In his letter on the above topic (The Island 18/12) PSR appears to think that priority should have been given to the observance of the death anniversary of Ven. Soma Thero over the musical event involving Shah Rukh Khan and other Indian artistes. However, the following facts would convince any right thinking person that there is no point in comparing the two events and that the thoughtless act of grenade throwing at the musical event definitely detracts from the decent demeanour and sense of values:

(1) The death anniversary of Ven. Soma Thero fell on the 12th December whereas the musical event took place on the 11th December only.

(ii) The musical event was fixed for 11th December and notified to the public months before and arrangements were done at enormous expenses and there wasn’t anyway of cancelling or postponing the show due to developments in a fortnight before the event.

(iii) The venues of the two events were separate and in no way clashed with each other.

(iv) The death anniversary was not observed as a national mourning event with the involvement of the government of Sri Lanka.

(iv) Before the commencement of the musical event, Shah Rukh Khan apologised to the general public for not being able to postpone the event and instead observed a two-minutes silence in memory of the Thero—a commendable act of courteny coming from a follower of another religion.

CR
Wattala