South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019 State inaction. Following the civil war, the state has pursued an active agenda of promoting Buddhism, and failing to act as rightwing majoritarian forces engaged in hate speech, harassment and violence against religious minority communities. State-sponsored Sinhala colonisation of lands in the North and East, while not a new phenomenon, has been rapidly implemented after the war. While violence against resident Muslim and Christian minorities by factions of the majority Buddhist community predominates, violence and discrimination has also been inflicted by (majority) Sunni Muslims against Sufi and Ahmadiya Muslim minorities. Sporadic violence between Christian and Hindu communities and Muslim and Hindu communities has also been recorded. In the most recent incident of April 2019 (the Easter Sunday attacks), Islamic extremists, identified as members of local militant groups, attacked sites of Christian worship and luxury hotels in the Western and Eastern province, causing large-scale death and destruction. Following that incident, the situation in Sri Lanka has worsened for religious minorities. Violence against Muslims is not a new phenomenon. The extent of violence against Muslims was brought to national attention, following the end of the war in 2009. The most recent period of anti-minority violence post-war is characterised by the overt triumphalism and Sinhala Buddhist nationalist discourse of the majority community. Likewise, violence against Christian communities, particularly evangelical and other Christian minority groups, has been a common occurrence in Sri Lanka’s recent history. It is commonly believed that violence against Christian minorities arises as a result of the practice of proselytising and from the suspicion of alleged forced conversions of members of other religions. Over the last decade or so, Sri Lanka has been the destination of asylum-seekers fleeing persecution in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar. There are currently approximately 1,600 refugees and asylum-seekers living in Sri Lanka. Most are religious or ethnic minorities in their home countries, such as Ahmadiyas and Shia Muslims, Pakistani Christians, and Rohingya Muslims. Asylum-seekers in Sri Lanka register themselves with the UNHCR, and are provided with a certificate that provides them xliv