South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019 The phenomenon of women who are religious minorities being married fraudulently to Chinese men and forced into prostitution or slavery has been on the rise, which the government brushes it off as ‘rumours and fabricated facts’. Persecution of Christians is similarly denied and described as driven by ‘Western interests’. Authorities have reached out to social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for help in tracking blasphemy. Discrimination comes from both citizen vigilantism as well as government action. The country’s poor resolve to address minority concerns does not hold a promising future. Emblematic was the rejection by the National Assembly of a bill allowing non-Muslims to serve as president and prime minister. Six months after the approval of legislation against forced conversions by both houses of Parliament, the parliamentary committee tasked to work on it was finally notified. The committee remains further bogged down by administrative delays. Sri Lanka Several factors impacting minority communities in Sri Lanka in the year 2019 can be linked to two key events: the terrorist bombings on Easter Sunday in April, and secondly, the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president in November. Political, policy and legal developments as well as hate speech, incidents of violence and incarceration that took place can be drawn from these two events. However, it is important to note that attacks on minorities existed before and outside of these events as well. Islamist terrorists were identified as the perpetrators behind the six bombings that took place on Easter Sunday in April 2019. That was followed by increased scrutiny of Muslims by security and law enforcement personnel. A number of Muslims were arrested for the possession of the Quran and Islamic writings in their homes, or for the contents of their social media accounts. Among the emergency regulations put in place was the ban on wearing the burqa or niqab. The immediate aftermath of the bombings saw a rise in hate speech and false news towards and about Muslims. There were also calls orchestrated by the media to boycott Muslim businesses. In May, there were mob attacks against Muslim-owned businesses and mosques in the North-Western province. l