Sri Lanka expels Indian Muslim preachers from its soil

Sri Lanka has reportedly ordered 161 foreign Muslim preachers - from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Maldives and Arab nations - to leave the country for flouting visa regulations and they were not teaching moderate form of Islam.

Bravo Sri Lanka! In India, politicians and media can not even agree that there is possibility of Mullahs in India preaching extremism in madrassas and seminaries. Or did we ever ask ourselves what is the syllabus in these so called madrassas? No prizes for guessing that Koran, Hadith and elements of Sharia are too important to be missed out. And all these sources are extremely intolerant towards Non-Muslims, particularly Hindus, with summons to hate, kill or subjugate infidels as fourth class citizens (that is how Sharia treats Non-Muslims).

Or how come these 161 Mullahs, who spent their time studying Islamic scriptures, misunderstand the religion of peace so completely?

Of course, one might point out the extreme hostility of Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism towards Hindu Tamils and the discrimination they suffered. What can not be denied is that such nationalism linked to past underpinnings serves as first line of defense against external barbaric forces like Islamic supremacism. Complete dissociation of any nation from past lacks the will to face and withstand Islamic onslaught which knows no mercy.

Sri Lanka 'expels 161 foreign Muslim preachers'  
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Sri Lanka has reportedly ordered 161 foreign Muslim preachers to leave the country for flouting visa regulations.

A senior immigration official was quoted as saying that the clerics had no right to preach in mosques because they had arrived on tourist visas.

He also said that some local Muslims had complained that the visitors were not teaching a moderate form of Islam. 

The preachers - from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Maldives and Arab nations - must now leave by 31 January. 

'Laughable idea' 

"They have violated immigration laws. A tourist visa is to have a holiday or visit friends and family, and not to preach Islam," Sri Lanka's immigration head Chulananda Perera told the AFP news agency. 

Mr Perera said the group belonged to Tablighi Jamaat - an international Islamic movement popular in Sri Lanka and the region. 

A Muslim source told the BBC that the movement sends groups of preachers to places of worship, urging Muslims to devote more time to their faith and act more devoutly.
Any idea that they were militant was laughable, the source added. 

Muslim members of Sri Lanka's government have expressed concern at the mass expulsion, and are expected to meet other officials later on Monday to try to delay the move. 

The news has also created consternation in the Muslim community in Sri Lanka, the third largest ethnic group in the country after Sinhalese and Tamils, the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo reports. 

During the long civil war the community was often caught between the two warring parties and it has a reputation for moderation, our correspondent adds.

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