Hundreds of Muslims are in hiding after fleeing the Sri Lankan port city of Negombo as communal tensions rise in the aftermath of the deadly Easer Sunday bombings.
The bombings, which killed 359 people and injured 500, shattered the relative calm that has existed in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka since a civil war against mostly Hindu, ethnic Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago, and have raised fears of a return to sectarian violence.
A group of around 800 Muslims are being sheltered in one city, which the Guardian is not naming. There was a significant police presence outside their location and dozens of locals were protesting, calling for the group to be removed from the area.
“These people must be pulled out from this place,” said a local provincial council member. “We don’t want them.” Signs in English and Sinhala posted outside said: “We don’t need Pakistan refugees.”
Police said the refugees would be required to stay another few days before they could be safely moved on. The group belong to the Ahmadi community, a minority sect of Islam who are persecuted in Pakistan and legally banned from enter the religion’s holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Until now, Christians had largely managed to avoid the worst of the island’s tensions.
Security has been increased at churches, which have been ordered to stay closed until further notice, government officials said. A senior priest told AFP: “There will be no public mass said until further notice.”
Scores of worshippers were killed in the bombing of the St Sebastian church in Negombo on Sunday. On Wednesday hundreds of Pakistani Muslims left the port city, crammed into buses, after threats of revenge.
Source: The Guardian
