[mukto-mona] Media Release- Jaffna Conference17/12/07

National Peace Council
of Sri Lanka
12/14 Purana Vihara Road
Colombo 6
Tel:  2818344, 2854127, 2819064
Tel/Fax:2819064
                   E Mail:  npc@sltnet.lk
Internet:  www.peace-srilanka.org

17.12.07

Media Release

Religious Leaders Call for Peace

Senior religious leaders from Sri Lanka and a high-level multi-religious delegation of the World Conference of Religions for Peace from six other countries (Cambodia, Japan, Norway, Pakistan, South Africa and the United States) met in Jaffna on December 12-13, 2007 for an Inter Religious Summit on Peace in Sri Lanka. The meeting was organized by the World Conference of Religions for Peace, its Sri Lankan counterpart, the National Conference of Religions for Peace and the National Peace Council, and is one of a series of meetings to support the formation of an inter-religious council that includes the religious leadership from across Sri Lanka. Future meetings are planned in the near future for Kandy and Trincomalee.

The decision to make Jaffna the location of the first meeting was to express solidarity with all those who continue to live in situations of violence and despair due to the ongoing conflict. The National Peace Council wishes to acknowledge the cooperation received from the government, and the Defence Ministry, to fly the international participants and several of the local participants to Jaffna.

As an outcome of their experiences in Jaffna and deliberations at the conference, the participants identified peace building efforts in several important areas. They urged positive action on the part of the international community by the reactivation of the donor co-chairs, and the enhancement of Japan and Norway's facilitative roles, to re-open the path for fresh negotiations between the government and LTTE, and by the provision of increased development assistance to reconstruct the war-torn areas, empower local community groups, rebuild the livelihoods of war-affected people and strengthen the national economy

The religious leaders also expressed their support for all initiatives aimed at bringing the ongoing war to an end through an immediate cessation of hostilities, preparing of political proposals by the government in consultation with all parties, including the Tamil political parties, propagating the need for a power-sharing constitutional framework in which people enjoy the political right to develop their communities, opening of all roads, including the A9 highway to Jaffna, and resettling of all displaced persons, including the Muslim community of the north, with their consent, and improving internal trade and marketing between the north east and south, which will build goodwill between communities and reduce economic pressures.

In addition, they called for an immediate end to the use of claymore mines, artillery firing and bombings that have targeted civilians, forced conscription of children and adults into armed groups, abductions, disappearances, extortions and extra-judicial killings of civilians, harassment of Tamil people through draconian provisions of the law that permit arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention and forced resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in locations not of their choice.

A declaration containing these recommendations and others was agreed to by the religious leaders who subsequently met with the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and also with several political leaders belonging to the government and opposition. Please see the full text of the declaration below.


Executive Director
On behalf of the Governing Council

Jaffna Declaration of Religious Leaders
Jaffna, Sri Lanka, December 13, 2007


Statement Issued at Conclusion of the International Summit of Religious Leaders
on Peace in Sri Lanka

Religious leaders from Sri Lanka and six other countries (Cambodia, Japan, Norway, Pakistan, South Africa and the United States) met in Jaffna for an Inter Religious Summit on Peace in Sri Lanka on December 12-13, 2007. The meeting was organized by the World Conference of Religions for Peace in partnership with the National Conference of Religions for Peace and the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka.

The Religions for Peace network, which is active in over 70 countries and five major geographical regions, includes a World Council of senior religious leaders from all parts of the world who work to counter violence through multi-religious cooperation.

We were encouraged by the presence in Jaffna of Mr Yasushi Akashi, Special Envoy of the Government of Japan, who addressed the meeting and referred to the irreplaceable value of the religious leadership in peace making.

The decision to make Jaffna the location of the Summit was to express solidarity with all those who continue to live in situations of violence and despair due to the ongoing conflict. The venue of the meeting was the Jaffna Public Library, which was burned down in 1981 in the course of the conflict and rebuilt nearly two decades later to be a testament to a new era of peace and national reconciliation, which is still to dawn.

The ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka continues to lead to destruction and suffering on a large scale that cannot be confined to any one part of the country or to any one ethnic or religious community. Members of the religious clergy too, have paid with their lives, for being close to their people and heeding their call for peace and justice. All of Sri Lanka and all Sri Lankans have paid a very high price in terms of lives lost, economic opportunities foregone and in the weakening of the moral fabric of society.

During the period of the Summit we experienced first hand the difficulties of travel to and from Jaffna. We saw the massive destruction of infrastructure and housing that occurred in previous phases of fighting, the loss of villages and fertile agricultural lands to High Security Zones, and the fear and insecurity in the lives of the people, especially youth, which is dehumanizing to all those affected. The sound of artillery firing, testimonials of daily killings and disappearances, the very large military presence in the city and the nighttime curfew provides added motivation to our work for peace in Sri Lanka.

