Sri Lanka’s Muslim intelligentsia recommended authorities on April 26 to bring to book certain religious extremists who have been harassing and threatening writer Sharmila Seyyid for her articles and comments against the Talibanization of the country’s Muslim population. Asking for a thorough and fair investigation into the complaints that have been lodged on behalf of Seyyid, 57 signatories of the appeal requested authorities to hold those responsible for all misconduct that is accountable. Additionally, the signatories requested the community’s leaders to take necessary action that would stop religious extremists from targeting fellow Muslims on the basis of spurious religious justifications.
The signatories believe that there is a critical need inside Sri Lanka’s Muslim community as well as outside for cultivating processes that would address important issues through dialogue and the norms of a democratic society and not through vilification and violence.
Seyyid, who is a single mother, hails from Eravur in the country’s Eastern Province and she has gained a lot of attention through her work as a novelist, poet, journalist and social activist. From the start of her career, Seyyid has written against the practice of purdah and the suppression of women in Sri Lanka’s Islamic society. She founded the Organization of Social Development to tackle different causes for Muslim women in a growingly regressive society and her work has won her several accolades in not only Sri Lanka but also Tamil Nadu.
What sparked the recent tirade against her was one of her interviews with the BBC in 2012, wherein she had claimed that the sufferings of prostitutes could be reduced if prostitution was simply legalized. After her almost blasphemous comments on the show, arsonists torched the educational institute that she had set up and religious extremists used social media to tarnish her reputation. These included a photoshopped picture of her battered corpse suggesting rape and death was in store for her as well as an audio clip of a lustful conversation that she had allegedly had with a police officer in Tamil Nadu.
Photo Credits: Dawn.com
