Colombo (AsiaNews) – The Commission for Justice and Peace (JPC) of the Diocese of Jaffna has been demanding for some time that the authorities respect the 2002 cease-fire, shed light on several murders and disappearances that have occurred in the area, and re-open land routes to the Jaffna peninsula. It has sent the same requests in a letter to the Pope on the eve of a meeting between the Holy Father and Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse.
The Sri Lankan leader is in Rome with an important delegation of Catholic politicians from the former Ceylon to take part in the celebrations marking the second anniversary of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. The Pontiff will receive the Sri Lankan president in an audience tomorrow.
In a letter to the Holy Father, Jaffna’s JPC said that it was submitting “a few points for your information and kind attention” concerning certain problems that afflict the country.
For the Commission it is necessary to reopen “the land route (A9) [. . .] if necessary under international monitoring” because it is the only road linking Jaffna and the rest of the island and the only land corridor for the delivery of humanitarian aid. The letter also calls on the Pope “to request the presence of UN Human Rights Commission observers in the country” in order to investigate the many disappearances that have gone unpunished.
In 2006 alone, 583 people vanished, including a young Catholic priest, Fr Jim Brown, who disappeared on August 20 at an army check point.
Human Rights Watch mentioned Father Brown’s case in a letter to the Pope asking the Holy Father to use the meeting to press Rajapakse to stop the escalation of violence, including murders, in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka.
Since Rajapakse came to power a year and half ago, violent clashes have increased in number and intensity bringing to an end the 2002 cease-fire.
Beginning in August 2006, Benedict XVI on four separate occasions has condemned the violence, calling upon the parties, army and Tamil rebels, to seek a diplomatic solution, Mgr Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio to Sri Lanka, told AsiaNews.
In a statement, the Sri Lankan government said that “President Rajapaksa will meet Holy Father with the aim of to garnering international support for government’s efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict through a negotiated settlement.”
The Vatican visit has however raised doubts in the local Catholic community as to the president’s motives. Many see it as an attempt by Rajapakse to gain Vatican support in his fight against Tamil Tiger rebels by trying to convince Vatican authorities to accept the government’s version of the inter-ethnic conflict.
Fr Reid Shelton Fernando, chaplain to the Young Christian Workers Movement and the Christian Workers Movement, said that if the goal was to inform Benedict XVI about the situation and confirm the government’s willingness to end it, Catholic representatives from non-governmental parties should have been included.
Others openly wonder whether the goal was propaganda-related, asking themselves why no Catholic leader from the Tamil minority was invited.
Whatever the case may be, many are looking forward, hopeful, to Benedict XVI’S meeting tomorrow with the Sri Lankan president.
“In addition to a meeting between two heads of state, it will also be a spiritual experience which one hopes will contribute to peace.”