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We, the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) wish to bring to your kind attention the Muslim community’s deep disappointment and concern at media reports of your speech at the Defense seminar on September 3rd 2013.

As you are well aware, the Muslim community has without any hesitation stood by the Sri Lankan State throughout the 30 year conflict and has never resorted to any form of armed resistance.

The extremist elements that have been propagating hatred against the minority communities have taken your statement as an endorsement of the State’s approval of their stand on extremism amongst the Muslim community....

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MCSL Letter to the Secretary of Defense

06th September 2013

PRESS RELEASE

The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka vehemently refutes the blatant lies and canard spread against the Muslim Community by the Bodu Bala Sena at their press conference held on the 3rd September 2013.

Alcohol, narcotics or any form of intoxicants are totally prohibited in Islam and Muslims cannot engage in any activity related to them. Any Muslim involved in these activities cannot be considered to be following the teachings of Islam. We urge the enforcement authorities to take the strictest possible recourse and punish with the full force of the law any persons involved in destroying the social fabric of society by indulging in trafficking, distributing or trading in any form of narcotics irrespective of their religious belief.

The recent detection of a large haul of Heroin at the Colombo Port has been confirmed by the relevant authorities to be a consignment imported by International drug traffickers and Sri Lanka has been used only as a transit point. Leveling charges against the Muslim community of being part of this criminal act tantamount to inciting hate which can lead to violence against the Muslim community.

Further, a number of other allegations in this press conference including forced contraception of Sinhala women, aborting unborn children, killing children etc. are serious criminal charges, which carry severe penalties. We urge the relevant authorities to conduct an impartial inquiry immediately on these allegations. Meanwhile, we also urge the government and law enforcement authorities to take action against the Bodu Bala Sena for this hate mongering.......

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The first group of Sri Lankan Haj pilgrims will arrive at the Haj Terminal in Jeddah on Sept. 13.

The country’s Consul General Adam Bawa Uthumalebbe told Arab News on Wednesday that 2,240 Sri Lankan pilgrims would perform Haj this year. “Last year we had 3,200 pilgrims but the quota was reduced this year by 20 percent because of the ongoing development work in the holy city of Makkah,” he said.

SriLankan airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines are transporting the pilgrims this year, he said.

“Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has given special instructions to the Sri Lankan missions in the Kingdom to offer the best facilities and services to the Lankan pilgrims,” Uthumalebbe said

He said the consulate would deploy a team at the Haj Terminal to welcome the pilgrims. The officials would offer refreshments and attend to the needs of the pilgrims until they leave for the holy cities.

He said his mission had formed three teams in Makkah, Jeddah, Mina and Madinah to assist the pilgrims. In addition to the mission’s staff, volunteers have also been brought in to help. A medical team is accompanying the pilgrims.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry has sent two diplomats to the Saudi Embassy in Colombo to issue Haj visas. According to an official from the Saudi Embassy in Colombo, work on issuing visas is taking place smoothly.....

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Islamic university offers scholarships

JEDDAH: HABIB SHAIKH

Published — Monday 2 September 2013

Last Update 2 September 2013 12:37 am

The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), an OIC affiliate university, is offering a range of undergraduate, post-graduate and Ph.D. scholarships to students from OIC member states under the Educational Exchange Program (EEP). The university is also offering placement in its post-doctoral program, where students can engage in research and other activities.

The participation of the IIUM in the OIC–EEP bodes well for promoting greater cooperation in higher education and strengthening academic links between the OIC member states, which is imperative for the advancement of knowledge in the Muslim world.

The OIC Educational Exchange Program, entitled “Solidarity through Academia in the Muslim World,” is drawing increasing interest and participation from member states and their public and private sector universities. A significant number of students are currently benefiting from higher education scholarships offered under the program.

The IIUM is also ready for short-term and long-term arrangements for faculty exchange, whereby higher education institutions in both the public and private sectors of OIC member-states are encouraged to engage in faculty exchange to varying extents.

OIC member-states are also encouraged to send lecturers and researchers to the IIUM for training courses and specialized projects to cater to the specific needs of member states. Such specialized requests can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Details of the IIUM offer are being shared with OIC member states by the OIC General Secretariat through official diplomatic channels. Students, researchers and faculty members can also directly access these details on the OIC website at http://www.oic-oci.orgunder the tab “Educational Exchange Program.”

