A Report for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

This is detailed work carried out by Norwegians to rule over our Sangha.  It appears Ranil is trying to implement the recommendations from the report.

It is worth for the readers to know and I wish a legal mind could take a critical look at the report and warn the Sangha.

Iselin Frydenlund International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) January 2005

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1
CHAPTER 1:THE SANGHA IN SRI LANKA………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
CHAPTER 2: BUDDHISM, NATIONALISM AND THE SRI LANKAN STATE……………………………………………………………………..7
CHAPTER 3: BUDDHIST MONKS IN POLITICS………………………………………………………………………………………………………13
CHAPTER 4: ‘WE ALL WANT PEACE!’………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17
CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..33
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..35

INTRODUCTION

SINCE THE INCEPTION of the Norwegian-facilitated peace process in Sri Lanka, 1 considerable criticism has been voiced against both Norway and the government of Sri Lanka. Within that critique, Buddhist monks, bhikkhus, have played and continue to play a central role, and many will no doubt recall the images of monks burning the Norwegian flag outside the Norwegian embassy in Colombo. 2 As recently as 24 November 2004, a demonstration outside the embassy in Colombo brought together thousands of Sri Lankans, including many monks, to demand Norway’s withdrawal from the peace process. We are thus led to ask, why are the monks so critical of the Sri Lankan peace process? And is this view representative of the Buddhist monastic order, the Sangha, as a whole?3 In examining these questions, the aim of this report will be to analyse the role of the Sangha in the ongoing peace process in Sri Lanka.

The main research questions the report will address are:

• What arguments for and against the peace process and a federal solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka have been advanced by Buddhist monks?
• Who are the most important actors in the ongoing debate about the peace process?
• In what ways can Buddhist monks be peace promoters in Sri Lanka?

(This last question opens up for possible policy recommendations.) Numerous books and articles of a general nature have been published on monks and politics, or on religious nationalism, in Sri Lanka. However, specific facts, names and places are not so easily obtained. Therefore, the present report aims to provide an overview of the crucial actors and the main political themes on the contemporary scene (i.e. during 2004). As a historian of religion, it is not my role to normatively evaluate the Sangha. 4 Rather, the report aims to increase understanding of the plurality of views regarding the peace process to be found among Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka. The background for this project lies in my own personal academic interest in religion and politics in Sri Lanka, which grew out of a longer period of fieldwork in the southern part of the country at the time when Norway’s role as facilitator in the peace process was first made public (2000). This interest coincided with a desire on the part of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to acquire knowledge about the Sangha and its relation to the peace process. 5

Read the full report

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items16/FrydenlundThe%20Sangha%20and%20its%20Relation%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process%20PRIO%20Paper%202005.pdf