Catholic Bishops Offer Their Services to Restore Peace in Sri Lanka

By Darmitha-Kotte

The " Daily Mirror" of 9th August, 2006 carries an article "Bishops offer their services to restore peace-Govt. and LTTE urged to totally reject was " in which (quote) :" The Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka yesterday made an urgent appeal to the government and the LTTE to reject war totally and to take steps for the peace process to be resumed with Norway's facilitation. "(end quote) They apparently held a plenary meeting in Jaffna to review the current situation created by the LTTE when they closed the Mavil Aru water supply to crops and civilians. Naturally, the Catholic Bishops are worried because their LTTE stooges have received a heavy battering at the hands of the Sri Lankan armed forces. For 12 days the terrorists starved both civilians and crops and deprived them of water- what more inhumane-ness than the contravention of the Geneva Convention? During this time the terrorists also killed a large number of innocent civilians in the East for no rhyme or reason.

When our Army Commander Maj. Gen. Sarath Fonseka was attacked and seriously wounded by a suicide bomber, when late Parami Kulatunge was assassinated, when SSP Upul Seneviratne was killed a few days ago in Kandy, it took a while for the Catholic Bishops to come out and criticize such dastardly acts. They have not said one word against the LTTE terrorizing and mobilizing Tamil children into their Children's Brigade.

In the Daily Mirror article the Catholic Bishops further state (quote) : " We believe that the commitment to truth is the soul of justice. Presently the country is on the brink of a situation of war and there is an impasse as regards the peace process. ………………………The Catholic Bishops categorically state that we are for a united Sri Lanka………….Peace with dignity and justice with the maximum possible devolution of power to the North and East within a unified Sri Lankan identity. We therefore propose the following urgent measures: (a) Ceasefire agreement to be totally upheld by both partie;s (b) That the Norwegian facilitation be continued and the role of the SLMM to be strengthened; (c) Resume immediately the dialogue towards a negotiated settlement rejecting war totally………………………..The SLBC at this crucial moment in the history of our nation, would humbly offer to be at the service of our country to bring peace and stability which is so very necessary for the well-being of our people ." (end quote)

If one saw the pictures of the atrocities created by the terrorists during the past 12 days, one would realize that it is the terrorists who do not want peace or negotiations -NOT the GOSL. Therefore, the best that the Catholic Bishops can do, is to go and confront the LTTE and make their demands of the terrorists to stop their atrocities. The GOSL which is responsible has every right to retaliate to any unreasonable attacks to civilian life or blockage of items which fall under the coverage of the Geneva Convention Protocol 1. How can the Cahtolic Bishops talk about " we categorically state that we are for a united Sri Lanka….." when they have continued to speak on behalf of LTTE terrorists and not for Sri Lanka as a sovereign country? When Rev. Father Rayappa Joseph went on Tamil Net and made scathing attacks on our Armed Forces which is there to protect our nation and appealed to the Vatican for intervention-how can they talk about a united Sri Lanka? The Catholic Church has always stood and protected terrorists, no matter whether they were Sinhalese or Tamils- this has gone on record. The truth is that LTTE suffered serious defeats this time over the Muttur and Mavil Aru water issue at the hands of our valiant Service Personnel- therefore, the terrorists have to be protected from receiving further attacks and defeats! It is no secret that the Catholic Bishops and Church have their own ulterior motives in this whole LTTE issue - that they are supporting terrorists to weaken the Buddhists and the importance of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and for them (Catholics) to gain further power within the government. How can they talk about a united Sri Lanka when Archbishop Oswild Gomis went on record in all newspapers together with SOLO-U , promoting Ranil Wickramasinghe and his party whose one agenda is to sell out the country to foreign powers and terrorists, as against President Mahinda Rajapakse who openly stated that he will champion the cause of a united Sri Lanka? How can they be such hypocrites? Do they think that all Sri Lankans are as "short-memoried" as Chandrika Kumaratunga or Ranil Wickramasinghe or the LTTE terrorists?

