Religions together against violence in north-eastern Sri Lanka

Hindus, Christians and Muslims take part in a sit-in to get the United Nations to break its silence and take steps to protect civilians. The state of emergency in force in the north-eastern part of the country comes in for harsh criticism.

Colombo (AsiaNews) -

Representatives of different faiths in northern Sri Lanka have expressed "abhorrence" and "disgust" about recently escalated indiscriminate killings in the island's civil conflict. They have called on the UN secretary-general to take steps to protect civilians as the ceasefire is all but over.

Catholic priests and sisters joined Hindus, Muslims, Anglicans, and members of the Methodist Church of South India to stage a silent sit-in protest, from 8.30am until 2pm, on Wednesday 17 May, outside the UNCHR office in Kilinochchi in the Vanni region.

Seventy-six people, including at least 22 Catholic priests and 12 religious sisters, signed a memorandum for the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, which was submitted to the UNHCR Kilinochchi chief, Marin Din Kajdomchaj.

"We express with the gravest concern our abhorrence and disgust at the spate of killings in Sri Lanka, and particularly the north-east province, of innocent, we repeat, innocent civilians, especially babies, children, women and elderly," said the memorandum.

Citing killings, disappearances and indiscriminate bombings, the religious representatives denounced the State of Emergency in place – and extended monthly – since the assassination of the Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, in August last year. The regulations vest the army and police with sweeping powers, including the possibility to detain people for up to one year.

"We feel grieved and dismayed that this course of violence has been let loose even under the State of Emergency, or shall we say, under the cover of Emergency Regulations. The present State of Emergency appears to be misused to engage in intolerable and humiliating atrocious acts against civilians."

The religious representatives had hard words for foreign and local agencies and institutions present in the war zones, who they charged with maintaining "a self-protecting and well-guarded silence" instead of abiding by their "moral duty to witness to the truth and to facts".

Hence their appeal to Annan: "We therefore earnestly appeal to you, and to all member states of the UN… to take meaningful and effective steps to ensure that the lives of innocent civilians are respected and protected."

The clerics' appeal comes as the situation on the ground in Sri Lanka deteriorates daily, with more than 200 people killed in the past month alone. Meanwhile, the international truce monitors have said they will stay on, although they admit they are no longer monitoring a cease-fire but watching a war unfold.

The monitors say both sides have violated the truce – signed in 2002 to stop a war raging since 1983 – several times over; the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are believed to target the Sri Lankan security forces in claymore mine attacks and civilians bear the brunt of the latter's brutal reprisals.

One recent incident that drew an outcry was the massacre of 13 people, including a four-month-old baby and a four-year-old boy, on the islet of Kayts, off Jaffna, on 13 May. Amnesty International said it had received credible reports that Sri Lanka Navy personnel and armed cadres affiliated with the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), an anti-LTTE Tamil political party, were present at the scene of the killings.

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