A/HRC/43/48/Add.2 warned the Government and the police on several occasions of the growing threat posed by Zaharan’s preaching. However, such warnings and information shared with the Government have not been given much attention. The report of the Select Committee of Parliament to look into and report to Parliament on the terrorist attacks that took place in different places in Sri Lanka on 21 April 2019 further identified rising Islamic extremism in the Kattankudy area.41 63. In 2012, Bodu Bala Sena, a Sinhalese Buddhist organization was created. It became influential within a short time and received much media attention. It claimed to have been created to protect the Sinhalese and Buddhism and to draw attention to the threats allegedly faced by the Sinhalese race in the face of globalization, flagging that they might become a “global minority”. The organization alleged that there was a growing international Islamic presence in the country and that the Muslim population’s expansion posed a threat to the Sinhalese community’s status as the country’s majority. It also instilled fear among the Sinhalese population by referring to the possible domination by some 60 million Tamils in southern India. Bodu Bala Sena managed to heighten the polarization of the communities through identity politics, as discussed earlier. 64. Moreover, Bodu Bala Sena launched a vigorous anti-Muslim campaign and spread inaccurate information to incite hatred against Muslims. For example, at a public meeting in Kandy on 17 March 2013, a spokesperson for the organization stated that the Qur’an ordered Muslims to spit three times on meals offered to non-Muslims.42 While on 12 April 2014, the General Secretary of Bodu Bala Sena falsely attributed to the Qur’an the concept that “Thaqiya” allowed Muslims to defraud people of other faiths and acquire properties and wealth of non-Muslims by cheating them.43 65. The National Shura Council, an umbrella body of national-level Muslim organizations, submitted an appeal with 196,000 signatures from the general public to the President of Sri Lanka in November 2013, calling for action to be taken to ensure security for religious minorities and their places of worship and to stop all hate campaigns. In 2014, the Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed his alarm and concern about “the rising level of attacks in Sri Lanka against religious minorities.” 44 He noted that “Buddhist communities are being swept up by a rising tide of extremist sentiment against other groups”.45 However, hundreds of hate-related incidents were reportedly committed by Bodu Bala Sena and other Buddhist extremist groups with impunity. The Government was reluctant to take action against them even though there were extensive grounds for criminal prosecution. 66. In 2015, the “Sinha Le” campaign started with a poster campaign that carried an image of the lion taken from the national flag along with the words Sinha (lion) in yellow and Le (blood) in red. This was a reinterpretation of the national flag by removing the two coloured strips – saffron and green – representing the Tamil and Muslim communities. It became apparent that the campaign was designed to provoke ethnic tensions, notably targeting Muslims and minority communities. These posters and stickers appeared in social media, public spaces and on three wheelers and other private vehicles. On 2 January 2016, the words Sinha Le were sprayed across several gates and walls of Muslim-owned houses in Nugegoda. A few days later, Sinhale Jathika Balamuluwa announced its formation at a media briefing to “safeguard the identity of the Sinhala people and to regenerate the supremacy and pride of the Sinhala people”.46 Some observers noted that the “Sinha Le” campaign and a few other extremist groups, such as Mahasen Balakaya, the Nawa Sinhale National Organization and Sinhala Ravaya, 47 were closely aligned with what was being promoted on similar pages and websites of Bodu Bala Sena groups. 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 See www.parliament.lk/uploads/comreports/sc-april-attacks-report-en.pdf#page=1. See www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/national-shoora-council-urges-govt-to-protect-watarekavijitha-thero-and-stop-bbs-unlawful-acts/. Ibid. See www.un.org/press/en/2014/sgsm16108.doc.htm. Ibid. See www.dailymirror.lk/102081/new-party-aims-to-safeguard-sinhala-identity. For more information on these groups, see Neil Devotta, “Religious intolerance in post-civil war Sri Lanka”, Asian Affairs, vol. 49, No. 2 (June 2018), pp. 278–300; and John Holt, ed., Buddhist 13