South Asia Forum for Freedom of Religion or Belief (SAF-FoRB) strongly condemns the barbaric acts of terror in Sir Lanka in which more than 250 people have been killed on Sunday. It deplores the fact that these were carried out against innocent people who had gathered in churches for Easter services and in certain hotels.
We express our solidarity with victims’ families and the people of Sri Lanka at this time of grief. We urge the Sri Lankan Government to take all necessary action to bring the perpetrators to justice.
At this moment, we also bring to the attention of the Government that there have been many incidents of violence against religious minorities in Sri Lanka. We urge the Sri Lankan Government to address these incidents of violence against minorities, and protect the rights of every citizen to practice their religion without fear or intimidation.
We are also quite concerned about the reactions to the recent incidents, leading to further violence against the minority communities. We urge the Sri Lankan Government to take all necessary precaution to de-escalate tension among communities and build trust among various religious communities.
SAF-FoRB Working Group:
- Peter Jacob
- Maung Maung Yin
- Farooq Aftab
- Farzana Mahmood
- Preman Rajan Rohaan
- Ishar Mikrani
- Irfan Engineer
- Samuel Jayakumar ( Coordinator)
Note: South Asia Forum for Freedom of Religion or Belief
(SAF-FoRB) is a collective of Human Rights organizations in six South Asian Countries committed to ensure FoRB and the protection of religious minorities.