Eight Muslim officers in Sri Lanka have stepped down from their posts in solidarity with one other minister, accused by the opposition of ties to the group behind the deadly Easter Sunday bombings that killed over 250 individuals.
The ministers give up their posts on Monday in a present of solidarity with Rishad Bathiudeen, who had resigned his publish as trade minister earlier in the day.
Bathiudeen’s resignation preempted the deliberate no-confidence movement towards him, launched by the opposition. The movement accused the minister of offering ammunition to a manufacturing facility owned by one of many suspects in the April 21 bombings, and pressuring the military to launch a number of suspects arrested after the assaults, amongst different issues. The opposition supplied no proof to again up these claims.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s governing coalition seems to be protected for the time being, as all eight officers will stay members of parliament.
“We will not leave the government – we will protect the government,” Rauff Hakeem, who resigned as minister of metropolis planning, water provide and better schooling, mentioned in a press release Monday.
Muslims and Christians mixed make up lower than 20 % of Sri Lanka’s inhabitants, which is overwhelmingly Buddhist. A wave of anti-Muslim sentiment has swept the nation in the wake of the Easter assaults. In May, violent mobs tore by way of communities in the nation’s North Western Province, vandalizing mosques and leaving one man useless. The authorities has since launched curfews in an try to deal with the violence.
