Do you have a problem understanding the written English language? I didn't say "Buddhists(or any other listed group) are extremists" rather that in the view of some, there are some Buddhists(as there are those viewed as extremists with-in all those other listed groups - and many more unlisted groups) which are extremist in their views & or actions driven by those views!
Do you have a problem comprehending that the Destruction of a Church is extremist & also a vile terrorist act?
Christian Journal
Radical Buddhists Destroy Church In Sri Lanka
MAKOLA, Sri Lanka (NEWSROOM) -- A mob comprised mostly of Buddhist extremists attacked an evangelical Protestant congregation in Makola, Sri Lanka, during a Sunday, January 14, worship service, according to the World Evangelical Fellowship.
Following threats to the pastor and church members, the mob stormed the church, threw out furniture and equipment, and then demolished the building. WEF says that the attackers were mainly Buddhist extremists whose actions were instigated by the local temple monk. Buddhist temple monks in rural areas of Sri Lanka are powerful figures in the community, WEF notes. Local politicians also were seen with the attackers, witnesses said.
According to the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, the attack was likely motivated by the belief held by Buddhist extremists that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist country and the Protestant minority, which is less than 1 percent of the population, should not be allowed to establish churches and convert Buddhists.
The monk believed to be responsible for the attack has vowed that, regardless of the law, he will never let a church exist in the area. The church building sits on Pastor Chandana Peiris own family land. Several months ago a mob tried unsuccessfully to burn down the church.
The police have privately told the pastor that action against the attackers might lead to further retaliation, forcing him to leave the area. Police asked Peiris to come for an inquiry on January 21.
Last April, an unknown group set off two bombs at a church construction site in the predominantly Buddhist town of Tissamaharama in south Sri Lanka. Local people had expressed opposition to a Christian church being built in the district.
Sri Lanka's evangelical Protestant minority has reported incidents of persecution by extremist Hindus as well as Buddhists. In November 1998, Pastor Vasu Sritharan of Canaan Fellowship Church near Jaffna was killed shortly after receiving death threats from Hindu groups. The groups had sent a petition to authorities requesting that they curtail the pastor's work among Hindus. A month later, another member of Sritharan's congregation was killed in the same manner, with a slit throat.
(© 2000, www.newsroom.org)
(Post date: January 24, 2000)
mcjonline.com
Features Monday 23, March 1998
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conditions needed for a bi-partisan approach to ethnic peace
Q: The UNP agreed in the Mangala Munasinghe Committee that one should go beyond the 13th amendment to find a lasting solution to the ethnic crisis in this country. Even the UNP manifesto for the last Presidential Elections actually went beyond the 13th amendment. But the alternative proposals presented by the UNP recently seem to be based on the 13th amendment. Isn't this a concession given to the Sinhala Buddhist extremist elements in the country?
(cont)
lanka.net
(in part)
"17. The elections also showed the weakness of the militant Institute Buddhists, confirming a long standing suspicion of mine and, I hope, destroying a myth which some journalists have promoted. In addition to the September 6 press conference which I reported last week,/3/ the Institute militants tried several times to launch anti-election demonstrations and strikes. There was no popular response, and the handful of monks involved were quickly dispersed in every case. "
state.gov
Colombo bans public processions
[TamilNet, May 10, 2001 07:52 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government banned all public processions for a week under the Emergency Regulations Thursday. An official statement said that the ban commenced midnight of 9 May. The ban was promulgated in the Emergency Regulation No. 1 of 2001 (public precessions), according to the statement. The Sinhala Buddhist extremist group, Sihala Urumaya said it was going to hold a rally in the capital Thursday to protest against the damage caused to Sinhala owned shops near downtown Colombo by Muslims angered by attacks on their brethren in the provincial town of Mawnella last Friday. Sri Lankan government officials said that the ban was to prevent Sinhala extremist elements from fomenting antipathy towards the Muslims and vice versa. Meanwhile riot Police Thursday fired tear gas to disperse a procession by an ad hoc front formed by the Sinhala extremist group Sihala Urumaya in Maradana, a predominantly Muslim quarter of downtown Colombo. (cont)
tamilnet.com
Acting deaf to the Voice of Reason - A reply to Daily News
[ Thu Mar 2, 2000, GMT 04:55 ]
By: Rajan Thangavelu
This refers to your editorial "Acting deaf to the Voice of Kindness" (Daily News March 01, 2000). In an attempt to vilify the LTTE, which is your favourite past-time, you seem to suffer from selective amnesia. May be this disease has something to do with your stipend coming out of the government exchequer. You have taken great pains to paint President Chandrika as an angel of peace when you know for certain that it is not so.
I am not holding any brief for the LTTE, but let me refute your tall claim "that most of the personalities had championed a just negotiated end to the ethnic problem. Some of these politicians are, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake, former President Ranasinghe, A. Amirthalingam, V.Yogeswaran, K.Pathmanaba, Sarojini Yogeswaran, Uma Maheswaran and more recently Dr.Neelan Tiruchelvam in fact."
