Prayer meeting held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 February 2001, 14:15 GMT]
A large number Tamil orphaned children participated in an inter-religious prayer meeting at the Hindu Cultural Hall in Trincomalee Wednesday morning, organised by the Graduates' Union in the eastern town. The meeting was held to urge the Sri Lankan Government to take immediate steps to stop the war and to initiate peace moves to alleviate the sufferings of the people. These children are inmates of 'Anbu Illam', and 'Thapovanam', two main institutions in the eastern town, dedicated to maintaining children who have lost their parents and relatives in the ongoing war.

Ven. Mahindavanse Thera of Mihindupra Buddhist Vihare, Brmaa Shri S.Ravichandra- Kurukkal of Pathirakaliamman Temple, Moulavi Alhaj Rastedden of Grand Mosque and Rev.Fr.Ignatius gave their blessings to the event.

Ven.Mahindavanse Thera said "the mistrust prevailing between the two warring parties should be eliminated, and this could be done only through peaceful talks."

"It is high time for the peace loving people to press the parties concerned to stop the war inorder to create a conducive climate to start peace talks", he added.

Trincomalee District Graduates Union President K.Muralitharan presided at the meeting.

At the conclusion of the prayer meeting, it was announced that a memorandum with the signatures of the participants would be sent to the President of Sri Lanka and the High Commissioner for Britain on behalf of the public of Trincomalee.

The memorandum states that unless peace is brought to reign in this war-torn country, the sufferings of the masses would go on without an end, which in the end would be disastrous for all Sri Lankans.

"Therefore, we earnestly appeal to Your Excellency to take such measures as necessary to wean this country away from it's present situation where there is no hope for survival for the affected sections of the population" states the memorandum sent to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge.

Several leading citizens of Trincomalee including Mr.R.Sampanthan, Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberated Front and the former Member of Parliament for Trincomalee district, representatives of all Tamil political parties and officials of the Northeast provincial council participated in the prayer meeting for peace.