2009-08-17 14:42:12

Catholic leaders urge Sri Lankan Tamils' release


(August 17, 2009) Sri Lanka's Catholic leaders on Saturday called for the release of ethnic Tamils held in military-run displacement camps, saying they are confined like prisoners behind barbed wire. The leaders made the appeal during the annual August 15th feast of the Assumption of Mary at the island's holiest Catholic shrine of Madhu in the former northern war zone. The government lifted a blockade on the Our Lady of Madhu shrine the day before to allow pilgrims to hold their annual feast there, a sign the north was returning to normal after the May defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels, who fought for 25 years for an independent homeland alleging discrimination and marginalization by the Sinhalese majority. But while an estimated 100,000 gathered for the feast of Our Lady of Madhu on Saturday, the nearby villages stood empty, their residents stuck in displacement camps, among the 300,000 other Tamil civilians who escaped from the war zone. Bishop Thomas Soundaranayagam of the nearby Jaffna diocese complained the people of the area were not there at the feast as they were all in refugee camps behind barbed wire like prisoners. Heavy rains began two months ahead of monsoon season in northern Sri Lanka, battering camp residents living in tents and makeshift shelters. Aid workers say water is scarce in the camps and disease spreads quickly. Colombo’s new archbishop, Malcolm Ranjith, called on the authorities to begin resettling the people. “This a beautiful occasion but there are some people who have not been able to come here,” he said. “If they had come this feast would have been much more beautiful and an occasion of unity” archbishop Ranjith added.








All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.