West influencing regime-change politics responsible for worsening situation: Fr Sakthivel

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 April 2019, 23:46 GMT]
The serial terror attacks on the churches and the hotels during the Easter Sunday has sparked fear of repercussions among the Muslims in Colombo, Negombo and the suburbs of the capital. They fear that a preplanned backlash could come from the forces operating among the other communities, Colombo-based human rights activist and Tamil Catholic priest Fr M. Sakthivel told TamilNet on Monday. In general, the people are also afraid that there might be other bombs as a bomb went off in Colombo on Monday while the SL Police was about to defuse it, he said. The priest who knows the grassroots situation prevailing in the South of the island said that the outside forces, particularly the West, which has been heavily intervening in the affairs of the island with a regime-change agenda, was to be blamed for the deteriorating security conditions of the non-Sinhala-Buddhist peoples in the island.

The death toll from the series of attacks on Eastern Sunday has risen to 290 on Monday. Most of the 500 victims wounded in the serial attacks have sustained serious injuries, reports from Colombo said.

The attacks on Christians and foreign nationals almost coincide with US - Sri Lanka naval exercise along the Hambantota port, which is owned by China under a 99-year lease.



Fr Sakthivel, a veteran rights activist, has been at the forefront in the post-2009 protests seeking to trace the whereabouts of the people subjected to enforced disappearances in the genocidal onslaught waged on Eezham Tamils.

Tamils should not forget that they were at the receiving end in the past due to the policies of the West suppressing the Tamil struggle.

It is now the Muslims who are going to be at the receiving end, the priest who hails from the upcountry said.

“We know already very well that the struggle of Tamils was suppressed with the tacit support of the international community.”

“On one side, forces are operating against the Muslims at a global level. At the same time, there are also Western forces operating certain Islamist outfits on the other side. The latest attacks could also be the work of hidden forces that want to create instability in the island by creating a violent backlash against the Muslims, we fear,” the Catholic priest told TamilNet.

One should look at who is going to benefit from the instability and the violent backlash against the Muslims, he said.

The security situation of the non-Sinhala-Buddhists in the island would be severely compromised by the Emergency regulations and the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Those who want to seize political power and those who are in the current ruling regime are seeking to use the situation for their political advantage.

The attack has brought uncertainty and fear among the people, especially as 2019 is going to be an election year, he said.

Who can bring this situation under control, is the mindset prevailing among the Sinhala people.

Had the former Defence Secretary [Gotabhaya Rajapaksa] been in power, such an attack would not have occurred, is the opinion being increasingly echoed among the Sinhala grassroots, the priest further observed.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a US citizen, was having a close rapport with former Pentagon experts such as Prof James Clad, who was the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia between 2002 and 2010.

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