Sri Lanka is a beautiful country where all three communities are living with peace and harmony with all due respects and honour. At this juncture the untoward incidents that took place in Ampara, Digana and other Muslim places in the Kandy District are very unfortunate and tarnished the image of Sri Lanka in the International world, Brigade Commander of 241 Brigade at Akkraipattu Colonel Wipula W. Chandrasiri said.
“Every peace loving citizen of Sri Lanka should be ashamed of these adverse incidents and we all should see that any violence of this nature should never happen in the future with a determined assurance on this vital aspect. I am very much unhappy over this incident and apologize for what had happened in Ampara,” he said.
He was addressing a Traders’ Association meeting held at the Akkaraipattu Mango Garden presided over by Akkaraipattu Peace Foundation President Dr. S. M. A. Jabbar on Friday, March 16.
The meeting was organized by the Peace Foundation with the view to accelerate the activities of Traders Association which was in a state of defunct and intended to re-organize with new officials with innovative trends. This meeting was attended by a good number of Traders of Akkaraipattu engaged in all types of business.
Peace Foundation President Dr. Jabbar in his inaugural address detailed the purpose of the meeting and why it was convened. He said that the traders can play an important role at times of disaster and violence that sparked off similar to that of Ampara Mosques and Kandy District Mosques, houses and business Establishments. Hence, he organized this meeting and thanked the traders for attending this meeting in spite of their very busy schedule.
The Convener of the meeting and a well known social worker of the Business Community M. I. A. R. Buhary welcomed the traders and related the roles played by him at times of violence in the Ampara and the measures taken by him not to spread them elsewhere.
Colonel Wipula Chandrasiri in the outset of his address thanked the organizers for extending their invitation for him and said that he considered this opportunity as a great honour and privilege given to him. He also expressed his gratitude for the people of Akkaraipattu for behaving decently not engaging in any untoward incidents. They have decently expressed their sorrow and sympathy one day and thereafter they obeyed the instructions and advise given by All Mosques Federation and Jemmiayathul Ulama. He was happy that they did not engage in hartals, protests and picketing and disrupt the normal activities of the people of the area.
Colonel Chandrasiri continuing further, advised the traders that discipline of youngsters should be taken care of and said that every parent should concentrate on the activities and whereabouts of their children whom they trust are all on the path of education.
He noted with much regret that today, many children are in the habit of using drugs, liquors and engaged in other unwanted activities paving the way for others to follow. “This should be completely stopped and they all should be vigilant of their children. If they are taught the discipline and good behaviours at the very beginning at their schooling, we can produce a disciplined society. If we can achieve this in our society and other neighboring societies, we can produce a controlled district. If we spread this to the neighboring districts as well, of course we can create a peaceful Sri Lanka”, he said.
Stressing on the communal amity Col. Chandrasiri said that we must also follow the good habit of understanding each other and respect the other religions and culture. A community which has majority of people that may be Buddhists or Muslims or Hindus in a particular town or village should protect the minorities in that particular place.
A majority people of Buddhists may be a minority in a place where Muslims predominantly live. So, it’s the bounden duty of the Muslims to protect the Buddhists in such places. Similarly Buddhists should extend a helping hand to the Muslims at times of unrest.
For an example, I am now in your town as a minority and it’s the duty of you to safeguard me. If we follow this concept, we can create a peaceful Sri Lanka.
Members of the Business Community expressed their ideas as how best they can run these Associations and steps that should be taken to accelerate the activities to go ahead with new trends.
At the conclusion of the meeting, new officials were elected in which Trader M. I. A. R. Buhary was unanimously elected as President and A. M. M. Naleem as General Secretary.
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