"Why talk (again) now?"
Peace Secretariat asks Religious Superiors
The Permanent Mission of
Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
06th June 2008
The religious superiors of the CMRS (Conference of Major Religious
Superiors) have recently sent a letter to the Sri Lankan government
and the Tamil Tigers calling on both parties to stop all forms of violence
and war immediately and enter into negotiations. This request has also
been endorsed by a statement issued by the JPIC (Justice, Peace and
Integrity of Creation Commission), the Rome-based International Union
of Superiors General. Commenting on the lack of relevance of such a
request at this juncture, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary-General
of the Secretariat for Coordination the Peace Process, has written the
following article:
It is reported that the Conference of Major Religious Superiors (CMRS)
in Sri Lanka has joined a chorus of calls for 'a political dialogue
to meaningfully resolve the ethnic problem and bring peace to Sri Lanka.'
This could have been seen as a positive step had the chorus been heard
five years ago, when the LTTE first withdrew from negotiations. It might
even have been helpful two years ago when, in refusing to come to talks
scheduled for April 2006, the LTTE attempted to blow up the army commander
but found no concerted criticism of its approach. It might even have
had some purpose a year ago, at the time when the Norwegian Ambassador
went to Kilinochchi and was told that the Tigers were unwilling to talk,
but found the world instead sympathetic to the sulks that had seen off
all European Union members of the Monitoring Mission, which had found
the Tigers guilty of so many violations of the Ceasefire they did not
think it necessary to observe 100%.
Given that the Sri Lankan government has always been ready for talks,
and has said so consistently for over six years, it would make sense
if the chorus addressed itself more clearly to the Tigers. But no, in
a search for balance, as a Norwegian politician now in opposition put
it cynically, those who have not suffered the corrosive effects of totalitarian
terror put an elected government and a terrorist movement on a par,
they condemn in the same breath both what is obviously collateral damage
and also deliberate targeting of civilians, they belittle the human
rights abuses that occur by refusing to seek specific remedies for them
but instead lump them together in a persistent desire to impose external
solutions upon a sovereign country.
So too the Religious Superiors make a request, obviously from the government,
to 'Remove the existing embargo on travel and transport on humanitarian
aid workers and allow relief items to reach the displaced in the camps',
obviously not aware that there is no such embargo, and that relief items
do reach the displaced. There are certainly limitations on travel and
transport, but these are essential in a context in which instruments
of terror are cunningly transported, even in the vehicles of ecclesiastics.
Though the superior sorts of Religious personnel are not likely to
get involved in such pursuits, they have to remember that blackmail
and terror can affect even the spiritual, and people sometimes need
protection from themselves, as the Church has proclaimed over the centuries.
Again, the Superiors ask that necessary steps be taken 'to stop paramilitary
groups functioning in the north and east and to disarm them'. It is
not clear whether this request is addressed to the LTTE too, the paramilitary
group par excellence, which decimated all other Tamil groups, the more
easily when they were disarmed in 2002, following the Ceasefire Agreement.
Even at the request of Superiors, there is no way the Government of
Sri Lanka is going to betray Tamils who have stood out against the LTTE,
to allow them to be slaughtered. Certainly the Superiors should ask
that all these including the LTTE stop functioning as paramilitary groups,
and enter a democratic political process, following the example of the
most Catholic Group of all, the Irish Republican Army, which finally
agreed to decommission arms so that peace could be pursued. The singling
out of more vulnerable groups is however insidious, given that the Religious
Superiors cannot be ignorant of the bloodshed to which earlier selective
disarming led.
Finally, it is sad that only now do the Superiors ask 'for the disputed
area around the Our Lady of Madhu Shrine in the northern diocese of
Mannar to be made a "peace zone" and for the government and
rebel forces to stay clear of it.' No such call was heard when the LTTE
used the area for its weapons and its cadres. No such call was heard
when the Sri Lankan forces had surrounded the shrine, but carefully
refrained from any attack so that there would be no sacrilegious damage,
simply ensuring that the Tigers had finally to withdraw when supplies
failed. No gratitude is now expressed though the forces, having taken
over the shrine, handed it back to the custody of the Church, which
cannot still guarantee that the Tigers will not return, and hence keep
the sacred statue still far away.
The distinguished Catholic poet Patrick Fernando wrote
merits of the mass
are infinite; Father Bruno used to say
they encompass even hell, meaning of course,
not to question eternal damnation
but only to drive home a point in class.
Sadly one gets the impression that, when faced with terror, some elements
of the Catholic hierarchy can only try to drive home points in class.
One hopes they will read the words of His Holiness the Pope who, in
addressing the new Sri Lankan ambassador to the Vatican, noted that
acts of terror are never justifiable, who raised questions in a spirit
of understanding, who did not condemn a government struggling against
terror but reminded it of its own continuing obligations. That is a
model of how to maintain a proper balance, not a spurious equalizing
of disparate entities.
Prof Rajiva Wijesinha
Secretary-General
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process
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