COLOMBO: Rights groups accused Sri Lankan police on Wednesday of failing to stop a wave of hate crimes against Muslim businesses and mosques in the Buddhist-majority country.
Police are yet to make any arrests in connection with more than a dozen arson attacks against Muslims shops, mosques and a burial ground in the past month.
Prominent rights activist Victor Ivan said the inaction risked a repeat of anti-Muslim riots in 2014 that left four dead.
The government said on Wednesday that the violence had been addressed in a cabinet meeting and police and security forces had been instructed to maintain law and order.
“The president directed the Inspector General of Police to instruct all officers-in-charge of police stations to be responsible for preventing such incidents,” the government said in a statement.
The riots in mid-2014 – led by a hardline Buddhist group – were widely seen as the catalyst that led to then president Mahinda Rajapakse’s downfall in January 2015.
Muslims account for just 10% of Sri Lanka’s 21 million population and have emerged king makers in a country where the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community is split down the middle between two national parties.
