Learn from the past, look forward with hope, say Church leaders

Published Date: May 20, 2009

Church leaders have urged all Sri Lankans to put the 25-year civil war behind them and look to the future with hope.

Archbishop Oswald Gomis of Colombo:
‘We have to leave the sad and bitter memories of the past and look
positively and optimistically towards
the future in hope.’ (File photo)

State president Mahinda Rajapakse declared the end of war in parliament on May 19.

“We have to leave the sad and bitter memories of the past and look positively and optimistically towards the future in hope,” Archbishop Oswald Gomis of Colombo said on national television that day. “We all have to share the blame for our divisions and forgive each other. We should have the humility and wisdom to learn from the past.”

The archbishop delivered the message to his countrymen as many celebrated the ending of the war between the government and Tamil separatists in the north.

He congratulated the state president for his leadership and thanked the state forces for their commitment and self-sacrifice. He also expressed his deepest sympathies for innocent civilians killed.

His message was echoed by other Christian leaders.

“We will have to look at past mistakes to learn” new lessons, said Bishop Duleep de Chickera on May 20. “Leaders in particular will be called upon to set new standards.”

He said it was essential to address the grievances of all communities, to eliminate fear and suspicion, and restore peoples´ confidence in law, order and good governance.

Some, however, feel it is too early to tell if peace will result.

“The war mentality is still there. As a Tamil priest, I feel that peace has not yet come,” said Anglican priest Father Marimuththu Sathivel of St Michael´s church in Colombo. He added that Christians have a duty to work for the displaced.

In Jaffna, not far from the heaviest fighting and the last stand of the rebel forces of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the new reality is yet to sink in.

“The end of war is a relief but what has the war left us?” Father Genolton Vijintus Rajanayagam, the secretary to the bishop of embattled Jaffna diocese, asked.

“Loss of life, the wounded, the displaced. It is unimaginable what has happened here,” the priest said over the phone. “First we have to address the grievances of our people.”

He said the Jaffna bishop is preparing to receive the body of Father Sarathjeevan, the parish priest of Uruthrapuram, a village in the battle zone. He died of a heart attack while fleeing with people on May 18 in Kilinochchi.

Another priest is missing. Oblate Father Edmund Reginald Saviripillai, of the Center for Counseling in Kilinochchi has not been heard of since May 14.

Jaffna diocese and neighboring Mannar diocese bore the brunt of the heaviest fighting. The region is awash with grisly stories from 250,000 displaced Tamil civilians, who fled the battle zone and are now housed in refugee camps in Mannar, Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee.

Among them are people who watched their homes burn, or saw their parents or children killed. Some have been on the run from the crisis since January and are still anxiously awaiting news of the fate of their relatives.

Civilians dead and wounded in the final battle are still being brought in by troops.

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