SL Police instructed to clarify authenticity of letter issued to monks by SL Archaeology Department

The SL Police in Oddu-chuddaan in Mullaiththeevu didn't act against the intruding group of Sinhala youth, led by two extremist Theravada Buddhist monks from South, who were blocked by the people of Kumuzha-munai on Tuesday. The people of the ancient Tamil village laid siege to the group that came with a Buddha statue and claimed it was authorised to do so by the SL Archaeology Department. How could the erection of a brand new Buddha statue be called conservation work and how come a religious group to engage in such action, was the question raised by the Tamil villagers, who interrupted the group on its way and turned it over to SL Police with demand for legal action against the intruders. However, the SL police released the group on the same day and attempted to file cases against the Tamil youth. 

Two Tamil youths, detained by the SL Police, were released on surety bail by Mullaiththeevu Magistrate on Wednesday. 

On Thursday, the SL Court addressed case filed by the SL Police. The police had requested the court to prohibit the people of the village from accessing Kurunthoor-malai. 

Issuing an interim order until 13th September, the SL District Court has also instructed the SL Police to document the veracity of the document, which the monks carried. 

The document was in Sinhala. 

In the meantime, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a rights group of exiled journalists from the island, in its news release provided a brief translation of the Sinhala document. 

“Chief incumbent of the Sapumaltenna woodland hermitage Venerable Galgamuwe Sanghabodhi thera will provide the infrastructure facilities and labour,” the JDS news said. 

It identified the issuer of the letter as Assistant Director (Vavuniyaa, Mannaar, Mullaith-theevu) DM Piyathilaka Banda. The letter was addressed to the Officer-in-Charge of the SL Police in Mullaiththeevu. 

The letter didn't say whether any archaeology expert would be accompanying the Buddhist monks, the JDS news release further said. 

The ‘Buddhism foremost’ clause of the unitary constitution of genocidal Sri Lanka, is usually used by the SL Police to act against the people, who attempt to remove a Buddha statue. 

Therefore, the spontaneous action by the villagers against the intruding monks while the group was on its way to Kurunthoor-malai, was a smart move, Tamil grassroots activists in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division said. 

Furthermore, the Sinhala Theravada Buddhists use the ‘foremost place’ clause to build a false paradigm as if Sinhala Theravada Buddhist ‘stupas’ had existed in the past in Tamil areas. 

All the activities that seek to consolidate this imaginative paradigm in the minds of the Sinhalese in the South would only contribute to escalating the ethnic conflict further, Tamil academics say. 

Erecting Buddha statues wherever one finds traces of ancient rulers, including the heritage sites where Tamil kings patronised Mahayana Buddhism, is also a heritage crime, they said. 

However, the SL Archaeology Department is ethnically biased towards the Sinhala Buddhist Establishment. In reality, the Buddha Sangha in the island controls the entire field of Archaeology. 

Therefore, only a political solution, ensuring Eezham Tamils right to sovereignty and heritage, was the only way to promote peaceful co-existence of all ethnicities in the island, they said.