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Sinhala extremist monks assault Tamils, say Buddhism stands above Law in Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 September 2019, 18:38 GMT]
A group of violent Sinhala Buddhist monks and a mob led by Bodu Bala Sena’s Secretary Gnanasara Thero, carried the remains of the late Kolamba Medhalankara Thero to cremate the controversial monk within the premises of the Tamil Saivite temple at Neeraaviyadi in Mullaiththeevu. They were violating the court ruling that specified a separate locality to mark the ritual. “Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. Buddhism stands above the Law here,” proclaimed one of the Buddhist monks, who assaulted the Tamil lawyers and the students near the Neeraaviyadi Pi’l’ laiyaar temple at Naayaa’ru in Mullaiththeevu on Monday. The lawyers were present to convey the information. Elected Tamil politicians and the young generation of Tamil students were witnessing the lopsided behaviour of the SL military and the police, who were only defending the interests of the monks.



The monks along with a group of SLA soldiers and Sinhala colonists from Ma’nal-aa’ru (Weli-Oya) went ahead with their plan of cremating the remains of the perished monk besides the water-cutting pond of Pazhaiya Chemmalai Neeraaviyadi Pi’l’ laiyaar temple.

The Acting Magistrate of Mullaiththeevu Courts N. Suthaharan had issued an interim order on Saturday night suspending the cremation of the late monk as the SL military was planning to cremate the remains of the monk within the premises of Pazhaiya Chemmalai Neeraaviyadi Pi’l’ laiyaar temple on Sunday.

Both the sides met at the courts on Monday. After three hours of intense hearings, the Magistrate ruled that the cremation could not be carried out inside the temple premises or close to the temple as it would be an act of desecration according to the Hindu traditions.



The cremation could take place on the opposite side of the temple, along the coast beyond the SL military camp, the ruling stated.

The remains should be relocated after the cremation, and there should be no monuments erected at the venue aftermath the ritual, the ruling further said.

However, the monks and the Sinhala mob were not prepared to respect the court order. The SL police were providing security to them.

“We know that the legal system of the unitary state doesn’t protect the interests of the Tamils. However, there are some courts where justice prevails. Today, we experienced that the monks could override even those as the SL constitution provides the foremost place to Buddhism in the island,” commented former NPC Councillor Thurairajah Ravikaran to TamilNet.



The future generation of the Tamils, including the students of the Jaffna University who were present at the site today, is not going to be passive witnesses watching this trend, he said.

Four Tamil lawyers, Sugash Kanagaratnam, V. Manivannan, Mr Subahar and Mr Ganesh, went to the locality at the request of opposite side to explain the ruling.

Mr Kanagaratnam, one of the three lawyers who faced the violence, Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian Mrs Shanthy Sriskandarajah who witnessed the unfolding episode near the temple and the former NPC Councillor from Mullaiththeevu who attended the court session, narrate the incident in detail in their voice comments to TamilNet below:











Chronology: