Sri Lankan bishops say peace process must be inclusive
-28/10/05
The Sri Lanka Catholic Bishopsí Conference (SLCBC) has blamed the ìnon-inclusiveî peace process for the prevailing climate of religious intolerance in the island, reports the Hindustan Times.
Without mentioning any individual, any party or any religious group by name, the bishops hinted in a statement on Wednesday that the previous United National Party (UNP) government had helped trigger majority religious intolerance in Buddhist-dominated South Sri Lanka by its ìnon-inclusiveî peace process.
ìThe lack of inclusive approach to the peace process alienated a concerned section of opinion. These groups, which failed to rally public support against the peace process, used religious misgivings as rhetorical antithesis to galvanise nationalistic sentiments,î the statement said.
ìThese facts are evident from the electoral polling patterns for such parties during the General election of December 2001 and April 2004,î it added.
The Hindustan Times says that the allusion is to the UNP regime led by Ranil Wickremesinghe between December 2001 and April 2004. Mr Wickremesinghe is the partyís candidate in the 17 November 2005 Sri Lankan Presidential election.
ìThe alienation of moderate opinion on political differences merely leads to perpetuating extremism and extremist parties that breed on ethnic differences,î the Bishops declared.
The Catholic Bishops have also expressed unhappiness with the religious extremism aided and abetted by the present Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) government, and by the electoral alliance of the SLFPís Presidential candidate, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
ìThe basic rights and freedoms in relation to our religious practice have come under great threat from proposed draconian legislation in the form of an Anti-Conversion Bill,î the Bishops state.
The SLFP government was keen on enacting an Anti-Conversion law and a bill had been drafted. And Rajapaksa is now in alliance with the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), one of the prime movers of the Anti-Conversion Bill.
Calling upon the candidates to pursue a different path this time round, the Bishops said: ìThe new President should adopt an approach, which is more inclusive than earlier in the peace negotiations, taking into consideration all shades of opinion and thereby develop a political consensus on the future of our country.î
Christians (both Protestants and Catholics) constituted 6.2 per cent of the Sri Lankan population at the 2001 census. They are the smallest of the three main minority communities.
Sri Lankan bishops say peace process must be inclusive
-28/10/05
The Sri Lanka Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SLCBC) has blamed the ‘non-inclusive’ peace process for the prevailing climate of religious intolerance in the island, reports the Hindustan Times.
Without mentioning any individual, any party or any religious group by name, the bishops hinted in a statement on Wednesday that the previous United National Party (UNP) government had helped trigger majority religious intolerance in Buddhist-dominated South Sri Lanka by its ‘non-inclusive’ peace process.
‘The lack of inclusive approach to the peace process alienated a concerned section of opinion. These groups, which failed to rally public support against the peace process, used religious misgivings as rhetorical antithesis to galvanise nationalistic sentiments,’ the statement said.
‘These facts are evident from the electoral polling patterns for such parties during the General election of December 2001 and April 2004,’ it added.
The Hindustan Times says that the allusion is to the UNP regime led by Ranil Wickremesinghe between December 2001 and April 2004. Mr Wickremesinghe is the party’s candidate in the 17 November 2005 Sri Lankan Presidential election.
‘The alienation of moderate opinion on political differences merely leads to perpetuating extremism and extremist parties that breed on ethnic differences,’ the Bishops declared.
The Catholic Bishops have also expressed unhappiness with the religious extremism aided and abetted by the present Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) government, and by the electoral alliance of the SLFP’s Presidential candidate, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
‘The basic rights and freedoms in relation to our religious practice have come under great threat from proposed draconian legislation in the form of an Anti-Conversion Bill,’ the Bishops state.
The SLFP government was keen on enacting an Anti-Conversion law and a bill had been drafted. And Rajapaksa is now in alliance with the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), one of the prime movers of the Anti-Conversion Bill.
Calling upon the candidates to pursue a different path this time round, the Bishops said: ‘The new President should adopt an approach, which is more inclusive than earlier in the peace negotiations, taking into consideration all shades of opinion and thereby develop a political consensus on the future of our country.’
Christians (both Protestants and Catholics) constituted 6.2 per cent of the Sri Lankan population at the 2001 census. They are the smallest of the three main minority communities.