Buddha statue issue going to high courts is to divert attention
Actions are being taken to bring the Buddha statue issue to the high courts in Colombo. Buddha statue issue has created tension between the Tamil and Sinhala communities. The handling of the issue by the government authorities is only worsening the tension. In the first instance the court order issued twice by the district courts in Trincomalee to temporarily remove the statue has been completely ignored.
 President has appointed a commission to inquire into it. At the same time legal experts have decided that the issue can be addressed by taking it at the Colombo high courts through the Attorney General. News has filtered that in this application to the high courts all religious statues in Trincomalee that have been built without legal authorization is going to be addressed. This could divert the attention from the present issue that is causing upheaval in Trincomalee. In the statistics that has been collected about illegally built religious buildings in Trincomalee there are some Hindu temples that were built many years ago. Thus the situation can be turned around where famous Hindu temples may be targeted for removal. If that occurs the Sinhala chauvinists could use it as the permit to destroy many Tamil cultural buildings. Then the current Buddha statue issue will become a trivial one. The purpose of bringing other religious buildings into focus could also be to create this scenario. The present issue is the Buddha statue. Instead of dealing with it the government’s attempts to divert attention to other issues that has not caused any problems, could make Trincomalee the starting point for Eelam War IV. When the police tried to remove the Buddha statue as ordered by the district courts the auto drivers and Buddhist monks who built it prevented the police and have declared that removing the statue is akin to expelling Singhalese from Trincomalee. This is laughable. Trincomalee not that long ago was a Tamils only region. Planned Sinhala settlements by government started the colonisation process and then armed Sinhala civilians were brought in to settle as home guards during the war. Tamil land was gradually taken away through out the war. Now they have built a Buddha statue among a Tamil majority area illegally and declaring that removing it is akin to removing Singhalese from Trincomalee. The Sri Lankan military has been building Buddha statues and worshipping it wherever there is a Bo tree in all the Tamil areas they are occupying. In due course all of these Buddha statues can turn into a source tension. Even now during the ceasefire period they are using the scared Buddha statue as a weapon for ethnic hegemony. Therefore the Buddha statue issue is not just a Trincomalee issue. It has been raised as an issue and protested in Trincomalee. Buddha statues in other Tamil areas must also be questioned in due course. It is quite possible that the case when brought to the high courts may be resolved that the Buddha statue in question in Trincomalee is legal. This should not surprise anyone. In the ruling in Bindunuwewa case where no one was found guilty after the case was dragged over several years for the murder of 25 young Tamil detainees. The murder of 25 Tamil detainees has become a non-issue. Similarly in the future, the courts could rule that the Buddha statue in Trincomalee is legal. No one should be surprised if that happens.
07 June 2005
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Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
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