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DateLine Sunday, 15 June 2008

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LTTE behind Madhu Church:

What is Bishop of Mannar planning?

We spend sleepless nights when we see that our mother country is surrounded by terrorists and they are doing everything to destroy our Motherland. I do not think that any government with an iota of self respect will ever give in to the hideous demands and cryptic designs of those terrorists.

Among such planners, Bishop of the Madhu Church seems to be planning to make a “Rome” in the real sense of the term within Sri Lanka. If he is genuine in his intentions, although his prior conduct in this regard does not support any such good intentions, he can request the legitimate army to help keep the terrorists away.

He has no authority whatsoever to request the legitimate army to keep away from the area as it is the inalienable right of the government of Sri Lanka to deploy its army in whatever way and in any manner it considers necessary.

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka cannot claim sovereignty as in Rome under the Pope. He must remember that the Catholic Church is not above the law of the land and does not enjoy special privileges not enjoyed by other religious and other organisations.

Even the most sacred Buddhist religious places like the Dalada Maligawa or the Sri Mahabodhi do not enjoy the privilege of keeping the legitimate government and legitimate authorities like Security forces, police and other government authorities away.

The Bishop seems to be trying a fast one on the Government of Sri Lanka to secretly plant the seed of an independent Catholic state in a part of Sri Lanka. Let him not attempt to create a theosophical state based on Catholicism in the middle of Sri Lanka. He is trying to catch a ‘golden’ fish in the troubled waters.

Being a member of a religious order or any minority group is not an excuse for any one to make all kinds of fanciful demands. Being a member of a minority group religious or racial group is no justification for every demand. Desires and fanciful aspirations have no place in real life. They are necessarily circumscribed by historical, economic and social circumstances and factors.

Bishop Rayappu’s demand to keep the security forces away (after they flushed out the terrorists with much effort and sacrifice) seems to be any attempt to hoodwink the authorities. If this is permitted, it becomes a nucleus of a future independent state. First the government will have to appoint somebody to co-ordinate affairs with the Church authorities and ask for its permission to enter the area.

It will only be a matter of time when the government will have to await their permission or approval to enter the area and later appoint a person with their permission to co-ordinate dealings with the bishop or the Church authorities, a semblance of diplomatic relations with a sovereign state, which with the efflux of time will become a full fledged state like the Papal State of Rome. One might even say that I am seeing a storm in a tea cup.

The President of Sri Lanka, Security forces and the police are laying down their lives to save the motherland from the terrorists who are demanding a separate state and the bishop is trying to achieve it in the name of god so that it could later be the nucleus to be formed and fashioned to suit the requirements of the dissident elements who are waging the most uncivilised war in modern times.

What authority does the bishop or any other has for that matter to keep the security forces away and declare a particular area a battle free zone or a peace zone.

The entire country will be a peace zone, and has to be, once the terrorists are eliminated, and I am certain President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defense Secretary and the Patriotic Security forces will most triumphantly accomplish it.

The national terrorist ‘cancer’ has gone so deep after spineless, boneless leaders messed it up and it naturally requires a little more time. Who has the power to request the legitimate government to keep away from a particular place whether it is a church, temple or a mosque when the area is being used by terrorists, who should be completely eliminated and exterminated.

The government must wield its authority fearlessly and without hesitation and go forward with a clear vision of the ultimate goal with determination.

Democracy does not mean that government should give in to all wild demands, imaginary grievances, and endless so called “aspirations” of all diverse fragments of disgruntled social elements.

All of us can have limitless aspirations, but in really all those aspirations remain unfulfilled dreams. It is practically not possible and it is not a desirable mode of governance to give in to all wild demands.

In the pretext of religious freedom no religious organisation or other should be exempted from government authority. It is a threat to the country to allow any religion to make religious enclaves which are above government authority.

They can be free to do whatever they want within the purview of purely religious work, but it cannot handcuff the government regarding the security of the country and other matters of government.

The church authorities should not treat both the legitimate government and a band of terrorists equally. The Bishop wants an area of minimum two kilometres without access to government security forces calling it a peace zone. Is this to create a nucleus for a later independent state?

Even the most venerated Buddhist religious places, such as Dalada Maligawa and Jayasri Maha Bodhi were attacked and innocent pilgrims and those observing Sil were killed. But there were no clamour to keep anybody off from those areas.

Those criminal acts did not get such importance as Madhu Church and its environs. This seems to have become the only important thing in the entire Sri Lankan history for the last 2500 years. What right the bishop has to exclude the authority of the legitimate government.

Though they had all the right to ask the terrorists to go away from Madhu we never heard of such a request ever being made by the Bishop.

Most hallowed religious and cultural institutions in Sri Lanka do not enjoy the privileged position the Bishop is clamouring for. This is a secret strategy to achieve what the LTTE wants in a round about manner. I see no special reason to grant especial sanctity.

Instead of being appreciative of saving the church from becoming a permanent terrorist bunker of the most despised terrorists, the bishop is laying down conditions on the government and the security forces. It is disappointing to see the non-committal insensitive reaction of the Bishops’ Conference to the national sentiments of the indigenous people.

Archbishop Oswald Gomis after “Christens Awake” call at Presidential Elections seems to be observing discreet silence, and the Bishops Conference too is silent on this matter. What the LTTE cannot achieve through war, the bishop is trying to achieve without firing a single bullet.

The government has handed over the church with minimum damage. It is for the adherents and the church authorities to find ways of organising or keep the statue in whatever way or place that they think is most desirable.

In any case, once the entire area is liberated from the hands of the terrorists, the whole country will become a peace zone and thereafter. (which is most likely in the near future.) It is for the adherents to put the bishops and the church hierarchy on the correct track.

My dispassionate view is that there should be no area big or small without free access to the security forces, police and government authorities. There should not be any restrictions to their actions except as laid down by the law of the land.

Police powers, Security of the entire country, Protection of the Historical National monuments, Land Alienation, International Relations and Education are at all times should be in the hands of the central government and should never be alienated to any other authority, not even to provincial councils.

The real situation is that when any concession or request is granted or extended it can never be taken back without, bitterness, struggle or an armed conflict. Let not Democracy be a curse.

(The writer is a practising lawyer in USA)

 

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