromised national security

It’s all easy on paper, however. The magnitude of the terror and the evil that unleashes it are such that there is hardly any space for sober reflection on philosophical tenets. Words are cheap. They are tossed around at will. They are tied to that explosive called emotion and typically come cased in political expedience. They are seldom wrought of reason. There will be Kiriellas. There will be people ready to point fingers at entire collectives and absolutely reluctant to reflect on their complicities.   

Kiriella’s statement is all about conflation. In the early years of this decade, the late Sunila Abeysekera, moderating (if memory serves) at the Galle Literary Festival a panel made of people disappointed that their outcome preferences with respect to the struggle against terrorism had not materialized, beseeched one and all not to conflate Tamils with the LTTE. When it was suggested that people like her indulge in the same conflation by legitimating the LTTE and being silent about claims that the LTTE was the sole representatives of the Tamil people, she was gracious enough to acknowledge. It can be argued that the anti-Tamil label pinned on the Sinhalese on account of antipathy to the separatist terrorists is printed with the ink of that kind of conflation as well.   

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have a single Buddhist (outside of the BBS) who would condone or be silent about the BBS and its clear violation of basic Buddhist tenets. Indeed if even one out of 10 Buddhists (outside the BBS) saluted the BBS, it should be cause for shame. It’s the same with respect to the ‘Muslims’ (note: when the Buddhists were vilified and the BBS talked of, there were no quotation-mark-qualifiers) who carried out the Easter Sunday attacks. There are Muslims who have strongly condemned. There are Muslims who have in their own way objected and petitioned authorities to crack down on these extremists. Nothing is ever ‘enough’ though, especially when politicians think of vote banks and play deaf and dumb when the threat is obvious.  

And the threat, folks, is read. The enemy is not at the gates. The enemy is within. Among us. We are being attacked from within and without — and not only because the ISIS has claimed responsibility. International vultures are keen-eyed and have a keen sense of smell. They smell blood here. They have already tried to move in, of course wearing the garb of ‘concerned and aggrieved friend and neighbour’.   

Right here, though, freedom is ours to secure or squander. This government, power-drunk and revenge-consumed completely compromised national security. They are shamelessly playing a blame-game. The fact of the matter is that Harin Fernando knew of an attack but didn’t inform anyone. Others knew way before Easter but did nothing. Muslim (should I say ‘Muslim’?) ministers used ‘vote bank’ card (saying it without saying it) to let terrorists off the hook. The police went into numb mode after beefing VIP security. No one cared about the public. The people paid.   

The government’s vanity project of dancing to the tune of its global masters (the USA, UK, UN and its agencies including especially the UNHRC) put the entire population at risk. They played politics with the corpses of Wasim Thajudeen and Lasantha Wickramatunga. They partied with skeletal remains more than 400 years old (The BBC did so too, before the carbon dating results were out, and went dumb-and-dumber when they did). Today there are more than 300 dead bodies at the government’s door. Accessories after the crime of terrorism, that’s what the Yahapalanists are. They include the likes of Nimalka Fernando and her NGO pals who called Sri Lanka ‘A Failed State’. They are quiet now.   

Such are the realities of the murky thing that national security has been turned into by this Government. They trusted everyone except the ordinary people. The ordinary people paid a massive price and might have to continue to pocket out.   

Despite all this, we have to understand that it is the government that is best equipped to deal with the threat. The people have to support the efforts currently under way to eliminate this menace. In this, one can obtain relief from the fact that in times such as this, all Sri Lankans have come out and done the needful for themselves and one another. There’s something Sri Lanka that cuts across ideology, party, religious faith and ethnic identity, something intangible but certainly recognizable.   

It is our baby now, ladies and gentlemen. Victory or defeat will depend on how we conduct ourselves, whether or not we recognize ourselves in each other regardless of labels, whether or not we are kind to one another, and most of all how vigilant and determined we are. It’s about identities we have and identity-elements we privilege.   

I can do no better than quote my niece Duranya Freeman who summed it up thus in a long Facebook post:  Every terrorist has a goal: to make us fear what we love the most. To force us to feel that nowhere is safe. Yet terrorists only truly succeed when they divide us. When our inner fear turns outwards and we start pointing fingers at one another. Sri Lanka is dear to me for how much love can be packed into an island of just 25,000 square miles, roughly the size of West Virginia. An island whose victims of this Sunday will be mourned by everyone. An island which has survived 30 years of deadly political turmoil, and a tsunami that quite literally ripped it apart. An island which will also survive this.  

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