The Catholic Church has been agitating for quite some time, to get international intervention & most recently in June 2006 Ms. Jane Croner- Editorial Coordinator of Caritas International (which is an arm of the Catholic Church) appealed for immediate international intervention to solve the peace problem in Sri Lanka. They held an international conference in Sri Lanka during 26th - 28th June 2006 here in Sri Lanka and used the opportunity to hang banners all over the city " Say No to War"

Which civic conscious Sri Lankan does not want peace in this country? Which parent whether Tamil or Sinhalese or Muslim does not want their children to have continuous education in a peaceful and harmonious environment in this country? Other than the LTTE terrorists, we can think of no other entity and if the Catholic Church supports them, then they too can be included into the "terrorists" category.

For nearly 20-25 years, we Sri Lankans have suffered at the hands of "Church backed" LTTE terrorist atrocities which have most often been targeted at Buddhists and Buddhist Temples and the Sinhalese and Government Institutions. If anyone supports a terrorist organization to attack the democratically elected GOSL- we cannot take them as being patriotic but parties that are aiding and abetting against a Sovereign State! If any party cannot identify and state openly, that LTTE are the true transgressors of peace in this country, that they already violated the CFA as far back as 2003 (after the Tokyo Conference) when Ranil Wickramasinghe was still Prime Minister and not "just the other day" after Mahinda Rajapakse became President--------they too can be considered to be traitors of this country!

What is the point of the Catholic Bishops insisting on continued Norwegian involvement in the peace process because they have proved to all and sundry, that they are not impartial mediators but extremely biased towards the terrorists? When Prabhakaran was accompanied by Norwegians to travel to Norway via The Maldives disguised as a Catholic Reverend Father- where was the propriety of the Catholic Bishops? Other than a terrorist, would they allow any other Sri Lankan to act in this manner? What is the point of demanding that the CFA be totally upheld by both parties? Do they not know or do they not want to admit- that right along, it has been the LTTE terrorists who have violated the CFA and not the GOSL? In the face of terrorist attacks, what does the Catholic Bishop expect the democratically elected GOSL to do-to watch and wait till the whole country is destroyed by terrorism? LTTE has been banned in so many countries not because of their overly humane-ness towards the ordinary citizen of this country-cannot the Catholic Bishops accept this fact?

If the Catholic Bishops are so concerned about the well-being of our citizens, they have only one thing to do. That is, sit down with the terrorists and demand that they lay down their arms and stop their armed conflict in this country- no other support is needed if the Bishops really want peace in this country. The GOSL for it's part is bound to protect the nation if her people are attacked & no one, let alone the Catholic Bishops should dictate terms to the GOSL! These blood-thirsty terrorists who wish to rule "through the barrel of a gun or claymore bombs do not represent the majority Tamil community of this country- please accept that as the naked truth and stop supporting terrorists or pampering them- that is the contribution you can make towards peace in Sri Lanka.

There is a very sinister conspiracy between the UNP, Chandrika Kumaratunga, the Catholic Church, Norway and particularly Solheim & the terrorists to make this internal issue created by LTTE terrorists of Sri Lanka into an " international issue" with foreign intervention. The terrorists only want Norway to be involved in this issue and that is why they have made virulent objections to other EU countries being involved. Only Norway will support their continued terrorist activities, sell arms to them and conspire with them to destabilize this country.

There are calls for UN intervention for something that is totally an internal issue of Sri Lanka. We have seen what UN intervention means- it is US/UK interference as they have done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and in many other countries in the recent past! With foreign/UN intervention, they will become more of a "headache" to our government & our people, rather than a means to a solution. On the one hand they can talk peace with the GOSL and on the other hand - supply arms to the terrorists to fight us. Whatever is left in this country will all be destroyed for the Church to take charge. Show us with example which country in the world has had their problems solved through foreign intervention- NONE! Didn't the US get Palestine and Israel to sign a peace accord with Norwegian involvement at Camp David during the time of Bush (Snr)-----today what is the situation - The US continues to support Israel because Jews contribute a major share towards US economics! They are also the major arms manufacturers in the US! With US intervention, we will see more evangelists entering this country to conduct unethical and inhuman conversions of Buddhists and Hindus. These are the real motives and let us please, not be cheated this time. The conspiracy is to defeat the patriotic forces, which are conveniently categorized by enemies of the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka as " extremists" and " nationalists"

It is definitely far more honourable & glorious to be an extremist or nationalist & patriotic, rather than be a terrorist or a traitor in this country! It is far more honourable, to back our Armed Forces to protect this country from terrorists! Catholic Bishops- you need to decide whether to be categorized as "terrorist" or "traitor."