Bishops of Terror

Dilrook Kannangara

The intensity with which a bishop described an incident in favour of the LTTE was never evident when the LTTE caused two serial bomb attacks killing civilian passengers. As a Catholic I’m disgusted of him, who purports to be a messenger of God, but openly supports terrorism and evil deeds by making false and exaggerated statements. I’m also disgusted of the prolong inaction by his superiors.

This is not the first time bishops have acted for the terrorists which makes some of them the only religious leaders to uphold terrorism in Sri Lanka. Another one of them lent his credibility to a political advertisement aimed at helping the tigers’ servant to win the last election (no wonder he lost!!). It is pathetic that none of them made ANY comment when the LTTE leader (a Catholic) continues to forcibly conscript children to its ranks of suicide bombers. Let us remind these bishops that children belong to schools and Jesus stated in no uncertain terms what is best for the likes of the LTTE leader.

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” - Matthew 17:5-7

These bishops should resign from their positions if they have the same integrity as the Polish bishop who recently stepped down due to past links with oppressors. I’m sure these bishops of terror have an exciting agenda but lack the courage to stand down. They have belittled themselves and humiliated the Church and the faithful. Its high time disciplinary action is taken against them lest the Church will be ‘gone to tigers’! Also there is a strong possibility of tensions brewing-up between Sinhala and Tamil Catholics. Sadly I was a witness to such events in the 1980s and can only pray that it will never be repeated.

I urge the government not to let-up the aerial attacks on terrorists. A wrong precedence will be set if attacks on the LTTE should abruptly stop; terrorists will continue to take soft targets to deter attacks on them. Needless to mention, this will lead to catastrophe and a sure victory for the terrorists.

The proven strategy against saboteurs and terrorists who operate outside the LTTE controlled areas has been the use of paramilitaries. Let me remind those who cry for civilian security that this strategy worked very well in the past without any hiccups and we need to immediately bring them back. Conventional methods of round-ups, search operations, public vigilance, check points, traffic controls and international pressure on terrorists have failed against the unconventional enemy. As it had been said by a terrorist, they need be lucky just once (to blow-up something), but the civilians need to be lucky all the time to be safe. Please give us back those days where we - the civilians - felt secure and infiltrators didn’t.

The terror campaign launched by the LTTE against one of the world’s oldest continuing democracies and against its law abiding citizens is surely a crime against humanity. It is no coincidence that those who commit these crimes have branded themselves as a species of wild beasts. And so are their bishops who forgive their sins!!