Buddhist Congress protests against aid deal
[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2005, 13:58 GMT]
Hundreds of Buddhist monks belonging to Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya (JSS National Buddhist Congress) held a protest march Sunday against any deal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for a Joint Mechanism to facilitate post-tsunami reconstruction in the NorthEast, sources in Colombo said. The protesters marched to the office of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr Mahinda Rajapakshe and handed over a memorandum.
The Buddhist Monks carrying the National and Buddhist flags attended protest march under the banner of "Against Joint Mechanism deal and Against legalizing Tiger terrorism." The march started Sunday evening front of the New Town Hall building at Colombo, one Kilometer far a way of Prime Minister office. Before the started protest march monks held the meeting at New Town Hall building with many speakers denouncing Sri Lanka Government's attempt to strike a deal with the LTTE on the Joint Mechanism. The Monks handed over the Memorandum to the Prime Minister's acting sectretary Mr. Gamini Thenakoon and waited for more than one hour inside the Prime Minister office before meeting the Prime Minister. Secretary of JSS, Rev. Galagodattay Nanasara thera, told the Prime Minister that establishing a Joint Mechanism with the LTTE will be detrimental to Sinhala Buddhists as NorthEast will gain legitimacy as a Tamil-Muslim area. The Jathika Sanga Sammalanya is pro-Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), an ultra-nationalist party of Buddhist Monks. JHU has nine parliamentarians in the 225 member Sri Lanka parliament.
|