NEVER AGAIN, INDIA!

The Indian authorities state that the attack on the Mahabodhi temple in Bihar is a terrorist attack. The genius of that deduction notwithstanding, this attack makes it clear that the levels of religious intolerance and bigotry in India are probably far greater than in any other country in the immediate region.

Sri Lankans have been taking the news of this attack on the pre-eminent Buddhist shrine in the world with equanimity and a dose of Buddhist compassion, and rightly so. This is a Buddhist country. We here are known for tolerance and understanding. Besides, the Indian authorities say that the attack seemed to have been in retaliation for attacks on minority Muslims in Burma, which has nothing to do with the situation in Sri Lanka.

However, the attack on the Mahabodhi temple is an issue that puts India's security crisis in perspective. The blasts at the Mahabodhi are equal to the desecration of the Kaaba in Mecca, or the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Moreover, first reports as discussed in the Indian broadcast channel NDTV for instance indicate that there were ample security warnings and in fact a recent military drill as well to avert just such an incident, but it didn't stop this ghastly bomb attack that injured two people, and inflicted great damage on what's probably Buddhism's holiest place of worship.

This kind of religious discord is mind numbing. To desecrate the Mahabodhi which is the symbol of non-violence, is unthinkable. There should be reconciliation among the warring forces in India as much as there should be unity in Burma -- and who is wrong or who is right should not be the primary question in this endeavour. Unity is the imperative as the President stated at the opening of a mosque in Aluthgama last week.

In the interests of unity, the Indian government should do a rigorous re-think about the strains that Buddhism faces in the region -- after all, it's a religion of peace that has its origins in India. The Mahabodhi attacks moreover threaten the pluralistic social fabric of India, while the incident also poses questions about India's ability to stop the destabilization of an ethnically and religiously diverse sub-continent.

As President Rajapaksa said, we are shocked. It is the Indian government that expresses concern about -- ostensibly -- Sri Lanka's Tamil minority for instance, and the issues of reconciliation etc. India therefore cannot take the attack on Buddhism's holiest shrine lightly. It was months ago that Buddhist monks were attacked in Tamil Nadu, and this latest attack in Bihar has prompted Sri Lankan authorities to issue a travel advisory against pilgrimages to Bodh Gaya for a week.

This is as if Sri Lankans can no longer visit the birthplace of their religion -- at least temporarily.

That places some issues that deal with reciprocity and good neighbourliness in the focus. The Indian authorities seem to ask for perfection in Sri Lanka, and respect for the rights of the Tamil minority, which Sri Lankans daresay are already guaranteed. But is there such respect for other religionists in India, particularly with regard to other religionists in neighbouring countries in the region?

In Sri Lanka, there is no such intolerance though interested parties blow some issues out of perspective and say that the Sinhala Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka is today, chauvinistic and on a short fuse. Yet, there was never a bomb in Islam's holiest shrine in this country, or the St. Anthony's Church in Kochchikade for instance - God forbid.

We say so because the attack on the Mahabodhi is equivalent to an attack on the world's holiest Christian place of worship and not just a big church in Colombo for instance, but yet in Sri Lanka, so called 'chauvinist' Buddhists have never desecrated the most cherished places of worship of other religionists though there will always be the harping on a few relatively minor incidents. It's stressed that the Indian government is not to blame for Sunday's attack on the Mahabodhi temple - but certainly, in Delhi they have to work out the inevitabilities from the incident's fallout.