Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has deplored the reported demolition of a mosque at Dambulla in Matale district of Sri Lanka recently.
Responding to a reporter's question on Sunday, he said there were different versions of the incident.
While one had it that the mosque was demolished by 2,000 Buddhist monks; another claimed that the demolition was ordered by the Sri Lankan government for converting the area into a Buddhist shrine. The religious bigotry had been condemned by a number of leaders in Sri Lanka. Mr. Karunanidhi alleged that the Rajapaksa government was keen on Sinhala domination, according priority only to Sinhalese and Buddhism.
It was only for this that all Tamils had been driven out of their original habitations and the Sinhalese were settled there. The army was keeping strict vigil over the rest of the Tamil areas.
Violence had been unleashed against the religious and ethnic minorities and desecration of Hindu temples and churches were being resorted to, he lamented.
“The civilised world will not accept such an attack on people of other religions and such actions are deplorable.”
