Jan 24, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa directed the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and the leader of the house Nimal Siripala de Silva to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into the insults leveled at the Muslims of the island and the difficulties faced by the Muslims.

The President made the directive when he met a delegation of the government coalition party Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) led by its leader, Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem.

Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa and the senior Ministers Ratnasiri Wickremanayake and D.E.W. Gunasekara also participated in the discussion.

The anti-Muslim agitation roused by the Buddhist extremist organization Bodu Bala Sena has been the focus of the discussions, sources said.

The Justice Minister issuing a statement recently condemned the hate-campaign directed against the Muslims and their businesses in the country.

"The derogatory references to the Muslims as a community, and the related isolated incidents that have taken place in different parts of the country in the recent past, are also a disturbing trend that ought to be reversed," the Minister said.

The Minister hinted that the hate-campaign against Muslims could be a part of conspiracy, aimed at discrediting Sri Lanka in international arena, and an invitation to international interference.