Persecution of Muslims in Sri Lanka

Muslims in Sri Lanka make up 9.7% of the population of Sri Lanka. 1,967,227 persons adhering Islam as per the census of 2012. The Muslim community is divided into three main ethnic groups: the Sri Lankan Moors, the Indian Muslims (including Tamil Muslims) and the Malays, each with its own history and traditions. The attitude among the majority of people in Sri Lanka is to use the term "Muslim" as an ethnic group, specifically when referring to Sri Lankan Moors. The Sri Lankan Muslims have been attacked and massacred terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The militant Bodu Bala Sena called for a boycott of Halal meat attacked Muslims.
Kattankudi mosque massacre
The Kattankudy mosque massacre was the killing of over 147 Muslim men and boys in a mosque in Kattankudi by LTTE cadres on August 3, 1990. It took place when around 30 Tamil rebels raided four mosques in the town of Kattankudi, where over 300 people were attending Isha prayers. The attack is widely attributed to LTTE, who denied their involvement in the massacre, and have never retracted that denial.
Ethnic cleansing of Muslims
The expulsion of the Muslims from the Northern province was an act of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Tamil militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization in October 1990. In order to achieve their goal of creating a mono ethnic Tamil state, Tamil Eelam in the North Sri Lanka, the LTTE forcibly expelled the 72,000 strong Muslim population from the Northern Province.
Campaign against Halal Food
Bodu Bala Sena
In February of 2013, the hardline Buddhist organization Bodu Bala Sena called for a boycott of Halal meat, and demanded that all shops in the country must to sell halal meat products by April 2013. At a rally in Maharagama, outside of Colombo, thousands listened to nationalistic speeches by the group's leaders, while youths wore t-shirts denouncing the Muslim practice of halal slaughtering of animals for meat. The militant memebers attacked Muslims and Mosques. According to BBC News, the secretary-general of the organization, Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara, claimed that Christian and Muslim extremists were threatening Buddhists. He told the crowds that "only monks can save this race" and that hundreds of monks were ready to fight, stating, "Our country is a Sinhalese one and we are its unofficial police." Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has called on (Buddhist) monks not to incite religious hatred and violence, but one opposition politician told the BBC that "the situation is very bad". The Sri Lankan opposition party leader Mujeebur Rahuman of the United National Party stated, "Any moment, the ethnic riot will start between Sinhalese and Muslims. They are now working freely. Nobody is talking about this organisation and the government is not trying to stop their activities."

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