Before Sri Lanka's Easter Attacks, Muslims' Warnings About Terrorism Went Unheeded
On Dec. 26 last year, in a town surrounded by tea and rubber plantations in central Sri Lanka, residents discovered Buddhist statues had been vandalized on the side of the road. In the middle of the night, some saw young men speeding away on motorbikes after they'd shattered glass cases protecting the statues and hacked off the stone and marble Buddhas' noses and hands.
The town, Mawanella, is home to significant numbers of Muslims and Buddhists. Members of the town council worried the vandalism might signify a fraying of relations among the town's religious communities — or perhaps just some mischief by local youths.
So they asked Mohammad Taslim, a prominent Muslim council member, to investigate. Taslim soon heard startling rumors about two brothers, Sadiq and
