Losing a loved one is a painful experience. But if the death is violent and horrific, the pain is even more severe. But in order for the healing process to begin, there needs to be understanding. Otherwise there will be no closure and the victims will live in eternal pain. This applies to every single victim in the world who lost a loved one to terrorism. The Daily News interviewed Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, the author of his new book, ‘Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre – Lessons for the International Community’. The Easter Sunday Massacre on April 21, 2019, was monstrous. The victims need to know the truth. Rather than put them through an ordeal of prolonged agony and suffering, Prof. Gunaratna has dedicated three years of his life to answering this question. Today, the Daily News speaks to Prof. Gunaratna on the inside story of the Easter Sunday carnage. In this interview with Prof. Gunaratna, we realize how easy it is for certain people to be selected, indoctrinated, and recruited. Pretending as religious figures, every country is plagued by sinister predators with their own personal and political agendas. They exploit the vulnerable by preying upon the nation’s weak minds.
Q: What is the situation when it comes to Islamic threat groups in Asia?
A: There are two main terrorist groups that present a sustained threat to Asia. The first group is called al-Qaeda. Hosted by the Taliban that came to power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, Al Qaeda is provided sanctuary. The second group is a group called ISIS or the Islamic State. These two groups are influencing a fringe of the Muslim community to embrace their belief system or their ideology. The main base of al-Qaeda is in Afghanistan and the al-Qaeda rank and file is protected by the Taliban. The Islamic State is still located in Iraq and Syria. However, the Islamic State exploits social media and spreads its ideology widely including South Asia – Sri Lanka, Maldives, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the South Asian region, extremism and terrorism has entered a new phase. Although its leader Dr. Aymen al Zawahiri was killed in Kabul, al-Qaeda is now active in this region influencing a segment of the Muslim community. That is why it is so important for Governments to develop a robust legal and policy framework to fight ideological exclusivism and extremism before it manifests as violence and terrorism.
Q: How do you assess the threat to Sri Lanka?
A: Since 2014, Sri Lankans living in Sri Lanka and overseas have travelled to Iraq and Syria. The first Sri Lankan who went to Iraq and later to Syria joined the Islamic State and died, his name is Ishaq. He was a student in England where he was radicalized. Later he went to Tanzania as a Muslim aid worker and then went to Iraq and Syria where he joined the Islamic State. Then he indoctrinated his own brother Nilam to travel from Sri Lanka. This brother left Sri Lanka in January 2015, with a total of 32 Sri Lankans. They formed the Islamic State Sri Lanka contingent in Iraq and Syria. When they went to Iraq and Syria, their network influenced a number of exclusivist and extremist groups in Sri Lanka. It is those groups that staged the Easter Sunday Attacks. There were three groups they influenced. The first group is called the National Thowheeth Jamaat that was led by Zahran Hashim, the leader of the group. The second group is the Jamaat-e-Islami student wing. The
Zaharan’s widow
Abdul Cader Fatima Hadiya
Leader of the Sri Lanka Islamic Student Movement National organiser Sadiq went to Iraq and trained with the group called Jamaat al Khattab, an al-Qaeda affiliated group. He came back and then he and his brother Shahid, vandalized images. They attacked four Buddha statues, Kataragama god’s statue, Ganesh statue, Mother Mary statue and the Mother Teresa statue. The third group that was influenced by the Islamic State is Jamiyathul Millathi Ibrahim fi Seylani. They joined hands with Zahran’s group. It was Zahran’s group that executed the Easter Sunday attacks. So it was a combined effort of three entities.
Q: Is it true that this Islamic extremism is deeply rooted in Salafi- Wahhabism and Jamaat-e-Islami?
