The escape of Muslims and the closure of churches: Repercussions of terrorism in Sri Lanka

Doaa Imam

On Thursday morning, April 25, 2019, a new explosion occurred in Sri Lanka just four days after a series of bombings that killed hundreds. It turned out that it was from a small package inside a waste container east of the capital Colombo.

The authorities said that it is possible to throw this package in the container, by one person; in order to get rid of it; which led to the explosion yesterday morning, without casualties.

Reuters reported that the Sri Lankan police decided to close the main road to the Colombo airport after a car bomb was suspected of being reopened shortly after an explosive device was dismantled on Wednesday (April 24th) near the Savoy Cinema in the capital without injuries.

Close the churches

The bloody events in the country, last Sunday, killed 360 people and injured about 500 injured, against the backdrop of a series of suicide bombings that targeted three churches, two of them Catholic, and three hotels during the Sunday Palm Mass.

Police arrested about 18 new suspects, bringing the number of detainees to 58 people, according to the authorities concerned.

The French news agency AFP reported the closure of all Catholic churches in Sri Lanka until further notice. All Catholic churches were asked to close their doors and suspend prayers until security conditions were established, a church official told AFP, stressing that the security forces recommended closing them.

The escape of Muslims

On the other hand, hundreds of Muslim refugees fled the town of Negombo on the west coast of the country, where sectarian tensions have intensified over the past days as hundreds of Pakistani Muslims fled on Wednesday from the multi-ethnic city, north of the capital Colombo, amid an atmosphere of fear. This comes after threats of retaliation against local residents, who were crammed into buses provided by police and local leaders.

In an interview with Reuters, Muslims from the Ahmadiyya sect, descendants of Pakistan, said they had been evicted from their homes in Sri Lanka after the events of the Daesh organization.

They said they gathered at the Ahmadiya mosque waiting for buses to take them to a safe place, while the residents attacked them, and demanded them to leave the city and go elsewhere.