Sri Lanka today stands at a sensitive crossroads where national security, economic recovery, and intercommunal trust intersect. Recent developments including heightened security measures around areas popular with Israeli tourists and the arrest of local youth under suspicion have sparked understandable concern, especially within the Muslim community. These reactions are not mere emotional outbursts. They reflect deeper anxieties about fairness, dignity, and equal treatment under the law.

At the same time, it would be a grave mistake to ignore the broader security environment. In the post-Easter Sunday attack reality, intelligence-led policing often operates in a preventive mode. Locations associated with foreign nationals, including Israeli visitors, have featured in past threat assessments as potential soft targets. In such circumstances, even routine inquiries can appear intrusive. This is the uncomfortable truth of modern counter-terrorism: it is cautious, sometimes heavy-handed, and frequently misunderstood by the very communities it seeks to protect.

Yet, security effectiveness ultimately depends on legitimacy. When segments of the population begin to believe that certain groups are being disproportionately scrutinised whether that perception is accurate or not public confidence erodes. A dangerous narrative is quietly taking root in parts of the Muslim community: that Israeli visitors are receiving heightened protection while local citizens, particularly Muslims, face heightened suspicion. Whether this reflects operational reality or perception alone, it must be addressed with urgency and transparency. In matters of security and social cohesion, perception often carries as much weight as fact.

Equally troubling is the risk of politicisation. Isolated incidents are already being amplified, reframed, and at times distorted to serve narrow political interests. Islamophobia remains a potent and dangerous weapon in the hands of opportunistic actors. When legitimate security concerns are conflated with communal targeting, or when routine policing is portrayed as systemic discrimination, the result is a toxic cycle of mistrust that benefits no one except those who wish to see Sri Lanka divided.

Sri Lanka cannot afford this trajectory.

Tourism remains a vital pillar of our economic recovery. Israeli tourists, like visitors from every other nation, contribute meaningfully to local economies, especially in Arugam Bay, Weligama, and the southern coast. Ensuring their safety is not a political concession; it is a basic sovereign responsibility. However, that responsibility must never be implemented in a manner that undermines the rights and dignity of Sri Lankan citizens.

The way forward demands balance, discipline, and foresight. Here are five practical steps that can help restore both security and trust;

First, strengthen communication.

When arrests or detentions occur under security-related suspicion, law enforcement agencies must explain the basis within legal limits, clearly and promptly. Silence creates a vacuum that speculation quickly fills. In the age of social media, every unexplained action becomes fertile ground for rumours. A short, factual statement can prevent days of damaging speculation.

Second, ensure operational professionalism.

Security operations must remain intelligence-driven rather than perception-driven. Officers on the ground need proper sensitisation training on the broader societal impact of their conduct. A question asked in the wrong tone, a stop conducted without explanation, or a detention perceived as arbitrary can damage community relations for years. Professionalism is not a weakness, it is the hallmark of effective policing in a diverse society.

Third, institutionalise community engagement.

Trust cannot be built reactively after tensions flare. It must be cultivated continuously through structured dialogue. The Muslim community has historically played a vital role in supporting national security efforts. That partnership must be nurtured, not weakened by avoidable missteps. Regular meetings between security agencies, community leaders, and civil society organisations can help identify problems early and prevent misunderstandings from escalating.

Fourth, craft a clear national narrative.

Sri Lanka must consistently and publicly reaffirm one simple principle: we protect all citizens and visitors alike equally under the law. Security is not selective; it is universal. Political leaders, religious figures, and media outlets must reinforce this message without ambiguity. Mixed signals only fuel suspicion.

Fifth, exercise political and media restraint.

Exploiting security incidents for short-term political gain whether by inflaming communal fears or by painting the state as either weak or biased is deeply irresponsible. Leadership at this moment requires maturity, not rhetoric.

The media, too, must resist the temptation to sensationalise. Responsible reporting is a national duty, not an optional extra.

Sri Lanka’s greatest strength has always been its remarkable ability to absorb

complexity without fracturing. We have emerged from a brutal civil war, survived the Easter Sunday tragedy, and navigated multiple economic crises. But this strength is not automatic. It must be actively maintained through wise policy, honest communication, and genuine inclusivity.

The current situation is not yet a crisis. It is, however, a clear warning. Handled with wisdom and fairness, it can become an opportunity to strengthen security practices, rebuild trust, and reinforce social cohesion. Mishandled, it risks deepening divides that both domestic extremists and external actors would be quick to exploit.

