Five Catholic priests detained in Sri Lanka refugee camps

by Suranee | June 3, 2009 at 03:18 am

498 views | 20 Recommendations | 26 comments

Five Catholic priests of Tamil origin are being held in refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka.

The Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundaranayagam has written to the Ministry of Defense asking for their release. They were rescued by the military from the war zone but were sent to refugee camps where their being detained.

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (UCAN) -- Five Tamil Catholic priests who were trapped in the war zone remain detained in refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka.

Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam of Jaffna confirms this. "They were rescued by the military from the war zone," he told UCA News on June 1. "They worked for the people. They should be sent to Jaffna."

The bishop said he had written to the Ministry of Defense five days earlier asking for the release of the priests. He added that Catholics in general as well as parents of the detained priests are concerned and shocked by the situation.

The Bishop said both the Sri lanka government and the LTTE were responsible for the deaths of the civilians and criticized Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse for launching the final attack that "brought so much suffering."

He stated that the casualties are due to the heavy artillery and shell fire that was used by both sides of the battle, and he criticized Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse for launching the final attack that "brought so much suffering."

The five priests are detained in Vavuniya.

The five priests remain in Vavuniya, the site of four relief camps and a former gateway to the northern war zone.

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sudharaka

at 04:50 on June 3rd, 2009

What about the priests of the other faiths? Who is going to speak on their behalf? Are they not worthy of being mentioned? The GoSL is doing an outstanding job in the relief effort for 300,000 so the publicity stunts like this are best kept at mnimum.

Uwe Paschen

at 06:31 on June 3rd, 2009

sudharaka, I think you need to clarify you comment, what would be the publicity stunt in reporting news?

If you have any more information or sources please do add those here. After all this is a News site.

Truth and objectivity are always welcome.

sudharaka

at 08:36 on June 3rd, 2009

Well, a Bishop speaking on behalf of just 5 of 300,000 people (a staggering 0.0017%) is nothing but a shabby joke. This is the type of "truth" that is used to undermine the relief effort the GoSL is engaged in.

Uwe Paschen

at 10:14 on June 3rd, 2009

Good point in deed and not very Priest like to act that way.

lalith

at 10:23 on June 3rd, 2009

Well, where were these Catholic Priests before they escaped the clutches of Late Prabhakaran? I am sure that these priests will be released to continue with their God's work.

This will not happen until these Catholic priests are thoroughly interrogated, for there is a long history of Catholic and priest of other denominations helping the LTTE.

Church's Connection with LTTE Through the Eyes of a Catholic

My dear Cardinal, let me tell you as a devout self-critical Christian,
that if the majority of Sri Lankans mistrust the Christian Churches in
general and the Catholic Church in particular, it is not a surprise at
all. The reasons are as follows:

· It was Sri Lanka’s Anglican primate who once notoriously said that
the abominable LTTE leader Prabhakaran was a humane person;

· The Bishop of Mannar, Rev Rayappu continually criticised our heroic
forces but never had a bad word about the LTTE. He distorted
information and lied about the situation in Mannar and Madu Church
making it extremely difficult for the Sri Lankan forces to liberate
the areas;

· A Catholic Priest in Jaffna who went on International TV (I watched
it from here) explained why he supported the LTTE: “I was a Tamil before I became a Catholic”, he brazenly said;

Hiranya Malwatta

at 12:22 on June 3rd, 2009

While I agree that there were and are so many incidents like the above stated, I don't think this in any way reflect the general sentiment of the Catholic Church nor how it operates.

(I'm really not sure about the Anglican and Christian churches though, communities connected to the Anglican and Christian churches in Sri Lanka are relatively small in size and very closely knit. Also those communities act as a whole more often than not.)

However I don't think it is a very good idea for anyone to generalize the sentiments of the Catholic Church because of the activities of some. A considerable percentage of Sri Lankans are Catholics and are well intergrated into the rest of the society. Also I know very many Catholic priests - they are truly Sri Lankan.

On the same note, it is definitely not a good idea to generalize all Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka according to 1 or 2 who are questionable, or even according to some 100 young university-going monks who participate in rallies and act rebellious. (Have see so many posts attacking Buddhist monks on NP, usually by the same persons.)

Sri Lanka does not need religious wars. As if a many decades long ethnic conflict was not enough...

lalith

at 12:24 on June 3rd, 2009

Agreed Hiranya.

