In Divided Sri Lanka, Monks Create Display Of Interfaith Unity
(ANALYSIS) A delegation of 12 Buddhist monks belonging to the “Walk for Peace” pilgrimage recently walked across Sri Lanka along with their adopted dog named Aloka.
People of all faiths in a fragile Sri Lanka, who have witnessed riots and bloodbaths in the past decade, welcomed them. Apart from Buddhist monks, Christian, Muslim and Hindu faith leaders joined the U.S.-based delegation during their week-long peace walk across the island nation, which concluded in the capital, Colombo, in April.
In Sri Lanka, the constitution grants Buddhism the “foremost place” with about 70% of the 23 million people adhering to it, while Muslims, Hindus and Christians form the major religious minorities. But all the minorities have been facing challenges in the Buddhist majority country.
READ: ‘Unmistakable Spiritual Impression’: Buddhist Monks Walk For Peace
In the past decade, the Muslim community faced systematic discrimination, harassment and violence, often fuelled by Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism. In 2016-17, some Buddhist monks spread hate against Muslims on social media.
Online hatred had spilled over the streets as well. As many as 25 Buddhist monks belonging to radical groups, including Bodu Bala Sena, Ravana Balaya, Sinhala Ravaya and Mahasohon Balakaya, were placed behind bars for committing hate crimes against Muslims. Many high-profile monks accused of spreading hatred against Muslims enjoyed the patronage of the Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Sinhalese government.
Furthermore, an estimated 70,000 Muslims displaced by the decades-long civil war have been unable to resettle in the Northern and Eastern Provinces due to a lack of proper government action and local opposition.
In 2023, the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), which monitors violence against religious minorities, reported that Sri Lankan Christians have repeatedly faced discrimination, intimidation, threats and coercion, often involving state authorities. These incidents mainly target Christian clergy, pastors and churches, creating insecurity among minority communities. Some Muslim governors were accused of aiding the suicide bombers in the 2019 Easter Attack that had targeted Christian churches.
In a similar vein, Human Rights Watch has documented several forms of discrimination against Hindus in Sri Lanka. According to its findings, Hindus have been denied access to places of worship, experienced the destruction or desecration of religious idols, and witnessed Hindu religious sites being reclassified as Buddhist sites. Such incidents are especially prevalent in the Northern and Eastern provinces, regions where Hindus form a demographic majority.
Ironically, there is also a growing influence of Hindu nationalists — the flagbearers of aggressive Hindutva ideology that considers Hindus superior. According to a report last year by U.S.-based CSOH, there is an expansion of Hindu nationalism within the Northern, Eastern, and Central provinces of the country. Three groups are called Siva Senai, Rudra Sena and Ravana Sena.
According to the report, they “make Muslims and Christians into enemies.” Their strategy is not to begin with politics but to build networks in civil society, shaping everyday “cultural and religious practices.” They post content targeting other religious groups, specifically Christians and Muslims.
At a time when Sri Lanka is communally fragile, the challenge for the newly elected socialist government is to maintain cohesion and peace by addressing deep-seated economic and ethnic issues. Earlier this year, the United Nations in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the government, launched a joint project — called “Social Dialogue for Peace and Crisis Prevention” — aimed at enhancing social dialogue and supporting inclusive economic recovery across the nation.
Sri Lanka hosted 12 Buddhist monks as part of the continuation of their 108-day Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas. The journey began at the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura — the oldest historically authenticated tree in the world — and concluded with a State Ceremony at Independence Square in Colombo.
The Sri Lankan government stated that the walk promoted peace, mindfulness and loving-kindness throughout the island. At the concluding function, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stressed religious leaders’ key responsibility to protect the dignity and essence of religious institutions.
President’s pending peace task force
When Dissanayake was campaigning for the presidential office, he didn’t overtly focus on Buddhism. Instead, he advocated for keeping religion away from politics. When he assumed office in 2024, he announced that he wanted to foster unity among all, regardless of their ethnic identity.
But there is an ongoing friction among communities.
One of the biggest concerns among Tamil Hindus in Northern and Eastern Provinces is losing land to the Sri Lankan Army and the forest department.
Last year, Dissanayake stated that “land belonging to the people should rightfully remain with them.” He reportedly reassured that land disputes in the Northern Province were under review and that the process to return land to its rightful owners was being expedited. He also promised to re-evaluate land earmarked by the forestry department, as there were allegations that swathes of farmland and reservoirs would be taken away from local Tamils.
No land has been returned to the Tamils yet. Instead, the campaign for land grabs in the name of religion has gathered steam. In January, four Sinhala Buddhist monks, along with five other individuals, were reprimanded by a court in Northern Province’s Hindu-dominated Trincomalee over the unlawful placement of a Buddha statue last year. There were allegations that coastal conservation laws were violated when the statue was erected.
In its 2025 annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom included “expropriation of land” as among the reasons for recommending Sri Lanka’s inclusion in its Special Watch List. Dissanayake’s gesture to welcome the 12-monk delegation to promote peace in Sri Lanka may have got international media attention, but his real test lies beyond this one-off gesture.
Sonia Sarkar is a journalist based in India. She writes on conflict, religion, politics, health and gender rights from Southeast Asia. Her work has appeared in a range of international publications, including the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia and Al Jazeera.