A: Islam in Sri Lanka was peaceful until 1979 when Sri Lankans went to the Gulf to work. Until then the dominant faith was Sufi Islam known as local and traditional Muslims. They are primarily the original Muslims and form the largest minority population in Sri Lanka. A peaceful faith, Sufism emerged side by side with Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. These are the traditional religions of Sri Lanka. But what happened was after 1979, we saw the entry of Salafi-Wahhabism to Sri Lanka. This Salafi-Wahhabism primarily emerged in Saudi Arabia which is a 100% Muslim country. According to the Salafi-Wahabi ideology there cannot be statues of other religions. Salafi-Wahhabism also does not tolerate these shrines and graveyards. We saw those Sri Lankan Muslims who embraced Salafi-Wahhabism, attack the Sufis. The Sufi businesses and homes were looted or attacked. After a clash with Zahran’s Salafi-Wahhabi group and the Sufis in 2017, Zahran’s group went underground. Zahran’s entire organisation, National Thowheeth Jama’ath, became the Islamic State. The other Salafi-Wahhabi groups supported and promoted the same ideology that Zahran advocated. These foreign politico-religious ideologies do not respect Sri Lankan Muslim heritage. That is why the Sri Lankan Government should make it a policy to promote Sri Lankan Islam and not these foreign ideologies. Sri Lankan Muslim heritage is a very beautiful form of Islam. Local and traditional Islam in Sri Lanka existed side by side with Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity.
Q: Are Sri Lankans still vulnerable to religious radicalization?
A: What is important to understand is that religious fanatics can emerge from any faith. To prevent the formation of threat entities, there should be an excellent relationship between the different religious groups in this country. If there is conflict between these different groups, it creates space for extremism to take root. Then the unhappiness created will be exploited by political elements. We must ensure that as a nation there is no dispute between the religions. Government has to be firm and stop exclusivist and extremist ideologies from taking root. Their followers do not want to have engagements with other religious groups. The foreign politico-religious ideologies should be rejected. Sri Lankan Muslim leaders should promote Sri Lankan Islam that has co-existed with other faiths harmoniously for generations. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan religious leaders were open to these ideologies that came from overseas. Instead, they should have promoted local and traditional Islam. Had Sri Lankan Muslim religious leaders embraced such a far reaching stand, the breaking of the statues and the burning of the Sufi homes, businesses and shrines would not have taken place in Sri Lanka. There must be a very clear religious policy where Sri Lankan Muslims contextualize Islam to suit Sri Lanka which is 90% non Muslim. Almost every junction in Sri Lanka has an image. The core of Salafi-Wahhabism calls for the destruction of idols. That is how for over a millennia, Muslims and non Muslims co-existed. If there is no contextualization based on ground realities, there would be intra and inter-religious clashes. The preachers of these foreign ideologies preach against Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. If the Government permits foreign preachers and extremist publications, there will be conflict and violence. If the religious space is not regulated, controlled and managed, it will lead to exclusivism and then to extremism and finally to terrorism and violence. This is the pattern globally and Sri Lanka is no exception. What is important is that Governments should create a separate investigation division in the Police to monitor exclusivist and extremist groups and take action against them before the threat evolves into violence and terrorism.
Q: After attacks happen, the Police make arrests. But they did not take preventive action early enough to stop the attacks. This is a problem in Sri Lanka. What is your advice to the Government?
A: The Police and military can act when there is an attack or an attack is about to take place. But in the pre-attack stages, the exclusivism and extremism stage, we need a robust legal framework to take action. Otherwise another Zahran will emerge in another two, five or ten years. There are three things Governments should do. One is that they should create a Presidential Council of Religious Leaders. All these religious leaders (Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim) should meet once a month and resolve any disputes. Recently there was a Christian preacher who made some unwanted comments. So these issues need to be addressed. Otherwise, these issues will fester and lead to prejudice, suspicion, resentment, anger and violence. The high level Presidential Council of Religious Leaders should send a clear message of promoting moderation, toleration and co-existence. Second, we need a law, a ‘Harmony Act’ to address radicalization in the exclusivism and extremism phases. The upstream focus is on maintaining religious harmony where it is an offence for anyone to insult another person’s religion. The Harmony Act is primarily to empower the authorities to act against hate preachers who incite citizens to engage in violence. Third, the Police should establish a dedicated national security division where they take action against the exclusivists and extremists. Police should train a group of recruits as national security officers to detect, disrupt and dismantle religious exclusivism and extremism, whether it comes from Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. We should not allow exclusivism and extremism to become a feature of any of these great faiths.
