Reply Letter to Daily Mirror Newspaper Regarding the Article published on Friday 11th December 2020
14th December 2020.
ACJU/SCR/2020/035
The Editor,
Daily Mirror – Wijaya Newspapers,
Colombo 02.
REGARDING THE ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY 11th DECEMBER 2020 – ‘SEVERAL ISLAMIC PREACHERS IN SAUDI ARABIA BRAINWASH MUSLIM MIGRANTS’
We wish to bring to your attention that the above titled article published contains some portions of text which are inaccurate and conveys a distorted meaning to the statements made by Mufti M.I.M Rizwe, President of the ACJU at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing Easter Sunday attacks on Thursday 10th of December 2020.
The Article reads as follows: Quote -“He also highlighted the fact that there should be the same law for every religion, not only for Muslim people in the country”-Unquote.
Mufit Rizwe had stated that as per the detailed chart he had submitted previously to the Commission on the Islamic Shari’ah, he had already explained its composition of aspects such as belief, acts of worship, transactional dealings, social conduct etc. He had further explained that the Shari’ah (Islamic Law) also addresses matters related to coexistence with other faiths and supporting social welfare. Matters related to criminal penalties are only a part of this comprehensive system which is not practiced in Sri Lanka.
We wish to clarify that there was no query made in relation to ‘same law for every religion’ and nor was any related statement made as reported in the article. Hence we urge that the necessary contents in the above article be rectified with immediate effect, as the message conveyed through this article is misleading.
We request the publications to kindly publish this clarification with equal prominence so that the position of the ACJU is clarified.
Ash Shaikh M.S.M. Thassim
(Acting) General Secretary – ACJU