The real test before us is not whether we prioritise security or rights. The true challenge is whether we are capable of safeguarding both with fairness, clarity, and quiet confidence.

Sri Lanka has faced far greater tests in its history. What we need now is not more division, but renewed commitment to the values that have held this nation together: justice, equality, and mutual respect.

The choice is ours. Let us choose wisely.

By Mahil Dole SSP Rtd

Mahil Dole, SSP (Retired), is the former Head of the Counter-Terrorism Division of the State Intelligence Service of Sri Lanka, and has served as Head of the Sri Lankan Delegation at three BIMSTEC Security Conferences. With over 40 years of experience in policing and intelligence, he writes on regional security, interfaith relations, and geopolitical strategy.

The central part of Africa was privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium. It was 76 times the size of Belgium, established in 1885, and called the ‘Free state of Congo’. All sorts of expatriate Belgian, South African and other European white folk ran the colony whose people, it was said, were treated as children at best and animals at worst. They were whipped, maimed and killed, at the drop of a hat. Many had their right arms cut off as punishment. There were also many white missionaries who were outraged. Initially, the natives were never taught to read or write. Then, there were also Arab slave dealers running a roaring slave trade, by raiding and decimating villages to capture the natives. It was literally the law of the jungle. There were over 250 tribes within the Congo.!

While many European countries were limiting their operations to the coastal areas of Africa, King Leopold’s minions, led by a Welsh -American agent called Henry Morton Stanley (of “Livingston I presume” fame), worked at the King’s behest to find the source of the Congo River and there discovered 200 miles of turbulent ‘Rapids’ after which there were miles and miles of calm water. So, it was Stanley who suggested that steamboats be dismantled and carried by cart roads upriver to be re-assembled and used for transportation. Many trading posts were established along the river. A railway line was also built. There was a French team of explorers, too.

Initially, the main products from Congo were Ivory and Rubber. Rubber sap came from vines and not from trees. After the pneumatic tire was invented by John Boyd Dunlop, in 1888, the demand for Rubber was even greater. The Congo Free State, now nicknamed the ‘Dark Continent’ by many writers who experienced the appalling conditions that the natives (savages) had to work under. In 1889, at the Paris Exhibition, commemorating hundred years after the French revolution, they even had a human Zoo from the colonies, displaying people, including from the Congo, in a so-called ‘natural’ or ‘primitive’ state. Writers such as Stanley himself and Joseph Conrad of ‘Lord Jim’ fame, wrote about the Congo and imperialism in The Heart of Darkness.

Although King Leopold never set foot in Congo, it was big money for him. There were a few others like the UK educated Frenchman Edward Dene Morel, a shipping clerk and a surveyor/activist named Roger Casement who noticed that trade was only one way from Congo. Goods from Antwerp, Belgium, to Congo, Africa, consisted mainly of arms, ammunition and manacles (handcuffs). That seemed rather odd. They wrote a report about it in 1904. The phrase ‘Human Rights’ was first used in these writings. Arthur Conan Doyl and the American writer, Mark Twain, too, commented about the appalling conditions that prevailed. It was then that the world suspected that all was not well in the dark continent and brutality of the King’s regime. The King then appointed a Commission of inquiry into the affairs of the Congo Free State. (Sounds familiar?)

Eventually, under international pressure, in 1908 the Belgian Government took over its running and the Congo ceased to be ‘private property’ of the King. The State of Free Congo became Belgian Congo. Interestingly, in 1915, high grade (65% pure) Uranium was discovered in the Shinkolobwe Mines in the Katanga Province in the Congo. It was from here that Uranium was supplied for the two Atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the USA to end WWII. The world discovered that Congo was also mineral rich in Copper, Cobalt and Diamonds. The western world and the USA cast their greedy eyes on them.

In Belgian Congo, living conditions of the natives slightly improved as in a ‘normal’ colony. Now there were missionary schools which gave rise to educated elites who then started clamouring for independence from Belgium.

On 30^th June,1960, Belgium, without much warning (lead time), granted independence to the country. It was now called the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A Congolese activist Joseph Kasavubu was elected as President, while another charismatic young activist, by the name of Patrice Emery Lumumba, a one-time postal clerk from a rival political party, was elected as Prime Minister. Since they could not individually form a government, they had to go for a ‘Coalition’. At the Independence Day ceremony King Boudouin (a kinsman of King Leopold II) was in attendance.

He said, “The Independence of the Congo is formed by the outcome of the work of King Leopold II’s genius, undertaken by him with tenacious and continuous courage with Belgium’s perseverance.”