Let me deal with those who championed a just negotiated end to the ethnic problem. Take Lalith Athulathmudali, the then Minister for National Security under J.R. As Minister of National Security is he not the person who wanted to settle 250,000 Sinhalese in the North to solve the ethnic problem? Is he not the Minister who directed a full-fledged assault of Jaffna peninsula consisting of an estimated 8,000 strong army, navy and air force in May,1987 in which hundreds of innocent Tamils died in that "Operation Liberation"? Whom was he trying to liberate from whom? Is he not the same Minister who was responsible for the death of 12 LTTE top rank leaders taken into custody in the seas despite the amnesty given to them under the Indo-Sri Lanka pact?
Now take Gamini Dissanayake who as Minister in charge of the Mahaweli Accelerated Development settled 13,000 Sinhalese colonists in Manal Aru (Weli Oya) after emptying scores of Tamil villages by use of military force? Is he also not the Minister who went to Jaffna along with Cyril Mathew, Minister for Industries and Scientific Affairs and a confirmed racist, responsible for the burning of the Jaffna library in 1981 by the Sinhala police? Is he also not responsible for the burning of the Jaffna Model Market and Yogeswaran’s house by the same Sinhalese police the same night when he escaped from death by a hair’s breadth!
You must be out of your mind to claim that Uma Maheswaran was killed by the LTTE when the whole world knows his own bodyguards killed him. Equally preposterous is your claim that Kumar Ponnambalam was killed by the LTTE.
Kumar Ponnambalam was assassinated exactly two weeks after President Chandrika in a fit of rage and mouthing hatred identified the ‘terrorists’ who are to be summarily executed. This is what exactly she said on December 21, 2000 in her acceptance speech "Let all those who aid and abet terror be warned...let those who secretly or openly condone the path of violence pursued by the cowards of the LTTE be warned: the days of terror in this land are numbered, and that number is small."
Is not the statement " the days of terror in this land are numbered, and that number is small" a military order- an order coming from the Head of State to kill those who supported the LTTE? Is this not a sentence of death she passed on Kumar Ponnambalam in her capacity as the Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces?
Is there any surprise that the killers have not been apprehended by the Police even after the lapse of almost 2 months now? We know they will never be apprehended because they are safely lodged at Temple Trees beyond the reach of the long arm of law!
To come back to Lalith Athulathmudali, did not the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Chandrika determine that Ranasinghe Premadasa and his underworld men were responsible for the murder of Lalith Athulathmudali? Was not Ragunathan, an innocent Tamil youth in the custody of the Police at that time, shot and his body thrown at the vicinity of the scene of murder with a cyanide capsule by his side? Did not the supporters of Lalith Athulathmudali in Colombo celebrated the death of President Premadasa by lighting crackers?
If the Editor wants to count meticulously all those who died he should do a complete job. He should list the hundreds of innocent Tamils who died when Sri Lankan fighter planes bombed Navaly St.Peters Church, Nagarkovil Mahavidyalayam, Puthukudieruppu etc.
What about the 27 bodies that were found floating in rivers, lakes and brooks in the Colombo suburbs in 1995- all of them Tamils picked up by the security forces in the dead of night? Twenty-two persons belonging to the military and STF were arrested in connection with their murders. An indictment was filed against them on September 15, 1995 and the accused were released on bail. In total disregard to all norms of justice and fair-play, prosecuting counsels from the Attorney General’s Department failed to appear in court continuously four times without any valid excuse. Finally the farce was ended on March 13, 1997 when the case was struck off the court roll. All the accused persons were given their jobs back with promotions! This then is the type of justice the Tamil people got from President Chandrika!
It is President Chandrika who beat her chest and shed tears in 1994 promising to stop the bloodshed, end the war and bring peace to a beleaguer country. But on getting elected and assuming office she unleashed the most horrible war against the Tamil people! Thousands of Tamils died during President Chandrika’s barbaric rule than anytime before – not even during J.R. or Premadasa . The murders of Tamil political detainees at Kalutara prison demonstrate the stark fact that Tamils are not safe even in state prisons!
You are shedding crocodile tears for Alfred Durayappa, you even remember his date of assassination, but what about Krishanti Kumarasamy? Sarathambal Saravanapavanantha Kurukkal? Koneswary Murugesapillai? Ida Carmelitta and Rajani Velayuthapillai - all raped and murdered by members of the Sinhala army under the command of President Chandrika? With her hands soaked with the blood of these innocent women who committed no crime, you have the temerity to claim, that " for the first time a Head of Government of this country was offering to resolve a burning issue on the basis of the core civilizational values - love for one's neighbour and loving – kindness.." Honestly I like your sense of humour.
More than the Sinhalese it is the Tamils who really need peace. The war is fought in the Northeast and the victims of war are 98% Tamils. While Sinhalese-Buddhist extremist groups like Weera Vidhana, National Movement Against Terrorism, Buddhist Sanga Sabha are fanning the flames of war, it is the Tamil people who are demanding peace with justice. It is a national disgrace that disciples of Buddha like Rev. Sobitha Thero sworn to the Noble Eightfold Path are leading rabble rousers and warmongers!
The decision whether to continue the bloody war or not rests solely with President Chandrika. It is not in the hands of Prabhakaran who is fighting a defensive war against an invading army. She can bring an end to the bloody war overnight by withdrawing the army from the Northeast.
Right to life is basic right, since no other right could be meaningfully enjoyed without the right to life. Tamil people have been denied this basic right for more than four decades by an extremely venomous racist state.
Courtesy: TamilCanadian
tamilcanadian.com |
