“Quite contrary to Sarah Palin's assertion that it is the God that had made the American Armies go to Iraq, the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka have been sent by the Government to eliminate terrorism, and with clear instructions that in doing so they should avoid putting into danger the lives of the Civilian population. That is one reason the government says, why the progress of the government Forces towards entering Kilinochchi to oust the terrorists is slow.”
by Charles S. Perera
(September 06, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In the wake of the Government Forces entering in to the District of Kilinochchi controlled by the armies of the demoniac Prabhakaran, Duleep Chikera the Anglican Bishop has woken up to call for a Peace Zone in the North.
The Church is trying to make the best out of a bad situation to permanently implant the influence of the Church in the North after the terrorists are eliminated by the Government Forces. How else can one explain this delayed intervention of Duleep Chikera the Bishop to call for peace zones now ?
The Church is pleading for the cause of the Tamil civilians caught in the conflict to show themselves as the saviours, so they could herd them into their camp as the children of the God saved by their intervention. In fact what they are doing is to see that the north remains their Zone of influence once the terrorism is eliminated and peace and calm settled down.
From far away Germany , Professor Emmanuel, hastens to echo the voice of the Catholic Church in the north Sri Lanka, calling, pleading and blaming all at the same time, to be heard by the International Community entreating its intervention. The Catholics seem to spring from every where, to plead the cause of the Civilians, who they had so far left to suffer under the ruthless terrorists- who had been keeping them under their grip on the pretention of being their protectors, the only representatives of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka.
The majority of the people of the North are Hindus, but it is unfortunate that only white cassocks of the priests are seen in the images sent for public consumption by the media. The role of the Hindu priests is to remain in the temples, to perform rituals and invoke the blessings of the Hindu deities. They do not venture out to help the believers and see to their welfare. Hence the Catholic priests have become the cocks in the pen, to manage the civilian population in the north according to their guise.
There are lot of Tamil writers in the websites devoted to the Tamil cause, but none of them had found it necessary to get involved in forming welfare groups ( without being supporters of the terrorists), to help their Hindu compatriots without leaving the field open to the Catholic priests. INGOs who have access to the civilian population may also be willing partners of the Catholic Church. The pandering by these people, the Catholic Clergy and the Christians will distance the Tamil civilian population from their own religion and culture which would be an obstacle to the unity of the Communities after terrorism.
The Tamil middle class, the Tamil intelligentsia, and the rich Tamils in Sri Lanka including Anandasangaree are more interested in political independence, and devolution of power- under a Federal Constitution, while the poor Tamil citizens are being herded either by the terrorists, to make cannon fodder of their children while the old, and the rest are made to suffer under a fascist dictator, or by the Catholic Church to take away their cultural identity, and replace their inherited gods by a foreign god.
It is time that the Tamil Diaspora opens their eyes to this disaster that has befallen the ordinary masses in the North-their kith and kin, the poorer Tamil citizens. While they send their hard earned money to enrich the coffers of a group of terrorists, to create a homeland for the Tamils of the diaspora , their poorer compatriots are left at the mercy of terrorists, and their inherited culture is being pawned to gain a paradise after death, offered by the Church.
We appeal to the Tamil diaspora to at least now forget the past, and instead of continuing to sow seeds of hatred, join with the Tamil, Sinhala, and Muslim communities in Sri Lanka to make the common motherland a happy place for all to live together. It is very heartening to see that many Tamil writers come forward to give a true picture of communal relations in the past. In this respect please see the following articles that appeared in the Sri Lanka Guardian website:
1: Let my people go in Peace by Dr.Noel Nadesan (30.8.2008)
2: Open the gates of hell and let my people go by Selva Gnanam (4.9.2008), and
3: Tamil Racism is older than 1956 by Thomas John Pulle (4.9.2008)
It is in this background, that Professor Emmanuel pontificates (TamilNet-4.9.2008) from far away Germany to speak of an impending human crisis of a first magnitude. He paints a picture of utter desolation caused by the government forces, and speaks of the district overcrowded with internally displaced people from Vanni seeking protection from the atrocities of the Sri Lanka Forces. Prof. Emmanuel seems to say that the IDPs are flocking into Kilinochchi running away from the Armed Forces seeking protection from the terrorists. He adds with a flourish that "Sri Lanka government has forfeited Tamils as its citizens. Its attitude and actions are that of an invading country in an enemy's territory."
It is strange Prof.Emmanuel echos the sentiments of M.K.Narayanan, in saying that Sri Lanka has forfeited Tamils as its citizen. The statement is quite false, despite the attempts of the Catholic Church to distance the Tamil citizens from the government of Sri Lanka.
Quite contrary to Sarah Palin's assertion that it is the God that had made the American Armies go to Iraq, the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka have been sent by the Government to eliminate terrorism, and with clear instructions that in doing so they should avoid putting into danger the lives of the Civilian population. That is one reason the government says, why the progress of the government Forces towards entering Kilinochchi to oust the terrorists is slow.
Even though there are complaints of the dangers caused to the Civil Population in the conflict zone in the North, even the TamilNet the voice of the terrorists has not pointed out any major disaster to human life because of the bombardments, and army artillery fire by the Government Forces.
Prof. Emmanuel who is himself not informed of the correct situation, writes an article which is meant to poison the minds of the uninformed Tamil diaspora against the Sinhala Community, and draw the attention of the International Community to his imagined "human crisis of a first magnitude."
He says that in a couple of months when the war is over the Tamil demand for basic human rights in Sri Lanka will be silenced for ever. It would be the contrary as there are already lot of changes taking place some initiated by the government, and others with the changing of attitudes of the people , with the activities commenced by well meaning associations and persons to change things from what they had been. The Sinhala people will not hinder the government from taking every action possible to build an environment of peace and reconciliation where the three communities will get together to construct a new future for their children and generations to come.
The north is marked by the absence of Buddhist Viharas, therefore it is essential that the north as in the south should have Buddhist Viahras with Monks and Nuns, in their yellow robes, without leaving the space in the north free for the Church to dominate the scene, to hinder the progressive development of communal relationship of the Hindu Tamils, Sinhala Buddhists, Islamic Muslims, and the Christians.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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