Sri Lankan military continues to build Buddhist temples in North-East

Tamil villagers in the North-East have criticised the continued building of Buddhist temples by the Sri Lankan military, reports AsiaNews.

Local residents in Kokkilaay, Mullaitivu were arrested last week after protesting against the building of a Buddhist vihara on their land by the military.

Tamil Catholic human rights activist Anthony Jesudasan told AsiaNews that "even if they are backed by the military, they should not build permanent Buddhist places of worship, and removed those who own the land”.

“Thousands of people have not yet received land, but they are being used to build places of worship different from their own,” said Mr Jesudasan. “What is the meaning of this?"

"We are not against Buddhists. We do not bother them,” local residents told AsiaNews. “So why is the army doing this to us? When will we have some peace again?"