In the wake of the serial bomb attacks that rattled Sri Lanka killing over 250 people, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday ordered the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Ministry to regulate madrasas, instead of the education ministry.
Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam told Daily Mirror that the Prime Minister stressed the need for the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Ministry to look into the regulation of Madrasas, though the minister had earlier said the education ministry would take steps to regulate them.
"The Prime Minister wanted the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Ministry to deal so as to prevent any controversy," Kariyawasam said.
Earlier, Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said around 800 Foreign Islamic clerics were engaged in religious teaching at the Madrasas. These clerics had arrived on tourist visas and therefore they should be deported, the minister added.
Sri Lankan authorities are on high-alert after nine suicide bombers carried out a series of blasts that shook three churches and three high-end hotels on the Easter Sunday on April 21, killing 253 people and injuring more than 500.
The IS (Islamic State) or 'Daesh' terror group claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ), believed to be associated with the former, for the deadly attacks.
Wickremesinghe on Friday visited the Zion Church Batticaloa, which came under terrorist attack on Easter Sunday and discussed with the church authorities on the various matters related to security measures.
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