SL military wants to cremate remains of controversial monk inside temple premises

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 September 2019, 23:21 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military is preparing to stage the cremation of the late Kolamba Medhalankara Thero, who was causing ethnic tensions through the controversial project of Sinhala-Buddhicisation at Neeraaviyadi in the ancient Tamil village of Chemmalai in Naayaa'ru, Mullaiththeevu. The project was launched in 2009 by a genocidaire commander of the SL Army, Major General (retd) Jagath Dias and the late Anunayake of the Seruwila Saranakiththi Kalyani Sect, Seruwila Saranakiththi Thero, who was promoting Sinhala colonization along the border of North and East until his demise in May 2016. Kolamba Medhalankara Thero has passed away due to cancer, and the SL Army and SL Navy want to cremate him on Sunday at the premises of the Pi'l'laiyaar temple where he was violently installing a Buddha statue earlier this year.

The board of trustees of Neeraaviyadi Pi'l'laiyar temple have approached the courts not to allow cremation within the temple premises as Saivaists do not practice funeral rituals at the temple grounds. It would be an act of desecration of the temple deity, they said.

The trustees of the temple said they were not opposed to SL military staging the cremation outside the temple premises.

In December 2017, the occupying Sinhala military chose to stage a controversial cremation ceremony at the public grounds of Muttave'li in Jaffna near the memorial site of Tamil victims of one of the first massacres carried out by the Sinhala police on the final day of the Fourth International Conference of Tamil Research in 1974. The SL military disregarded the objections.

Similarly, the SL Army at Neeraaviyadi was now preparing for such a cremation. Sinhala colonists from Weli-Oya have been brought the military camp in front of the temple, the sources in Mullaiththeevu said.

In addition to erecting a big Buddha statue violating the court orders, the late monk was also attempting to Sinhalicise the Tamil deity by changing the name of the temple a few months ago. The court ruled against the renaming, and the monk invited extremist monks and Sinhala colonists from other areas to protest against the Tamils.

When the Tamil villagers staged a temple feast as peaceful and spiritual resistance to the move, the monk desecrated the Nandhi flags flown by the Tamils at the locality.

When a case was filed against the disturbing conduct of the monk, the lawyers representing the monk were attempting to defend the monk by informing the court that he was mentally ill.



Kolamba Medhalankara Thero was groomed by the occupying Sinhala Army, particularly by the 19 Gemunu Watch (GW), which belongs to the 593rd Brigade of the 59th Division of the occupying Sinhala Army.

It was génocidaire SL commander Maj Gen Jegath Dias, who played a leading role in the onslaught on Vanni with command responsibility for Divisions 53, 57, and 59, and Task Force IV, who initiated the vihara project after May 2009.

The late Seruwila Saranakiththi Thero, who was the Anunayake of the Seruwila Saranakiththi Kalyani Sect and Chief Incumbent of the Mangala Raja Maha Viharaya in Seruwila at that time, was closely working with Jegath Dias.

Earlier, in 2006, the SL military intelligence deployed the racist Saranakiththi Thera to manage the Maavil-aa'ru controversy towards scuttling the Norway-facilitated Ceasefire Agreement.

Maj Gen Jegath Dias and the late Seruwila Saranakiththi Thero worked closely to brand the ancient remains at Naayaa'ru, possibly the traces of Mahayana Tamil Buddhist heritage, as traces of Sinhala Theravada Buddhism at Naayaa'ru.

Kolamba Medhalankara Thero, who was installed to carry out the task, was advancing the expansion plan.

A poster prepared by Kolamba Medhalankara Thero illustrates the ‘plan of Gurukanda Ancient Temple’. The poster was recently put-up at the vicinity.

The ‘plan’ lists 23 installations, from the name board to ‘unexcavated’ stupas, which are to be constructed further.



Another extremist monk, Sri Thissapura Gunarathna Thero, based in Kokku'laay, south of Naayaa'ru, is also unyielding to the demands of the local authorities, the NPC and even the interim order of the SL justice system. Gunarathana thero has been putting up a Sinhala Buddhist vihara at Kokku'laay, occupying the lands of a Saiva temple and the lands belonging to a Tamil family.

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