Bawa had groups of followers in Colombo and Jaffna (mostly Muslims in Colombo and Hindus in Jaffna). After the civil war started his followers could no longer go back and forth.
I've never been to Sri Lanka, bur I have a lot of friends from there. The war and political turmoil there is tragic indeed for a country often called paradise.
Bawa treated everyone as humans, with no distiction of religion.