Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a 3-member presidential committee to investigate the violence that disrupted the city of Kandy and led to a state of emergency being declared. Even as the curfew has been lifted, security is tight and the usually peaceful Muslim residents remain concerned. CGTN's Shweta Bajaj is in Sri Lanka and reports on what led to these riots.

This is where Raheem Shamshuddin's shoe store stood. 5 days ago in Digana, near Sri Lanka's hill capital of Kandy, riots broke out? Shops owned by Muslims of the town were burnt. Raheem didn't just lose his store, he lost his 26-year-old son - Shamshuddin Abdul Bashid. His son was hiding inside when rioters burnt the shop down.

MOHAMMAD SHIFAAN "200-300 people first came, and numbers swelled to 500-1000 people near the mosque. Straight away, they started hitting it with stones. After that, they set the house next door on fire and were throwing stones and they came straight away nearby the mosque. Then there were police outside and they didn't come to protect us. After that, the police walk away."

The night of March 4th, an incident led to the violent clashes starts the death of a Sinhalese man. The first riots on the Muslim community began in the Central province village of Teldeniya, and then moved to Digana, another village 5 miles away. Despite the emergency imposed by the government, the riots continued. A sense of fear remains even though the situation is under control. According to government data the riots destroyed more than 450 properties - including mosques, houses, and shops.

SHWETA BAJAJ KANDY "This mosque was the center point of the riots that have now terrorized the entire area. It's after 5 days that finally curfew has been lifted and people have started to step out to take stock of what is left of their lives."

Mohammad Haleem ran a shop opposite to this mosque. The shop was burned down as well, and this mosque was where he came every day just like the 350 other Muslim families in the vicinity.

MOHAMMAD HALEEM "Lots of people came inside the mosque and broke everything here. After that they set fire to it. Then many people came group by group and set fire to vehicles and shops owned by Muslims. They knew which one was the Muslim shops and they set fire to only those shops."

SHWETA BAJAJ KANDY "What is the feeling among the Muslim community in this area?"

MOHAMMAD HALEEM "We feel fear. We don't have a future. My shop is only ashes inside. We want peace, we only want peace. We don't want to attack Buddhist people we only want to be protected."

Kandy, the otherwise a peaceful hilly city popular with tourists, the tension in the air is palpable. Even though the curfew has been lifted, the social media ban in the area continues. The violence started after the death of a Sinhalese man in a brawl over a road rage incident between Muslims and the man. Muslims make for 9 percent of the population whereas Sinhalese Buddhist account for more than 70% of Sri Lanka's 21 million people. Shweta Bajaj, CGTN, Kandy, Sri Lanka.