Muslim land-owners confront extremist Sinhala monks in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 April 2017, 20:03 GMT]
A Sinhala Buddhist monk from Kalmunai with a group of Sinhala extremists, this week deployed heavy vehicles and machinery to put up a road and expand the locality of a hilltop known as Maayak-kalli-malai, where they had placed a Buddha statue in October 2016 amidst opposition from Tamils and Muslims who live at the locality, situated in I’rakkaamam division of Ampaa’raid district. On Thursday, Muslim residents were summoned through a speaker announcement from the nearby mosque and marched towards the hilltop and confronted the extremist monks and their construction workers and demanded the intruders to stop the construction work. The protesters cited a complaint made by the land-owner where the intruding monks had placed the Buddha statue.

Although Divisional Secretary M.M. Nazir was reluctant to act against the monks, the protesters succeeded in thwarting the intruding monks through their mobilization.

The hillock is located between a Tamil village, known as Maa’nikka-madu and a Muslim village known as Varip-paddaang-cheanai.

Around 150 Tamils also live at the locality.

SL Archaeology Department officials were also present at the time of the protest, news sources in Ampaa’rai said.

Sinhala Buddhist monks have stepped up their intrusion at several locations of Tamil-speaking Muslims in Trincomalee and Ampaa'rai districts of the Eastern province in recent weeks.

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