Sri Lanka declares nationwide state of emergency, 1st T20 in doubt

The Sri Lankan government has declared a nationwide emergency due to the ongoing communal clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in the district of Kandy.

Military and police were rushed into the district yesterday to maintain peace in the area, and a curfew was also imposed.

The Indian cricket team is currently in Colombo for the Nidahas Trophy, a tri-series tournament that was formulated to mark the 70 years of Independence of Sri Lanka.

No official statement has been rolled out by either boards, however dark clouds loom over the tournament, as security will have to be beefed up and mass gatherings might be called off.

Rajeev Shukla expressed his concern over the matter, hoping for the security of the Indian players.

Tensions between the two communities have been brewing because as the Buddhists have blamed the Muslims for forcing a lot of people to forcefully convert to Islam, also destroying a lot of Buddhist archaeological site in the area.

“At a special cabinet meeting, it was decided to declare a state of emergency for 10 days to prevent the spread of communal riots to other parts of the country,” Dayasiri Jayasekara, the spokeman told Reuters.

“It was also decided to take stern action against people who are instigating violence through Facebook,” he added

The Indian team is scheduled to take on Sri Lanka in the first T20 of the Nidahas trophy today in Colombo and hasn’t yet been informed if the match and the tournament will go on as planned.

With a nationwide emergency, a large gathering of people could be restricted an hence the match could be in huge danger of being called off.

We await official confirmation though.

BCCI releases statement:

“This is to notify everyone that after talking to concerned security personnel (Ministerial security division – in charge of team security) we have understood that the situation is completely normal in Colombo. If at all there is any update on the same we shall notify,” BCCI said.