A United States diplomat has expressed alarm at a rising anti-Muslim campaign in Sri Lanka and warned that such sentiments should not be allowed to fester.

“The United States, along with many Sri Lankan citizens, is alarmed by the recent attacks on Muslim businesses and certain inflammatory calls to action.  This type of hateful sentiment must not be allowed to fester,” U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Michele J. Sison said on Monday, speaking to foreign correspondents based in Colombo.

The comments follow months of hate speeches, vilification and even attacks on Muslim-owned businesses and places of worship by Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalist groups.

Sison also expressed concern over continued threats and attacks against local media nearly four years after the end of a civil war and the authorities’ inability to resolve the numerous killigs, abductions and assaults against journalists.

“….the United States remains particularly concerned about threats against, and attacks on, media outlets in Sri Lanka.  Several prominent journalists have fled the country, and a number of attacks on journalists remain unresolved,” she said.

Addressing the Foreign Correspondents Association in Colombo on ‘US Policy Towards and Continuing Engagement with Sri Lanka,’ Sison said that the suspects who are “rarely apprehended” – or, if apprehended over such attacks, are almost never convicted.

Referring to the attack on the Uthayan offices in Kilinochi last week by masked assailants, one of a series of unsolved attacks against Uthayan, and its employees over the past several years, the US envoy urged the Sri Lankan authorities to fully investigate the attack and hold the perpetrators accountable.

- With excerpts from AP