Sri Lanka Declares State of Emergency in Kandy District After Buddhist-Muslim Clash

New Delhi, March 6: A day after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in Kandy district, Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency for 10 days to control law and order. Country's Social Empowerment Mini

New Delhi, March 6: A day after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in Kandy district, Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency for 10 days to control law and order. Country’s Social Empowerment Minister S.B. Dissanayake said that the decision was taken in cabinet meeting, chaired by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisenaand.

The Special Task Force (STF) has also been deployed to maintain peace and the special security arrangements  that were put in place in the areas will continue, the police said. “An assault over a personal dispute had spread into a riot. 24 people had been arrested  so far,” a police official told media persons.

Earlier on Monday, several houses and business establishments in Kandy district, belonging to minority Muslim community, were burnt  while the body of a young man was found inside a burnt house on Tuesday. Clashes first erupted in the city’s Digana area on Sunday night after a 41-year-old man succumbed to injuries at a hospital after being attacked by a group of people over an incident involving two vehicles on February 22.

The Sri Lankan government, in a statement, strongly condemned the violence and warned strict action against the perpetrators. This is the second such incident over past couple of weeks after Ampara in Eastern Province witnessed similar attacks last month.