Onus on religious bodies to expose human tragedy

- Uthayan Editorial

(August 27, Jaffna, Sri Lanka Guardian) Vanni faces another human tragedy. Following the war, the people of Vanni are in a pitiable plight of having lost their belongings and having been displaced. Therefore, there is an onus cast on the religious bodies and religious dignitaries to expose the human tragedy in Vanni and seek immediate relief to the suffering innocent civilians.

Rev.Fr.Jebanesan has raised a relevant issue with the international community. He has questioned the propriety of the UN and the West racing to condemn the attack on Georgia by Russia, while observing a deafening silence over the multi-barrel attacks and air raids in the Tamil homeland and killing civilians including children.

He has injected a sense of hope and solace among the displaced that destruction has an end and that in the aftermath of the destruction, there will be new life. He reiterates that it is a lesson of history. And then, finally, he stresses that a new era will dawn for the Tamil people, who live in despair.

Rev.Fr.Thomas Saundaranayagam, Bishop of Jaffna, has made a moving appeal to show concern over the human tragedy in Vanni.

Meanwhile, it is the contention of President Rajapakse that the military operation is not a war but a humanitarian mission.

When Sinhala Buddhist extremism unleashes violence on the innocent Tamil civilians, shouldn’t the religious organizations voice for their followers, who are in distress?

Religious leaders who fail to discharge their sacred duty towards their followers at a desperate hour, will be dismissed as opportunists!

(An English translation of the Editorial in Uthayan, a Tamil daily, based in Jaffna.)- Sri Lanka Guardian