Divided by Time

Just got to know about this from a BBC article:
“Sri Lanka is a country divided not just by war, but also by time. Officially the country is six hours ahead of GMT. But in Tamil Tiger controlled areas, the time difference is five and a half hours ahead of GMT, the same as in India. Now that may change. “

Imagine time besides religion being different in one country, its quite unbelievable in that sense. No wonder then that Sri Lanka's time has changed 3 times in the last ten years and this one will go back to their 1996 time. It's sad that two religions cannot even decide on a uniform time, how will they agree on other things?

I am finding it tough to find an opinion on this issue and the reasons given seem at times outdated and even ironic.

Religion
Superstition or the Divine order, I don’t know....

The country's Buddhist clergy believe Sri Lanka's "old" time will fit better with their rituals and they believe a decade living in the "wrong" time has upset the country's natural order with terrible effect.

The Venerable Gnanawimala says-"After this change I feel that many troubles have been caused to Sri Lanka. Tsunamis and other natural disasters have been taking place," he says.

Business
Sri Lanka's Minister of Enterprise and Development, Rohitha Bogollagama, feels returning to the same time zone as India, a major trading partner, would be good for business. Economics and time, what a deadly combination, would be interesting if their economy actually does improve, don't you think, but I wonder if it will have anything to do with their time.

Science
Lastly Sci-fi Guru Arthur Clarke whose been staying on this island country for quite a while now (50 years actually), is against the time change and he thinks being out of step with the GMT time, will be inconvenient (Sounds the most rational out of all them, doesn't he?)