Q: According to your findings, is Sri Lanka in a vulnerable position for future attacks?
A: Yes. Sri Lanka is vulnerable because there is no mechanism to address the ongoing online and offline community radicalization. First, there is no mechanism to rehabilitate those in custody. Second, over a thousand were arrested after the Easter attack and have been released without deradicalization. Third, extremist ideologies are rampant online. So Governments should monitor the websites and block the Islamic State and al-Qaeda websites. It should also investigate anyone visiting those websites. Fourth, there is an attempt to bring foreign preachers back to Sri Lanka. In 2019, when Easter Sunday attacks took place, there were several hundred foreign preachers preaching here. We do not need foreign preachers. They should never be allowed in Sri Lanka as it will lead to another attack and a riot. There are enough Sri Lankan preachers. Of course, if there is a preacher of peace he can come, after getting proper vetting, screening and security clearance. But there is an attempt by some religious leaders again to lift the ban on foreign preachers. Based on the damage they have already inflicted on Sri Lankans, there should be no foreign preachers, unless that preacher is renowned for peace and harmony. Except for a lunatic fringe, most Muslims do not want foreign ideologies to come back and take root here. Most Muslims do not want any exclusivist and extremist books here. The books should be regulated. Because those extremist books make people extremists when read. Finally, the groups that have been banned by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter attacks, should remain banned. Those clerics and institutions advocating re-entry of foreign preachers and lifting the ban on radical publications must be monitored closely and tightly. There are now attempts to de-list the banned groups, bring foreign preachers back, and lift the screening of extremist publications. If anyone wants another terrorist attack, then yes you can allow foreign preachers to come. You can allow extremist publications to come and you can de-list the groups that have been proscribed by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter attacks.
Q: What is the situation of Zahran’s Group? Is it still active?
A: Members of Zahran’s group the National Thowheeth Jamaat have been freed from Courts. They should be continuously monitored until they die. The previous and incumbent Governments did not rehabilitate them. Sri Lanka had a brilliant terrorist rehabilitation programme, that deradicalized 12,000 Tamil Tigers. None of them returned back to violence. But unfortunately the rehabilitation programme has been disrupted by a fringe that either had no love for Sri Lanka nor understood the national security implications of doing so. Working with Muslim religious organisations, the ACJU, Government should pass a law and implement terrorist rehabilitation immediately. If ACJU does not rehabilitate terrorists who are in custody and who are in the community, then three things will happen. First, those who are in custody when they are released will spread their extremist ideology. Second, they will mount terrorist attacks. Third, they will become heroes among the supporters and sympathizers of Zahran. What is important is that the Government facilitates ACJU to develop a rehabilitation programme in prison and also in the community for those who are exposed to radical ideologies. They must be rehabilitated.
Q: Who radicalized Zahran?
A: Zahran was radicalized by the initial ideology that came from Salafi-Wahhabism. The initial ideology came from the Gulf and then he turned against the Sufis. Zahran’s mentor was Naufer Moulavi. Eventually a section of the Salafi-Wahhabis and Jamaat-e-Islami embraced the Islamic State. Exclusivism leads to extremism and extremism to violence and terrorism. These are the stages that should be properly monitored and controlled. If the Government neglects this responsibility, Sri Lanka will once again suffer from violence and terrorism will thrive. The educational, religious and digital domains must be tightly regulated, controlled and managed.
Jayantha Sri Nissanka and Ishara Jayawardane