Foreign affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera gave the promise at a meeting with British MPs, who have raised the communal and religious clashes in the island recently, including the Aluthgama incident.

BBS & JHU

Bodu Bala Sena, harboured by the previous Rajapaksa regime, had been accused of being behind the anti-Muslim sentiments in Aluthgama.

The JHU says budding Jihadists were responsible (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8IcOu8V4K4).

However, minister Rauff Hakeem last year submitted a 50-page document accusing extremist Sinhala Buddhist groups and levelling accusations also against JHU minister Champika Ranawaka.

No justice done

The Muslim Peace Council said 75 per cent of the houses and shops damaged in the Aluthgama clashes have now been rebuilt.

A council spokesman said however, justice was yet to be done for the affected people, who have not been compensated and have abandoned their belief in reconciliation.

Within 50 days of coming to power, the present government submitted proposals to parliament to ban operations of Al Qaeda, Taleban and other Muslim extremist groups in the country.

Muslim, Christian opposition

Last year, three UN representatives issued a joint statement calling for a halt to violence targeting religious minorities in Sri Lanka (http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14812&).

They said more than 350 and 150 attacks had been carried out by Sinhala Buddhist extremists against Muslims and Christians respectively during 2012-14.

A British government report on human rights and democracy too, (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sri-lanka-country-of-concern--2/sri-lanka-country-of-concern) raised concerns over increased violence against Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka.