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| Tuesday, 30 December 2003 |
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Politics | |
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| Defeat provocateurs - President by Lionel Yodhasinghe Condemning an attack led by certain extremist and opportunistic groups on a church at Meegoda on Saturday, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday ordered IGP Indra de Silva to deploy special police teams to prevent such incidents in the future. She ordered the IGP to investigate and find the elements behind the attack and take the culprits into custody and bring them to book despite their political or other positions. "Twenty years ago, certain groups of looters and chauvinists used violence against minority groups creating an ethnic conflict in this country. The country was dragged into a civil war which has today devastated the all aspects of socio-economic affairs of the country," she said. And we do not want to invite another conflict of religion to this country especially at a time that we are trying to resolve the prolonged ethnic conflicts of which we all are fade up, she said. If such a conflict is created by anybody to please any inhuman being, that will definitely affect the lives of people from all walks of life irrespective of their race or religion, she said. Therefore the duty of peace loving people is to defeat any attempt by opportunists who try to provoke people and create religious conflicts which would further throw this country down into the pit. President Kumaratunga reiterated that stern action would be taken against anybody, who tries to create violence, provoke people towards violence or conspiring attacks on religious places. President Kumaratunga urged peace-loving people especially from Sinhala Buddhists of this country to abide by the great compassion of the Buddha and desist from joining any extremist forces those are trying to use violence against churches. She also appealed from the Maha Sangha and priests of other denominations to explain the situation to their followers and prevent them joining any violence or harassment to other persons or place of worship. "For generations, Sinhala Buddhists in this country followed the teaching of the Buddha, nurtured their offspring in a Buddhist cultural environment by inculcating compassion and non violence to enable their children to live in harmony with the fellowmen irrespective of their race and religion", she told the Daily News. History has it that ancient Sinhala Buddhist Kings took safety measures by evacuating members of minority communities from vulnerable areas and got them settled amidst Sinhala crowds in different parts of the country when foreign invaders launched constant onslaughts on them, she said. Our forefathers during that period warmly welcomed minority groups and extended the hospitality towards them, tolerated their different religious faiths and cultures, she added. "Our ancient kings and our forefathers hailed human rights so treated their fellowmen as friends and recognized their identity. They allowed them to practise their own religions and culture freely even living in predominantly Sinhala Buddhist areas", the President said. |
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