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15.4.2008
By Prasad GUNEWARDENE

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI would distinctly remember the audience he had with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Vatican last year. The Sri Lankan President met the Pope to stress the need to declare the Madhu Church area a Peace Zone and talks centred on that important subject.

President Rajapaksa during that audience stressed the need to establish a safe route to this historic place of religious worship by the Catholics. He told the Pope that it was his desire to restore the glorious religious atmosphere that earlier prevailed in the precincts of the Madhu Church and the surroundings of that historic place.

Following the President's audience with the Pope, millions of Catholics countrywide were jubilant of the news of a Peace Zone in and around the Madhu Church which was in the offing to be declared by the State.

Accordingly, on his return, President Mahinda Rajapaksa met the Catholics Bishops on July 30, 2007 at Temple Trees to convey the sentiments expressed by Pope Benedict and of the plan to declare the Madhu Church area as a Peace Zone.

The Bishops were delighted over the concern of the President to safeguard the religious site. Accordingly, the Government of President Rajapaksa declared the Madhu Church area a Peace Zone after extensive discussions with the Bishop of Mannar, Rev.Rayappu Joseph. The Bishop mediated between the State and the LTTE and convinced the LTTE to follow suit. All that happened last year.
LTTE build up

The LTTE which does not uphold any pledge they have made, moved away and began to infiltrate the Madhu Church area to build up terrorist bases to attack the Government troops.

Now, after forcing the Catholic Bishop and the Priests to move the Sacred Madhu Shrine away from the church to an uncleared location, the ruthless LTTE sent a letter signed by its' so called Political Head Nadesan to the Norwegian Government last week seeking Norway's help to protect the Shrine.

The Shrine had been taken to a LTTE area. Then, the question of seeking Norwegian or any other country's assistance to protect the Shrine does not arise. And the LTTE should be held responsible if any damage is caused to the holy Shrine.

Norway must now ask the LTTE as to why the LTTE broke the truce with regard to the Peace Zone that was in existence in the Madhu Church area. And not act as the God Father of the LTTE as they have done in the past.

Norwegian authorities should focus attention on the letter addressed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by the Bishop of Mannar, Rev.Rayappu Joseph on April 7, 2008. The Bishop has clearly stated -"The LTTE are making use of the Shrine area defying our repeated appeals and continue to engage the Sri Lanka Army from the jungle adjoining the Shrine".

The Bishop had further stated that the Sacred Statue is now stationed safely in the only Parish that functions in the uncleared area of the Mannar District out of seven Parishes.

He has also copied a letter sent to LTTE's Political Head Nadesan, pleading with the latter to keep away from the Madhu premises.

The Sacred Madhu Shrine is now at Thevanpiddi Church, at the border of the Mannar Diocese, which is an uncleared area. Bishop Rayappu Joseph had asserted that he would not takes sides but would only stand for truth and justice regarding the issue.

The LTTE known for playing double games over the past three decades began to occupy parts of the Madhu Church sanctuary to launch artillery attacks on troops. The troops have dismissed and rejected the LTTE claim that it fired on the church and had described the LTTE propaganda as a strategy to gain international sympathy.

The troops so far have not fired a single bullet towards the holy complex. It is clear as a crystal that the LTTE infiltrated the church and the surroundings and started to damage the road leading to the church to prevent retaliatory action on ground.

Instead, the troops brought to the notice of the Bishop of Mannar the manoeuvrings and the motives of the LTTE quite in advance following ground reports on LTTE activity in the area.

The LTTE motive and plan was to force evict the Shrine and the Priests to put the blame on Government troops. The intelligence authorities discovered the LTTE strategy well in advance to keep the Mannar Diocese informed of the impending danger posed by LTTE terrorists.

While troops acted with much restraint without even firing a bullet towards the Church area, the LTTE forced the Church to move the Shrine out to an uncleared area and asked the clergy to vacate the church.

By then, the terrorists had armed themselves to the teeth to fire at troops located outside the Peace Zone of the church. The roads leading to the Peace Zone were badly damaged with some dredged to prevent troop movement on ground. This claim is well substantiated by video tape evidence as the main stretch leading to the church had been dredged deep.
Killing Catholics

The Catholic Church is certainly aware of the anti-religious actions of the LTTE with regard to the Madhu Church episode. Even the priests have been forced to leave the church. What more cruelty than that?

