MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN
KUALA LUMPUR: Director of Muslim Religious and Cultural Afairs, Ibrahim Sahib Ansar said here on Thursday, June 30 that Sri Lanka has been in the forefront of promoting peace and coexistence through the mechanism of rehabilitation and reconciliation and inter–communal harmonious relations.
Ansar and MP Marjan Faleel were special invitees at the South East Asia Ulamah Conference held here under the patronage of the Muslim World League,MWL, and the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Office, on Thursday,June 30.
The others who represented Sri Lanka at the Ulamah conference included, Secretary General of the All-Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama,Asheikh Arkam Noorahmith, its Assistant Secretary Asheikh Dr. M S M Thassim and the chairman of Hajj Committee Ahkam Uwais.
Full text of Ansar’s speech: “ We are really very grateful and happy to enjoy the warm hospitality and the friendship of the peace loving people of Malaysia, which many of us would have experienced in the past years as well.
Sri Lanka and Malaysia have many similarities in its culture, way of life and the climatic patterns. Both countries had been under the colonial rule of Portuguese, Dutch, and British over 400 years. We both have been the countries of multi-racial, multi-ethnic and pluralistic societies.
We are very glad to observe that the Muslim World League has organized today’s historical conference, in coordination with the office of the Prime Minister of the Government of Malaysia. The Muslim World League, under the leadership of His Excellency Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General and the visionary guidance of His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Custodian of Two Holy Mosques and His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has been actively supporting the social and economic development by promoting peace, harmony, unity and co-existence among the people all over the world for the last several years.
We further observe that many of the 17 participating countries of this conference have been the victim of the extremism in the last few decades. Such unpleasant and horrific incidents have now made all of us to firmly commit to resolve and eradicate the extremism and to promote peace and harmony among the people of all communities of the countries.
Sri Lanka has been the worst victim of militant extremism over 30 years and later has been the victim of ISIS extremism. Hence, Sri Lanka has been in the forefront of promoting peace and coexistence through the mechanism of rehabilitation and reconciliation and inter–communal harmonious relations.
Since end of the civil war, Sri Lanka has now established the Office of the National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) under the Ministry of Justice and has also established Office of Missing Persons (OMP) and Office of Reparations with a view to identify the root cause of the problem and to ensure that the co-existence and unity among the people of different communities are further strengthened and non-occurrence of any incidents which would affect the peaceful life of the people of Sri Lanka.
It is very essential for all our countries which have multi-racial and pluralistic society, not only to have constitutional guarantees of equal opportunities and freedom of religious rights, but also to implement those guarantees in practice. Sri Lanka has been a country that has been successfully implementing these principles.
Our religion of Islam promotes peace, harmony co-existence, kindness and forgiveness among people of all faiths, which are very fundamentals to a nation to be developed with peace and harmony.
It is very much fitting that under the visionary leadership of His Excellency Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General, The World Muslim League has chosen the important concept and timely need of the people, as the conference theme and has been making untiring efforts in promoting peace, harmony and unity among all the people and that the Muslim World League has made a remarkable achievement in their noble goal”.
On behalf of the Sri Lankan delegation, I take this opportunity to thank the World Muslim League and the Office of the Hon. Prime Minister of Malaysia, once again, for their precious initiatives and wish them every success in all their endeavours.”