President Kasavubu made it a point to acknowledge and thank the Belgian Authorities for all they had done in the past.

Then Prime Minister Lumumba, who was not even scheduled to speak, stood up and recalled all the atrocities carried out by agents of Belgium. How the natives were controlled and impoverished. He spoke about white supremacy and exploitation. (An estimated 15 million were killed in the process while Belgium got rich.) He was only 35 years old.

He said “Although this independence was proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle. We are deeply proud of our struggle and our wounds are too fresh, too painful to be forgotten.”

“We have experienced forced labour in exchange for pay that did not allow us to satisfy our hunger, to clothe ourselves, to have decent lodgings or to bring up our children as dearly loved ones. Morning, noon and night, we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were ‘Negroes’. We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the White and the Black. That it was lenient to the one and cruel and inhuman to the other. Our lot was worse than death itself.”

Lumumba’s speech did not go down with the King and Belgian nation and the Western world. They were furious. From that day he became a marked man among the CIA and Belgian Intelligence. They plotted to assassinate him as he spoke up for the whole of Africa and not only Congo.

It seemed that independence was only on paper. Almost immediately afterwards the army, expecting quick changes, mutinied. Their leaders were still Belgian Officers with no change in their attitudes towards the natives. Many white Belgians fled the country and Belgium claimed that Belgians were at risk. Then the Belgian army moved, in without the permission of the new government. Almost simultaneously, the mineral rich Katanga, instigated by the mining companies, declared independence under the leadership of a pro Belgian Congolese politician Moise Tshombe as their head. Obviously, Belgium and the western world wanted to retain control of the mines which were the economic heart of DRC.

Lumumba appealed to the UN to intervene and send UN troops to get the Belgian forces to leave. The UN Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjold, under pressure of Western powers and the USA, refused such action. UN peacekeeping troops were sent with strict instructions to not interfere. Nikita, Krucheve of the USSR, called for the resignation of the Secretary General Hammarskjold, saying that he was pro Belgium. Lumumba had no alternative but to turn to Soviet Union for help.

This was during the height of the cold war. In the eyes of the USA, and the western world, Lumumba was confirmed to be a communist which he was not. He was only a nationalist. Looking at the declassified information, Allen Dulles, head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was authorised by President Eisenhower, for Lumumba to be eliminated. Lumumba’s CIA code name was ‘Satan’.

The country was in chaos. The rift between President Kasavubu and Prime Minister Lumumba widened. In early September, 1960, Kasavubu announced on radio that Lumumba had been sacked by him. A few days later Lumumba announced on radio that Kasavubu was sacked! However, there was a coup carried out by the army head Col. Mobutu, on14 September, 1960, to neutralise both politicians. It is now known that Mobutu was a CIA agent and was a secret supporter of President Kasavubu, the ‘Belgian puppet’.

Prime Minister Lumumba was put under house arrest. While the UN forces watched. He attempted to escape one night with his family, but was located by CIA and Belgian intelligence, captured by Mobutu’s forces, brutally beaten up in front of his wife and son and then imprisoned. A few days later he and two others were flown to an airfield in Katanga and killed by a firing squad. His body parts were subsequently dissolved in Sulfuric acid and destroyed, lest the Congolese rally round his burial place and make it a sort of mausoleum. He was still very popular among the people. Killed on 17 January, 1961, at the age of 36, two or three days before John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) took oaths as the 35^th President of the United States of America.

The declassified secret CIA documents and investigations by the Parliament of Brussels in 2001/2002 that the above action was planned in Washington and Brussels and executed in Africa. The incumbent police Commissioner, Gerrard Soete, who had been present at Lumumba’s execution and destruction had kept a tooth as a souvenir. This was returned to the family and buried with full honours.

One wonders where Congo and the rest of Africa would have been if Lumumba survived till JFK, another Charismatic young leader was appointed. Today, there are statues and roads named after Patrice Emery Lumumba in Congo and other parts of Africa and Brussels, Belgium. Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University Moscow, to help nations to assist countries that had recently achieved independence from colonial powers was also established in 1960.

Col. Mobutu Sese Seko, ruled as a dictator for 32 long years. The name of Congo was changed to Zire (River), on 27^th October 1971. After his overthrow in 1997, the country was known again as Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

What a shame!

God Bless America and no one else!

by Guwan Seeya

Twelve months, still feels like yesterday. A void in our hearts and minds that could never be filled. The world changed the day I lost you and suddenly, every lesson you gave by example, made sense.

