Sri Lanka: State of emergency declared as communal violence erupts

Soldiers have been deployed across the island in an attempt to quell the unrest, which so far has centred in and around the city of Kandy in the Central Province, where the death of a Sinhalese Buddhist boy – allegedly at the hands of Muslim men – has sparked retributive attacks on Muslims.

Images posted on social media show damage to Muslim areas of Kandy, with shops and businesses vandalised and destroyed.

The Sri Lanakan government said in a statement that it condemned the “hate and mischievous misinformation campaigns carried out by some, especially via social media, targeting the Muslim community … with the clear objective of creating disharmony among communities and inciting violence.”

Biraj Patnaik, Amnesty International’s South Asia director, said: “It is important that the authorities take action against mobs who have incited hatred and carried out acts of violence against religious minorities.

“They have a duty to protect vulnerable groups and hold the perpetrators accountable. But a state of emergency must not become a pretext for further human rights abuses.

“While it is positive that the government wishes to prevent further violence, any steps taken to address the problem, however, must meet Sri Lanka’s obligations under international human rights law, including the absolute prohibition on torture, unfair trials and arbitrary detention.”