The bull point in the argument of this post is that the priests will be released - only after interrogation. They will be safe.

sudharaka

at 17:05 on June 3rd, 2009

Well said Hiranya, well said.
It is quite pathetic to see the sinister attempts to create another ethno-religious split during a time at which cohabitation and reconciliation are the order of the day.

sudharaka

at 17:08 on June 3rd, 2009

…repeat post…

lalith

at 11:13 on June 3rd, 2009

Friday, 8 February 2008

Police investigating the seizure of suicide jackets in Mabole,
Wattala on February 1, two days prior to the Independence Day
celebrations, have arrested 3 Christian priests from a
fundamentalist religious sect and recovered many suicide kits.

Under interrogation the priests have confessed that they had brought
down 30 suicide cadres from Mannar to Kandy and Nuwara-eliya. They
had also accepted that they had transported several suicide kits and weapons to these areas.

The Pastor had divulged that he had dropped four more people in
Matale and Nuwara Eliya prior to his arrival at Mabole to drop two
other people on February 1. The suicide jackets they brought to
Mabole had been given to them by a person from Nuwara Eliya.

Police who conducted further investigations into the incident also
revealed that the priest identified as Nagulan had transported arms
to Colombo concealed inside the seats of his van earlier too. After
searching the Church at Pahankammukotte in Mannar Forces had
recovered three suicide kits, two claymore mines and three magnet
bombs.

These investigations indicate that the LTTE is using all possible
means to create mayhem in Colombo and bring pressure on the
Government to put a stop on the military thrust on the Wanni front.
It also indicate how they were shrewdly operating to smuggle suicide
jackets taking the assistance of Christian priests from
fundementalist religious sects.

Hiranya Malwatta

at 12:37 on June 3rd, 2009

Here is a News item about a Priest from the No Fire Zone who recruited children for the LTTE. So if this is true, then there is reason for them not to be released.

A group of parents who came to the military on March 27 had revealed a shocking story about a priest, who was living among them in the ‘no fire zone’ in Puthumatalan, and helped the Tamil Tigers to forcibly recruit more than 550 underage children.

According to a mother (whose name cannot be revealed due to security reasons) parents of some 600 children had sent their children to a church located in Walayarmadam, just south of Puthumatalan in order to protect them from the LTTE’s continuing forcible recruitment of underage children and teenagers.

A priest had promised the parents that he would not allow the LTTE to take their children and would take care of them. But on March 24, a large group of LTTE cadres, most of them female cadres had appeared in the area. Soon the parents, who were in the vicinity, had informed the priest about the LTTE’s arrival.

But,he had told the parents to let them come as he would not allow them to take the children away. However when the LTTE cadres entered the premises and ordered the children to go with them the priest had disappeared from the location, leaving the LTTE to do whatever they want.

Several teenagers in the church had tried to attack the LTTE cadres, but some 550 children were forcibly taken away by the Tigers in vehicles. Some fifty teenagers had been able to run away and save their life. Most of the parents had started to attack the LTTE cadres, who in turn had brutally assaulted the parents.

One of the grandmothers, who spoke to the Daily Mirror over the phone, said that she was able to save her 17-year-old grandson after she dragged away one of the female LTTE cadres who tried to capture her grandson. Using the opportunity, the grandson had run away and now the entire family had come to the cleared area.

She also said that most of those parents are still at the church awaiting the return of their sons and daughters, though they had a chance to escape to the cleared areas.

Babel-Fish

at 07:08 on June 4th, 2009

Something could be wrong with the facts here, it would seem more likely that the priest had made the promise. But its a good bet that the said priest had a few guns pointed at him or even fired at, not everyone can be a hero.

I can not believe the priest was recruiting for the LTTE, but I can believe that some of the non christian members that had children taken away would or could of made a story up to blame a priest that had no option but to do what the LTTE wanted him to do.

I am an atheist so don't think that I am siding for a religious intent. Its just the story does not look logical to me.

Suranee

at 07:48 on June 4th, 2009

There is a possibility Babel-Fish, that could be the reason the priest did as he did.

Some here in Sri lanka blame the Christian groups that were based in the conflict zone for helping the LTTE. So just like a few Islamic groups have been blamed for terrorism in certain parts of the world, a few Christian groups have also been blamed for aiding the LTTE here. It is said that Prabhakaran converted to Christianity and that is one reason why he allowed the Churches in the LTTE controlled areas to function without any harm coming to them.

lalith

at 07:56 on June 4th, 2009

Good one Suranee.

israeli.agent

at 09:12 on June 4th, 2009

I was wondering..