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It took 60 years for the Central Intelligence Agency to admit this week that it was behind the coup that took place in Teheran in 1953 – and it may be years or decades before we come to know who played what role in the Egyptian coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected leader.

The July 3 Egyptian coup is not exclusively homemade. Like the 1953 Iranian coup that ousted the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadeq and reinstalled the Shah, a US puppet, the Egyptian coup had its foreign elements. As post-coup Egypt witnessed an unprecedented bloody crackdown of anti-coup protesters comprising largely the conservative segment of society and the poor, the blood stained hands of some regional countries also became evident. By being the first to openly back the military coup and the bloody crackdown in which more than 2,000 people were killed, Saudi Arabia made little effort to hide its role in the coup.....

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ஊடக அறிக்கை 17.08.2013 (09.10.1434)

1434 ஷவ்வால் மாத தலைப்பிறை சம்பந்தமாக..

அஸ்ஸலாமு அலைக்கும் வறஹ்மதுல்லாஹி வபறகாதுஹு

1434 ஷவ்வால் மாத தலைப்பிறை சம்பந்தமாக அகில இலங்கை ஜம்இய்யத்துல் உலமா அதனது கிண்ணியா மற்றும் திருகோணமலை மாவட்டக் கிளையுடன் இணைந்து வெளியிடும் அறிக்கை.

இலங்கையில் தலைப்பிறை பார்த்தல் தொடர்பாக கடந்த காலங்களில் வேறுபட்ட நிலைப்பாடுகள் இருந்து அதனால் வந்த சர்ச்சைகளை முடிவுக்கு கொண்டு வரும் நோக்கோடு அகில இலங்கை ஜம்இய்யத்துல் உலமா கடந்த 2006ஆம் ஆண்டு சகல தரப்பு உலமாக்களினது அங்கீகாரத்தோடும் உடன்பாட்டோடும் ஐந்து தீர்மானங்களை மேற்கொண்டது என்பதையும் முஸ்லிம் சமூகம் அறிந்துவைத்துள்ளது என நம்புகிறோம்....

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ஊடக அறிக்கை

கடந்த வாரம் உலக முஸ்லிம்கள் ஈதுல் பித்ர் பெருநாளைக் கொண்டாடினர். அவ்வாறே நம்நாட்டு முஸ்லிம்களும் கொண்டாடினர். ஷவ்வால் பிறை சம்பந்தமாக எழுந்த தெளிவற்ற நிலைமை காரணமாக சிலர் 29 ஆம் நோன்போடு ரமழானை முடித்துக்கொண்ட அதேவேளை நாட்டு மக்கள் முப்பதாக ரமழானை நிறைவுசெய்தனர்.

இதனைக் காரணமாக வைத்துக்கொண்டு சிலர் தமது சுயவிருப்பங்களை வெளிப்படுத்துவதைப் பார்த்து முஸ்லிம் சமூகம் வெட்கிக் குனிய வேண்டியிருக்கிறது. முஸ்லிம்களின் சன்மார்க்க விடயங்களில் வழிகாட்டும் ஒரு ஸ்தாபனமான உலமா சபையை உரிய பின்னணிகளை புரியாத ஒருசிலர் அச்சபை கலைக்கப்பட வேண்டும், தலைமை மாற்றப்பட வேண்டும் என்றெல்லாம் கோரிக்கை விடுப்பதும் நோட்டிஸ் அடிப்பதும் வெப்தளங்களில் எழுதுவதுமானது மேலான முஸ்லிம் சமூகத்திற்கு இழுக்கையே கொண்டுவரும் என்பதையிட்டு அவர்கள் கவனம் செலுத்தாதது ஆச்சரியமே.

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A mosque in the Sri Lankan capital has been closed after an attack by a Buddhist mob over the weekend sparked clashes in which five people were hurt.

Muslims in Colombo's Grandpass area will now use an older place of worship which has been saved from demolition in a deal struck with the government.

But the authorities have also been condemned for failing to make arrests.

In recent months hard-line Buddhist groups have mounted a campaign against Muslim and Christian targets.

Last month, a group of Buddhist monks protested near the mosque, demanding it be relocated.

But during evening prayers on Saturday night Buddhist-led crowds threw stones at the mosque. Police imposed a curfew when Buddhists and Muslims clashed after the attack on Sunday.

The curfew has now been lifted but hundreds of police and special forces are still present on the streets of Grandpass, BBC Sinhala's Azzam Ameen reports.

