Start-ups alarmed by communal violence, calls for urgent action
View(s):Sri Lanka’s start-up community this week came together to issue a strong statement against the recent communal violence.
The group condemned the attacks that have recently taken place in certain parts of the country, saying: “We may be Muslims, Tamils, Burghers and Sinhalese. We may practise Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. But we are all Sri Lankans, who believe and promote the idea that by living, playing and working together, we can help make Sri Lanka a peaceful, inspiring and prosperous leader in the global community.”
The statement by more than 45 start-ups said that to help achieve this vision, the country’s political representatives and the police need to take urgent action to ensure that such organised violence never happens again.
They urged the government officials to undertake the following actions:
● Investigate the evidence, arrest the perpetrators and make them accountable to the crimes committed. The law in Sri Lanka must be enforced, without political interference and justice must be carried out.
● Show strong leadership, ensuring there is zero tolerance to acts of racism and violence against our fellow citizens.
● Remove all restrictions on Internet services immediately. Instead of censoring the Internet, identify individuals and groups that use social media to promote hate and use legal mechanisms to bring them to justice.
Signatories to the statement were: Sheran Corera (Creative eLearning (Pvt) Ltd; Manoj Ranaweera (UnifiedVU); Mario (LinearSix); Januka Samaranayake (BotFactory); Mangala Karunaratne (Calcey Technologies); Hiraash (Creately) ; Sanjaya Elvitigala (ELearning.lk); Ian Iddamalgoda (Umbrella Insights); Fathhi Mohamed (Yohobed); Chandika Jayasundara (Creately); Krishan (Mycabz); Harshi Samarasekera (Twinkling Dreams) Ganatharan Jeyakumar (Virtual Tuition (Pvt) Ltd); Shehan Selvanayagam (Loops Solutions); Ima Hassen (Quantei); Harinda Fonseka (gudppl); Keerthi Kodithuwakku (Effective Solutions -Pvt Ltd); Gayantha De Zoysa (Strive); Chaminda Kandamby (Superb Business Solutions); Nilangi Kulasinghe (Cropcircle); Omar Sahib (WEBXPAY); Dunilsha Hewage (Ocaloka); Ayami Wanasinghe (SW Colombo); Aloka Gunasekara (StartupX Foundry); Rehan Fernando (Mediajogger); Sam de Silva (Common Edge Pvt Ltd); Kanishka Weeramunda (PayMedia); Yoshith Weerakoone (Onsbay Ceylon Pvt. Ltd); Thangarajah Thavaruban (Speed IT net); Duval Anushka Weerakoone (Puppet Animations); Nithushan Uthayakumar (Blue lotus 360); Shageevan Sachithanandan (MyStore.lk); Vakeetharan Sivasubramanijam (EnXone technologies); Ranil Samarawickrema (Hostels Lanka) Robert Sandrasagara (ShopBox Pvt Ltd); C.D. Athuraliya (ConscientAI); Augustin Dinushka Medagoda (E-Law Solutions Pvt Ltd); Mahen Ratnayake (ShortKast); Chamara Peiris (Yoho Bed); Dulitha Rasanga Wijewantha (Alakazam); Imthiyaaz Hassim (SIXER VIDEO); Thawseef Jaleel (Rent Club); Rukmankan Sivaloganathan (Welanka Holidays); Teesha (Workout.lk); Sharanyan Sharma (Extreme SEO Internet Solutions); Damitha Jayarathna (iPlayDeal); Farhard Hussain (Cemex) and Shakya Lahiru Pathmalal (Takas.lk).