The Madhu Church is sacred to all Catholics devotees irrespective of their race. It is the wealth of the Catholic denomination. The annual Feast of Our Lady of Madhu, over the years witnessed Sinhalese and Tamils mingling together in the North Western Region with greater understanding and unity. The Sinhalese lived in Tamil houses during the pilgrim season. They were like members of one family.

Who killed the first Catholic politician in Jaffna? Was it not Velupillai Prabakaran? The first Catholic to be shot dead by Prabakaran's hand was the former Mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappa, on July 27, 1975.

The Mayor's wife was a Hindu, the first cousin of late Kumar Ponnambalam. Duraiappa was personally shot at by Prabakaran in the presence of Eesha, the daughter of the Mayor outside the Ponnalai Hindu Temple, when the family was returning after prayers.

Prabakaran, a Hindu by birth has no regard or respect for any religion on this earth. That was evident from the brutal murder committed by his hand just opposite the Ponnalai Hindu Temple thirty three years ago.

Terrorism unleashed by the LTTE under the separatist guise affected the annual Madhu Feast many a time. This is not the first time the LTTE has encroached or infiltrated the holy precincts. They have committed this sin continuously. It is the LTTE shells which damaged the holy church many times. Even today, these terrorists have taken control of the church forcing the clergy to vacate the church.

It is Velupillai Prabakaran who had stood in the way of pilgrims to the Madhu Church over the years. His late confidante, Anton Balasingham, a Catholic by birth, many times during his lifetime tried without to success to convince his guerrilla leader to prevent infiltration of the Holy Shrine area.

All his pleas fell on the deaf ears of Prabakaran. Tamil Catholics time and again pressurised Balasingham when the latter was alive to urge the LTTE to keep away from the sacred area. But, Prabakaran was determined to increase the presence of his cadres to hold the pilgrims to ransom.
LTTE arrogance

Prabakaran's terrorist movement too has a large number of Catholics, many of them conscripted to the outfit in their childhood. Certainly, Prabakaran, an upper fishing caste Tamil from Velvettithurai do not like a Hindu Temple being attacked. His forefathers were Trustees of the famous Velvettithurai Sivan Hindu Kovil. Prabakaran himself was a regular worshipper at that Kovil as a child before taking to terrorism as a teen.

The tragedy is that he pays scant respect to other religions. A number of Christian, Buddhist and Muslim Mosques have been destroyed by his ruthless terrorist organisation. Clergy, irrespective of religion and race have been shot inside churches, Temples and Mosques. When he personally shot and killed Alfred Duraiappa, Prabakaran waited for more than an hour outside that Kovil for Duraippa and his wife and daughter to come out.

The arrogance of the LTTE and Prabakaran has sidelined the Catholic fishing community in Pasaiyur and Gurunagar,Jaffna. The time has now come for the aging Prabakaran to re-think his terrorist strategy over the sacred region of the Madhu Church.

Even Pope Benedict wants all his devotees around the world to have free access to their places of religious worship. In the Madhu Church conflict, even the Hindus are affected by terrorism. Because the Sivan Thiruketheesvaram Temple too is located in that area. The late Deputy Director General of the Peace Secretariat, Ketheesh Loganathan, brutally gunned down by the LTTE lat year was named by his father, C. Loganathan after that historic Temple. Loganathan (Snr) was an ardent devotee of that Temple.

He was also the first General Manager of the Bank of Ceylon. For Prabakaran, when it comes to killing, race and religion is immaterial and the quality of the man is nothing to him. It was in that ruthless belief he gunned down former Foreign Minister, the Tamil intellect, Lakshman Kadirgamar and the Trilingual Catholic Minister, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. These murders committed by the LTTE led by Prabakaran are ample testimony of the ruthlessness and arrogance of Velupillai Prabakaran.

The President and the Government of Sri Lanka are ready to protect the Holy Shrine of the Madhu Church. The Catholics in Sri Lanka are confident that Pope Benedict would extend his fullest cooperation early to resolve this issue to enable pilgrims to pay homage to the venerated Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu now placed in an unknown location. They want this statue back in the church at the earliest.

The Vatican has a vital role to play in this regard. And not Norway as called for by Nadesan, a dreaded terrorist himself who ordered the killings of thousands of men, women and children in his capacity of Police Chief of this illegal terror outfit, the LTTE.

Courtesy - Daily News