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විශේෂ කාර්‍ය බලකා ආරක්ෂාව මැද මහා බෝගස කපා ඉවත් කරයි

2013 අගෝස්තු 12 03:15 p:m

කොළඹ,ග්‍රෑන්ඩ්පාස් හී ස්වර්ණ චෛත්‍ය පාරේ පිහිටා තිබූ දැවැන්ත බෝගස කපා ඉවත් කිරීමේ කටයුතු අද(12) පෙරවරුවේ කොළඹ මහ නගර සභාව විසින් ආරම්භ කළේය. එම අවස්ථාව නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීම සඳහා කොළඹ නාගරික කො‍මසාරිස් භද්‍රානි ජයවර්ධන මහත්මිය ඇතුලු මහ නගර සභාවේ නිලධාරින් රැසක් සහභාගී වූහ.උදෑසන දහයට පමණ නගර සභාවේ විශාල දෙඹකරයක් එහි සේවකයින්ද සමග පැමිණ බෝගස කැපීම ආරම්භ ක‍ළහ. මෙම බෝගස හේතුවෙන් ඒ අසල පිහිටි මුස්ලිම් දේවස්ථානයේ නව පුළුල් කිරීම් ආරම්භ කළ නොහැකිව එහි වැඩ ඇණහිට තිබිණ. ‍බෝගස කපා ඉවත් කළ පසු එහි ඉදිකිරීම් ආරම්භ කළ හැකි බව මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාවගේ අදහසයි. ඊට සවන් දෙමින් එම බෝගස කපා ඉවත් කරන්නට තීරණය කෙරිණ. මෙම අවස්ථාවේ දී විශේෂ කාර්‍ය බලකා සෙබලුන් විශාල පිරිසක් විසින් ප්‍රදේශයේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කළ අතර යාබද තිබූ විහාස්ථානයේ ස්වාමින් වහන්සේලාද මෙම කටයුත්තේ දී සහය පළ කළහ. 
මහා සංඝරත්නය, මුස්ලිම් පූජකවරුන් හා මැති ඇමතිවරුන් අතර ඊයේ කෙරුණු සාකච්ඡාවකදී තීරණය වූ පරිදි ග‍්‍රෑන්ඞ්පාස් ස්වර්ණ චෛත්‍ය පාරේ බෝධි වෘක්ෂය කපා ඉවත් කිරීම සිදුවිය. ආගමික වතාවත් මධ්‍යයේ නිසි චාරිත්‍ර පුදකරමින් බෝධි වෘක්ෂය එලෙස ඉවත් කර ඇති අතර, පැරණි මුස්ලිම් පල්ලිය පුළුල් කිරීමට ඉන් ඉඩකඩ ලැබෙනු ඇත.

අලුතෙන් ඉදිකරන ලද පල්ලිය එම ස්ථානයෙන් ඉවත්කර ගැනීමටත් පැරණි පල්ලිය තවදුරටත් දියුණු කර ආගමික කටයුතු සඳහා යොදාගැනීමටත් ඊයේ සවස ආගමික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශ ‍ලේකම්වරයා සහ සර්ව ආගමික නායකයන්ගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පැවැති සාකච්ඡාවේදී එකඟතාවන්ට පැමිණ ඇත.රජයේ නියෝජිතයන්, ආණ්ඩුවේ ඇමැතිවරුන්, මුස්ලිම්, බෞද්ධ නියෝජිතයන් සහ ප්‍රදේශවාසීන්ගේ සහභාගිත්වයෙන් ඊයේ (11) පැවැති සාකච්ඡාවකදී මෙම තීරණය ගත් බව බුද්ධ ශාසන හා ආගමික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ‍ලේකම් එම්. කේ. පී. දිසානායක මහතා “ලක්බිම” ට පැවසීය. නව පල්ලිය ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා අවසර ලබාදුන් ලිපිය ඉවත්කර ගැනීමටද එහිදී තීරණය වු බව මේ පිළිබඳ “ලක්බිම” කළ විමසීමේදී ‍ලේකම්වරයා සඳහන් කළේය.

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All concerned parties including the Buddhist and Muslim clergy have agreed to amicably resolve the issues that led to Saturday night’s attack in Grandpass, where a newly built Muslim praying Centre was damaged.

The parties had decided to develop the old Mosque and remove the newly built prayer centre, sources said.

The decision has been taken following a meeting held at the Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs Ministry, Colombo 02.....