Sri Lanka: Cracks in ruling coalition as anti-Muslim violence spreads 

Sri Lankan troops guarded mosques ahead of Friday prayers and stepped up security amid growing fears that the communal violence between majority Sinhala Buddhists and minority Muslims could spread across the country. Most Muslim-owned businesses in the country remained shut today as troops remained on high alert to prevent any untoward incidents after Friday prayers.

In the capital Colombo, Muslim-owned businesses were closed this morning. Troops guarded mosques in the city while extra deployments were made to strengthen security and maintain peace.

The authorities imposed a three-day ban on social media sites, including WhatsApp and Facebook, after reports surfaced that anti-Muslim propaganda calling on locals to target members of the Muslim community was doing the rounds on these sites.

Anti-Muslim riots, since Monday, have left two persons dead and damaged several homes, businesses and mosques in the Kandy district. The violence erupted after the death of a man from the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority last week. To rein in communal violence, a 10-day emergency was imposed by President Maithripala Sirisena's government on Tuesday, the first in the country since the Civil War ended in 2009.

Police said the situation had been largely peaceful in Kandy during the last 12 hours. All schools in the district remained closed.

Besides calls from government ministers to keep calm, members from civil society also condemned the sectarian outburst.

Sanath Jayasuriya, former cricketer and a minister in the previous Rajapaksa government, tweeted condemnation of the violence.

Sri Lanka’s former cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara issued a Twitter appeal mentioning that racism and violence had “no place” in the country.

Violence has however continued, according to news reports.

During the curfew last night, rioters tried to attack Muslim sites. The Army swiftly intervened to prevent arson. There were however incidents of stone-pelting at Muslim sites elsewhere on the island.

The police said the main suspects who were arrested yesterday were brought to Colombo for further questioning.

The arrests of suspects yesterday came after the police came under increasing public criticism over its alleged inaction to prevent violence in spite of the imposition of curfew.

About 3,000 police, 2,500 troops and 750 special task forces have been deployed on the ground in Kandy.

India, which is said to have been instrumental in stitching together the ruling coalition ahead of January 2015 presidential vote, has maintained a nervous silence over the flare-up as fractures in the Sri Lankan leadership started to come out in the open.

President Sirisena, under attack for alleged police inaction, replaced Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the law and order minister.

Namal Rajapaksa, a government MP and son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Thursday called for an investigation into the role of minister Champika Ranawake in inciting violence.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former head of Sri Lanka Freedom Party, had caused anxieties to the Indian leadership owing to his overt pro-China tilt. It was during his presidential tenure that Sri Lanka leased the port of Hambantota on the island nation’s southern coast to Beijing. The former president is however making a comeback in Sri Lankan politics, with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), backed by him, winning 44.65% of the vote in last month’s local polls.

In a strongly-worded press release, the United Nations also expressed concern over the unrest on the island.

The Sinhalese Buddhists are about 75% of Sri Lanka's 21 million population while Muslims are 10 percent of the population.

Tensions between Muslim groups and the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community in the country have escalated since the end of the civil war in May 2009.

In 2014, violence directed against Muslim minority groups broke out in the southwestern town of Aluthgama, following a rally by hardline Buddhist nationalist monks, resulting in the death of at least three Muslims.

With PTI inputs.