The Colombo Fort Magistrate today asked the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath (SLTJ) Organisation to apologise to the Mahanayakes of the three Chapters for making derogatory remarks on the Buddha.

“The Court asked Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath Secretary to apologise to all the Mahanayakes and also ordered the media organisations to stop publishing a video of SLTJ Secretary making derogatory remarks on Buddha,” Lawyer Darshana Priyashantha Ranmuthugala who appeared for the aggrieved party told media after the hearing.

Meanwhile, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Parliamentarian Ven. Athuraliya Rathana Thera told media at the court premises that it was government’s responsibility to take action on racist organisations without paving a way for a dispute between Muslim and Sinhalese communities.

The Thera alleged the SLTJ had been registered as a welfare organisation and said the welfare was not its mandate.

“All the peace loving ethnicities including Muslims should gather to defeat racist organisations.  These racist organisations are on the rise throughout the country. Some organisations even attack their own groups,” he said.

Rejecting that the SLTJ was a racist group the General Secretary of the SLTJ Abdu Razik said he had not deliberately made offensive remarks on Buddhism.
“I had no intention of making offensive remarks on Buddhism. I only use some of the contents in books written by Buddhist monks. I agree that I had misinterpreted some of the contents. I even made a correction later on regarding the issue,” he said.

He said the SLTJ had already issued a letter to the Mahanayakes in this regard but said he was ready to visit Mahanayakes and explain the issue as per the directions of the Magistrate. (Lahiru Pothmulla & Sanath Desmond)