Jaffna Bishop appeals for urgent intervention of International Community

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2006, 19:12 GMT]
"Tamil people are gripped with fear and insecurity due to the alarming escalation in Killings and abductions in NorthEast, including Jaffna, and in the South. People are scared of a major war exploding at any time. I appeal to the International Community to urgently intervene to pressure the parties involved to reduce the threat of war. In particular, the warring parties should be pressured to a implement the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) as agreed by both parties in Geneva," said Bishop of Jaffna, Rev. Fr Thomas Soundaranayagam, speaking to press in Colombo, Sunday.

Jaffna Bishop was in Colombo to attend a conference of Catholic Churches.

"Several Tamils have been arrested during search operations by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna. Human Rights violations are rampant. International community cannot be simple observers of this unacceptable situation.

"International Community was agressively supporting Ranil Wickremesinghe's sessation of hostilities with the facilitation of Norway. We had four years of relative peace," the Bishop said.

"From the time Mr Wickremesinghe lost power to the time of Sri Lanka's Presidential elections violence was an upsurge in violence. After Mr Mahinda Rajapakse was elected Sri Lanka's President, we experienced a small window of peace. Then violence incidents began to soar. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the collaborating paramilitaries unleased violence in NorthEast. Claymore attacks on the SLA killed many soldiers. The situation has continued unabated," said the Bishop.

The Bishop urged the International community to review why the agreements made by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers at six talks during the Wickremesinghe's government, and at the Geneva talks in March have not been implemented by the parties. Internal community should exercise options beyond simply pressuring the parties to attend talks, the Bishop said.