{"id":105133,"date":"2020-08-01T15:19:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-01T22:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=105133"},"modified":"2020-08-01T15:19:15","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T22:19:15","slug":"buddhism-in-the-northern-province-1990-2019-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/08\/01\/buddhism-in-the-northern-province-1990-2019-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"BUDDHISM IN THE NORTHERN PROVINCE (1990-2019) PART 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

There is a tug of\nwar going on in the north between the Buddhist and non-Buddhists regarding the\nnew Buddhist temples built in the north. Neither side is prepared to give in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamil Separatist Movement complained\nloudly that Buddhist temples were being built in the north where there were no\nBuddhists. There are nine Buddha Viharas being built in Mullaitivu district\nalone, said Tamil Separatist Movement. A Buddha statue has come up in\nSambaltheevu with police protection.  In\nKokkilai, Mullaitivu district, a Buddha Vihara is coming up with army support\ndespite a claim to the land by a local Tamil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other places in the Northern Province where\nBuddha viharas are coming up are Omanthai, Semmadu, Kanakarayankulam,\nKilinochchi, Mankulam, Paranthan and Pooneryn. A 67 foot Buddha statue is\ncoming up in front of the Nainai Nagabhooshani Amman Hindu temple, complained\nTamil Separatist Movement.  The British\nTamil Forum launched in 2017, a book titled Proliferation of Buddhist\nstructures in Tamil Homeland-sowing the seeds of disharmony.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamil Separatist politicians   vehemently\nobjected to the construction of Buddhist temples in the north. Tamil Peoples\u2019\nCouncil, headed by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran said, in\n2016    that Buddha viharas\nare sprouting like mushrooms in areas where there are no Buddhists.. In\nMullaitivu District, these Buddhist viharas were constructed after the armed\nconflict ended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil National Alliance MP P. Raviharan said\nin 2018 that Buddha statues and temples had been built in areas where there\nwere no Buddhists. There were 131 sites of Buddhist religious worship in the\nNorth, of which 67 were in Mullaitivu. .\nThese were \u2018unlawful\u2019 as there were no Sinhalese living in those areas. They must be removed immediately.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some areas, such as Vavuniya, Kilinochchi,\nand Point Pedro, the military has built Buddha statues within or in close\nproximity to Hindu temples. Buddha\nstatues have come up in front of the 2500 year old Thirukoneswara Hindu temple\nin Trincomalee and the Thiruketheeswaram temple in North West Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military\u2019s construction of Buddhist\nviharas in traditionally Tamil areas with no Buddhist population is a\npreliminary step to the Sinhala-Buddhist colonization of these areas and a\nre-assertion of Sinhala Buddhist dominance, said Adaalayam Centre for Policy Research , Jaffna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinhala colonies, Buddhist temples and Buddha\nstatues are being aggressively constructed with military sponsorship with the\nsole purpose of Sinhala Buddhisation of the North eastern Tamil homeland, said Tamil\nPeoples Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, after the Yahapalana government came\nto power, there were numerous demands for the removal of Buddhist temples,\nstatues, and shrines built in the Northern Province, reported the media.     In August 2016 TNA MPs met Prime Minister\nRanil Wickremasinghe and raised concerns about Buddhist temples and statues\nbeing built in the area.  The Northern\nProvincial Council   passed a resolution\nin 2016 prohibiting the construction of Buddhist temples in the north.   It had no legal standing, said lawyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions flared in September 2017 over the\nPresident\u2019s proposed attendance at an illegally constructed vihara on the\npremises of a Hindu temple in Mannar. A local Hindu priest reported that the military\ndestroyed a Hindu temple in order to construct a Buddhist temple, said Adaalayam\nCentre, Jaffna. While Tamil\nlandowners whose properties were occupied by the Air Force in Keppapilavu were\nprotesting, the military was reportedly seen constructing a Buddhist temple on\ntheir occupied land, continued Adaalayam Centre.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those in Mullaitivu have forcefully opposed\nthe construction of Buddhist structures in areas with no Buddhist civilians said Adaalayam\nCentre. Mullaitivu District has witnessed the\nmilitary\u2019s construction of Buddhist structures on both state and private Tamil\nlands. Despite a ban on building illegal Buddhist viharas by local authorities\nin 2015, another temple is being illegally constructed on land that is\npartially owned by a Tamil living in the Kokkilai region of Mullaitivu District.\nSecurity forces arrested this Tamil landowner in 2015 for protesting against\nthe military land grab said Adaalayam Centre.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamil Peoples\u2019 Council (TPC),  invited people to join a mass protest in\nJaffna on September 24, 2016 to demand a stop to the construction of Buddha\nstatues and Buddhist temples in areas in the Northern Province where there are\nno Buddhists.  C.V.  Wigneswaran issued a statement where he said,\nstop erecting Buddha statues and Buddhist temples illegally and in places where\nthere are no Buddhists, except in the army camps.  He also objected to putting up Buddha statues\nand temples illegally on private lands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern Province Governor Reginold\nCooray   said in reply that there are\nonly 13 Buddhist temples in the entire Northern Province and that there is\nnothing wrong in constructing Buddhist temples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.M. Swaminathan, Affairs,\nresponding\nto a complaint that there were attempt to build Buddhist temple and Buddhist\nstatue in Kilinochchi,\nsaid that no one will be allowed to remove Buddhist temples or statues in the north. Buddhist monks and devotees had the\nright to built temples and statues in any part of the Northern Province.  ( Continued)\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS There is a tug of war going on in the north between the Buddhist and non-Buddhists regarding the new Buddhist temples built in the north. Neither side is prepared to give in. The Tamil Separatist Movement complained loudly that Buddhist temples were being built in the north where there were no Buddhists. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}