Thaththi was a man of integrity and character, wisdom and intelligence, honesty and simplicity and most importantly a man of unwavering faith in Jesus Christ. His smile, witty humour and his ability to converse with almost anyone regardless of their age or status, was no doubt a rarity that set him apart. It was often said, that Mr. Jayamaha had an answer to any question and a solution to every problem, offering his wisdom with a calm assurance that brought comfort to those around him. A sing song with a whiskey in his hand and impromptu piano sessions will always be the fondest memories to those who were lucky enough to know him as he truly was. In other words, as my late maternal grandfather described Thaththi as “a man for all seasons”.

Thaththi worked tirelessly to give us the best, showering us with fatherly love and made us feel like royalty. Whatever duty he undertook, he made sure he did it to the best of his ability, in both his personal and professional life. When the days’ work was completed he made sure that everything was meticulously put away to its place.

Thaththi held my hand when afraid, cheered me in victory and listened without judgement. He was a man of quiet strength, wisdom and unconditional love. He treasured Ammi in a quiet way and was an exemplary husband.

We watched old movies and were introduced to actors of his time, enjoyed walks on the road and on the beach, listened to his achievements and stories of old, and laughed a lot. A weekly swim at the SSC and the daily practice of Yoga was a discipline he maintained throughout his life. Music was also a form of relaxation to him and at times all four of us would take turns on the piano and the violin.

Thaththi was always ready for adventure and vacation. During the civil war conflict in Sri Lanka when local travel was restricted, our vacations were mostly overseas. We were privileged to have travelled abroad at a very young age and explored the world together. Strangely Thaththi never forced us to study. After school we would always be taken out to
visit family or friends, to a dinner or a concert. Shows at the Lionel Wendt and the annual Christmas concert by the Symphony Orchestra of SL and Shakes were regular events we attended together as a family.

He had a passion for recording life as it happened, always behind the JVC GR-AX27 vintage camcorder, quietly capturing the excitement of our most meaningful moments be it, birthday parties and Christmas parties organized at our home, first holy communion, holidays overseas and out of Colombo and ballet concerts where my sister and I performed at the Lionel Wendt under the guidance of the late aunty Oosha and even my cousins’ wedding to name a few. It was a time before Instagram, when moments weren’t shaped for an audience but simply captured for the joy of remembering.
He was blessed to have enjoyed the special moments when Akki and I completed our professional exams. He especially enjoyed the box seat at the Royal Albert Hall for the 25th Anniversary performance of The Phantom of the Opera as well as attending the final rehearsal of the Opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, at which Akki was a volunteer dancer. Thaththi’s career in the legal profession began soon after the untimely demise of his late father Don Hector Nicholas Jayamaha Proctor SC & Notary Public. To Thaththi his profession was never about the number of cases or the clients, neither did he want to put up a sign board at his office.

All that mattered was the service he rendered, with commitment and dedication irrespective of who the client was. He was one of a kind that never insisted on pomp and pageantry. In my brief years at the office I was lucky to have been introduced to many of his colleagues, friends and clients and observed the strong relationships and trust he built with them, which was indeed remarkable.

Thaththi was one who never hesitated to share his knowledge with anyone seeking clarity on legal matters. A telephone call was all that took, to get my father initiating a conversation. To me it was a sign of humility and a gift of being able to give back without being afraid of losing anything. An abundance mindset we rarely see in today’s society. What else could one expect from a legal luminary with 56 years at the Bar. I am grateful to have had my apprenticeship under my own father’s guidance.

During his distinguished years of service, he was appointed Director of the Ceylon State Hardware Corporation in 1980 and later served as a Director of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, where he also held the position of Chairman of the Audit Committee from February 2002 to April 2004. He went on to become the first Chairman and Managing Director of Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited, serving on its Board from November 2003 to April 2004. In addition, he was a Director of Lanka Cement Limited and chaired its Audit Committee from March 2002 to April 2004. Most recently, he served on the Board of Directors of Lake House Printers and Publishers PLC.

One of the most meaningful lessons I will carry with me is to always have faith and trust in the Lord, even in the most difficult moments. Thaththi made it a habit to say a prayer before leaving home, upon returning, and throughout the day. No matter how long or tiring the day had been, the family Rosary was never missed. The greatest gift he gave my sister, my mother, and me is the gift of faith. He passed away on the Feast of Divine Mercy last year, and we rejoice knowing he is in heaven and find comfort trusting that he is our guardian angel guiding us from above.

Priyanti and Lasika (akki) Jayamaha