60-year-old Rasheed Hajjul Akbar, a former leader of the Islamic organization Jamaat-e-Islami, has been arrested for allegedly promoting extremism in Sri Lanka. Police spokesperson and Inspector General of Police Ajit Rohana said on Saturday that Akbar was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Cell (TID) on Friday from Dematagoda area. Let us know that Akbar has been the president of Jamaat-e-Islami for 24 years before leaving the post in September 2019.
The police spokesperson alleged that Akbar used to print articles in a magazine published by Jamaat-e-Islami to spread Wahhabi and Jihadi ideology in Sri Lanka. The arrest comes in the midst of a demand by the investigative team investigating the attack on churches and hotels on the occasion of Easter in 2019 to stop Wahaabism in the country. Significantly, on 21 April 2019, alleged nine suicide bombers of the local extremist group National Tauheed Jamaat (NTJ) targeted three Sri Lankan churches and several hotels.
Easter attacks killed 270 people
The attackers targeted St. Anthony’s Church in Colombo, St. Sebastian’s Church in the western coastal city of Negenbo and a church in the eastern town of Battisloa. A large number of people gathered here on the occasion of Easter. 270 people including 11 Indians were killed in this attack while around 500 others were injured. After this attack, strict action was taken against the suspects in Sri Lanka. This was one of the biggest terrorist attacks on Sri Lankan land.
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676 people died in connection with the attacks
Earlier this week, Public Safety Minister Sarath Weerasekera told Parliament that 676 people have been arrested so far in connection with the 2019 attack, while more than 66 are in custody. The panel’s report also called for a ban on the majority Buddhist extremist organization Bodu Bala Sena (BBS). This report said that Muslim extremism was encouraged due to BBS.