Diverse religions pray for “war heroes”
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Buddhists Christian Muslims and Hindus in Sri Lanka today celebrated religious ceremonies, and held two minutes of silence, marking the end of the first ever “War heroes’ month”, an initiative promoted by the President Mahinda Rajapakse to lift the spirits of the soldiers currently fighting a war against Tamil Tiger separatists. The event found favour among the population, who appreciate the army’s defence of the nation, but who at the same time underscored the importance of commemorating the numerous innocent civilian victims, Tamil and Sinhalese, who have died in the clashes between the two sides.
On the appeal of Ministry of Religious affairs , all religious faithful gathered around their place of worship at on May 7th to pray for the soldiers who “are defending the country in the day and night by sacrificing their lives”. The Catholic service was held at St. Philip Neri’s Church in Colombo with a celebration of mass.
A 30 years-old, Tamil Catholic youth, A. Jesudasan, active in social work reminded however that “There are many, many innocent people who have also died due to this ruthless war”. He concluded “I want our President to make this declaration also for Tamil and Sinhalese ordinary people those who have scarified their lives while we salute our soldier brothers and sisters”. 60 years-old, Shelton Wijedasa Buddhist businessman in Colombo stated: “has forgotten our innocent, innocent Tamils and Sinhalese who sacrificed their lives with the war and who are still suffering, especially in the regions of North, North East?”
Sri Lanka’s civil war began in 1983, when the Tamil minority turned to radical solutions following the pogrom carried out against its community, in which thousands died. Since then the Tigers have been pushing for the creation of an independent autonomous state in the North-east of the island, by taking over control of entire portions of the country. In over 20 years of war it is estimated that between 60 and 80 thousand people. The cease fire signed in 2002 is now no longer worth the paper it’s written on.
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