As religious leaders with extensive experience in peace making in other parts of the world, we urge a renewed search for a non-violent solution to the ongoing conflict. We do not accept that there can be victory through a military solution or that war can bring peace. On the contrary, as religious leaders, we believe that violence begets violence and hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love.

As an outcome of our experiences in Jaffna and our deliberations at the Summit we are committed to focusing our peace building efforts in the following areas:

1. Civilian Protection

We call for an immediate end to the

i) use of claymore mines, artillery firing and bombings that have targeted civilians
ii) forced conscription of children an adults into armed groups
iii) abductions, disappearances, extortions and extra-judicial killings of civilians
iv) harassment of Tamil people through draconian provisions of the law that permit arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention
v) forced resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in locations not of their choice


2. Peace Promotion

We will support all initiatives aimed at bringing the ongoing war to an end through

i) an immediate cessation of hostilities
ii) preparing of political proposals by the government in consultation with all parties, including the Tamil political parties
iii) propagating the need for a power-sharing constitutional framework in which people enjoy the political right to develop their communities
iv) opening of all roads, including the A9 highway to Jaffna, and resettling of all displaced persons, including the Muslim community of the north, with their consent
v) improving internal trade and marketing between the north east and south, which will build goodwill between communities and reduce economic pressures


3. International Community

We urge positive action on the part of the international community by the

i) reactivation of the donor co-chairs, and the enhancement of Japan and Norway's facilitative roles, to re-open the path for fresh negotiations between the government and LTTE
ii) provision of increased development assistance to reconstruct the war-torn areas, empower local community groups, rebuild the livelihoods of war-affected people and strengthen the national economy


4. Religious Community

We, as religious leaders, pledge to

i) ground ourselves and concientise our communities on the basis of the values of peace, justice, reconciliation, forgiveness and repentance
ii) engage in an awareness creating, observation and monitoring role as a support group in a renewed peace process
iii) take inspiration from the declaration of the Mahanayakes of the Buddhist Sangha in Tokyo in June 2002 to support the peace process and to build a united Sri Lanka for all communities
iv) welcome international religious leaders, especially from countries with a Buddhist tradition, to join hands with religious leaders in Sri Lanka in working for peace
v) request the World Conference of Religions for Peace to facilitate a process by which religious leaders directly meet and lobby with the parties to the conflict.

Despite nearly three decades of loss of innocent lives, agonizing suffering and dehumanizing of society, each of our religions call us in hope to believe that peace is possible. We commit ourselves to work together in hope for healing, justice and peace.




Formal Presenters at the Summit

International Religious Leaders

His Holiness Tep Vong, Great Supreme Patriarch, Cambodia
Dr. William F. Vendley, Secretary General, Religions for Peace International, United States
H.E. Mr. Yasushi Akashi,  Special Representative, Government of Japan
Ms. Ela Gandhi, Founder, Gandhi Development Trust, South Africa
Dr. Mir Nawaz Khan Marwat, Moderator, Asian Conference of Religions for Peace, Pakistan
Rev. Dr. Tomonobu M. Shinozaki,  President, Rissho Kosei-kai Gakurin Seminary
Rev. Vebjørn L. Horsfjord, General Secretary, European Council of Religious Leaders, Norway
Mr. Kyoichi Sugino, Assistant Secretary General Religions for Peace International, Japan
Ven. Yon Seng Yeath,  Assistant to His Holiness Tep Vong, Cambodia      


Sri Lankan Religious Leaders

Most Venerable Kotugoda Dhammawasa Thero, Secretary General, Amarapura Maha Nikaya
Ven. Baddegama Samitha, Chief Incumbent, Sripatha Chaityaramaya, Baddegama and former Member of Parliament
Ven. Athkandawaka Saddhajeewa Thero, Deputy Secretary, Sasanarakhsana Mandalaya
Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Vianney Fernando, Bishop of Kandy & President, Catholic Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka
Most Rev. Dr Thomas Savundaranayagam, Bishop of Jaffna
Most Rev. Dr  Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannar
Rt. Revd. Kumara Illangasinghe, Bishop of Kurunegala
Sri Ganasambantha Paramacharya Swami Somasundara, Chief Incumbent, Adheenam, Nallur
Kurukal Karthikeja Santhirasegara Sarma, International Secretary, Hindu Priest. Organization, Jaffna
Ramachandra Iyer Vivapandian, President, Hindu Religious Leaders Federation
Mrs. Sivanandani Duraiswamy, President, Saiva Mangaiyar Kalagam
Al Haj Mahumood Alim Abdullah, President, Muslim Theologians Association
Shaul Hameed Adam Bawa, President, Jameyyathul Ulama, Ampara and Eastern Province
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