What will happen if one of the Sri Lankan muslim leaders - who were conveniently "rehabilitated" by LTTE in the past - take a cue from the Bishop and decide to do something about that? A kind of repayment with interest to whoverver they think are LTTE supporters in the tamil diaspora and elsewhere? Can anyone for a moment think that why such situation did not arise?

Not a pretty thing to happen, methinks. Eels should thank their lucky stars that such a development did not happen so far. But if one religious leader start this - play "trailblazer " game - it is certain that pretty soon the whole landscape turn into a religious quagmire from which absolutely no one will be able to escape.

It is just a question of using minimum common sense. Especailly at difficult times like this.

.Agent.

senthil5000

at 17:00 on June 3rd, 2009

For Sri Lanka, all doctors are terrorists, all humanatarians are terrorists, all priests are terrorists, all children are terrorists ... the only reason is all those are tamils. Instead they could say frankly all tamils are terrorists and kill them all along with those 20,000 ...

Suranee

at 18:55 on June 3rd, 2009

It does seem that way Senthil, because they are Tamil that some of them are considered terrorists. And some of those who are helping the Tamils in whatever way they can seem to be labeled as terrorist supporters. A good example is aid workers, priests and doctors as you've mentioned. Some of them have been accused of being supporters of the LTTE.

lalith

at 19:30 on June 3rd, 2009

senthil,

In the height of your frustration, you have brought out the Tamil card, obviously barking up the wrong tree.

This may looks like reader instigation on your part. Being many miles away from Sri Lanka (as per your profile), you may not be aware that there are over a million Tamils living in Colombo and its suburbs. All races in these areas live in harmony, without a problem. It will be good if you could bring up these points too once in a way.

What ever profession it may be, including free lance writers who contribute to news sites, a person who supports and helps the terrorists is a terrorist. I don't think anybody contributing to NP has stated that all Tamils are terrorists, especially because it is WRONG.

There are many professionals in the North and the East doing great work towards the welfare of IDPs and other Tamil people in the area. Most of them are Tamil. I have not heard anybody labeling them as terrorists.

So, we must all remember and accept that all Tamils (in fact, a very very high percentage) are not terrorists but all LTTE terrorists (sans a 0.5% deducted as a margin of error) are/were Tamils.

Suranee, good comment on your part as the producer of this story and moderator. You being in Sri Lanka, I'm sure you see a clearer picture than senthil..

senthil5000

at 20:00 on June 3rd, 2009

Lalith, i am not barking here. I see your sudden sympathy to tamil as crocodile tears. The reason is you have never told a single word when those huge number of tamils are brutally killed in the war. That didnt qualify you to talk for tamils.

I dono how you came up with the funny number 0.5 % of tamils are terrorists.

CeeGee

at 01:11 on June 4th, 2009

Really! Do you really advocate this? Can you be quoted for this new angle? I don't really think the tamils living in Sri Lanka will appreciate your point of view.

Do you realize what you just said surmounts to GENOCIDE. I think that too is one of your favourite words.

lalith

at 20:18 on June 3rd, 2009

Ask Tamilnet about the funny number.

So, you want me to take out the 0.5 % also?

Don't talk too much about crocodile tears. It's like the 'Pot calling the Kettle Black'.

Why don' you come down to Sri Lanka? You can certainly be my guest in my humble abode. We can check out together as to what is really going on. I am serious.

sivakaran

at 08:33 on June 4th, 2009

Sri Lankan government: killing all the Tamils is our ultimate plan, but you shouldn't say that aloud. We will systematically and "democratically" do it so that the world continues to be blinded by our propaganda.

israeli.agent

at 09:01 on June 4th, 2009

"...you shouldn't say that aloud...."

How about wispering that plan out?

.Agent.

sathyajith

at 09:19 on June 4th, 2009

sivakaran

You are so great that you came behind this plan! wow! All the world is blind and you are the one who see and understand clearly

wow!.... wow!......

lalith

at 09:26 on June 4th, 2009

Says who? From where did you get the information?

Snap out of your dream Siva.

I know what you are stating is wrong. However, the SL Govt. will not spare terrorists. If you can remember, there WAS a group of ruthless terrorist sloths called the LTTE. What happened to them?

Tamils are our brothers and sisters. TERRORISTS ARE NOT!