LTTE behind Madhu
Church:
What is Bishop of Mannar planning?
By Lalith Jayawickrema
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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