Bhikku Front accuses Kumaratunge of betraying Buddhist Prelates

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 June 2005, 15:05 GMT]
"President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge is the number one enemy of Buddhism in Sri Lanka," said the National Bhikku Front (NBF), an organization of Sinhalese Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka in Colombo Monday. The NBF urged the top Buddhist Prelates to withdraw the blessings they gave Ms Kumaratunge as Head of the State and to declare her as a non-Buddhist.

Venerable Dambara Amila Thero who staged a fast-to-death campaign a week ago against the signing of the P-TOMS between the UPFA Government and the LTTE was speaking at a press briefing held at Hotel Nippon in Colombo Monday morning.

Dambara Amila Thero who was forcibly removed from the venue by Police to the Colombo hospital further said that the President had earlier agreed to discuss the P-TOMS with the Chief Prelates of Sri Lanka and obtain their explicit blessings before signing the agreement.

"Ms Kumaratunga did not keep her pledge and went against the Buddhist hierarchy of the country," he said.

Amila Thero added that the NBF would continue to intensify its "island-wide" opposition against the signing of the P-TOMS.