Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Nov. 17 (Daily Mirror) – Mahanayaka Thera of the Amarapura Chapter, Most Venerable Karagoda Uyangoda Maithrimurthi Thera, in a letter addressed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has expressed his dismay at the incident at the Bodhiraja Sambuddha Jayanthi Viharaya in Trincomalee.

The police have violated Article 9 of the Constitution by assaulting Buddhist monks and removing the Buddha statue at the Viharaya. Buddhism has to be safeguarded as per Article 9 of the Constitution. The injured monks have been admitted to hospital as they needed urgent treatment. The Buddhist population in the area have been saddened by this move. It is questionable as to who directed the police to act in the way they did. This alone is a blatant violation of Article 9 of the Constitution,” the Maha Nayaka Thera said in his letter to the President.

We request you to focus on this matter and see to it that the Viharaya is safeguarded and the initial plan to demolish some of the buildings is suspended,” he wrote.

He said that this Viharaya had existed at this site since 1951, and in 2014, the land ownership had been conferred on the temple authorities by a Presidential decree in 2014. Therefore, he said it is regrettable that resident monks are subjected to various forms of harassment today.