As a nation that endured a brutal war we are all aware of the values of peace, respect, unity & freedom. The Govt condemns the racist & violent acts that have taken place over the last few days. A state of emergency has been declared & we will not hesitate to take further action.
— Ranil Wickremesinghe (@RW_UNP) March 6, 2018
We are taking action to enforce law & order to ensure security across the Kandy district. The armed forces, STF & police have been deployed & instructed to be prepared to control any kind of tension. I appeal to the public to act peacefully to safeguard law & order in your areas.
— Ranil Wickremesinghe (@RW_UNP) March 7, 2018
Strong anti-Muslim violence took place in the Kandy district by Buddhists. This radical movement portrays the harsh religious divide plaguing Sri Lanka. The conflict heightened after a Buddhist man was severely beaten by Muslims a week prior to the Buddhist response. A BBC article cites many mosques, shops, vehicles, and residencies were damaged in the Buddhist aggression. In a response to this, a state of emergency was declared in Sri Lanka, and even went so far to say that Muslims are living in fear. In an attempt to combat this, a cabinet official claims that action will be taken against hate speech posts on social media.
As with any ethnic, religious or primordial strife between two parties, conflict will always exist. I wonder exactly how the government plans to attack this issue, with these things considered. I believe the ability of the government is limited by nature of the conflict. Although they may be able to police social media posts and place police and security forces in threatened areas, I do not see the government as having a significant ability to control the conflict. The majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhists with only a small portion of the population as Muslims. Considering this significant gap, I respect the government for attempting to protect all of its citizens, regardless of religious affiliation. I do not see a better way of dealing with it than how they are, but I do not believe this is the ultimate solution. The government can only keep security forces in place for so long, but the divide will exist for long after they are removed.
Help Received: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43300913?intlink_from_url=http://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cywd23g0gxgt/sri-lanka&link_location=live-reporting-story
This article was used for the contextual information provided in my analysis of the tweets.