David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch; Asia
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The Roman Catholic priests of Sri Lanka have been vocal and resilient to the government forces since the country’s civil war that recently ended. As a result of their diligence as leaders of their land, several bishops have gone missing after reported conversations with government officials.
In the past four years at least two Roman Catholic priests have gone missing after reporting the government troops brutality against the last Tamil offensive, the church says.
The archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith, who is soon to become a cardinal, said that attempts were being made to change the demographic make-up of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, which currently have an ethnic Tamil majority.
“This could be a dangerous trend if it is not arrested; unless people are allowed to move in and move out in a proper way without any colonization as such, with or without government approval.”
Kingsley Swampillai, the bishop of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, said one of the priests disappeared after security forces conducted special questioning on him.
Recently Bishop Swampillai along with several of the diocese in the region testified before a commission looking into the governments function and handling of the country’s civil war.
The civil war, which ended just last year, when troops defeated a rebel group called the Tamil Tiger, who raised wide spread tensions over the fight for a separate state.
The conflict, according to the United Nations estimates that up to 100,000 people were killed. And similar numbers disappeared as infighting came to a halt.
The government’s response to the whereabouts of missing priests is that, the commission will promote reconciliation and they have rejected all international calls for an external investigation.
Bishop Swampillai, who heads the main diocese in eastern Sri Lanka, told the commission there were numerous missing and disappeared Sri Lankans whose fate had been unknown for many years now.
The government has not recorded any of the missing cases over recent years.
A timeline and snapshot of the missing bishops include- Rev Father Nihal Jim Brown, who vanished in Jaffna in 2006; and another, Father Joseph Francis, in his late 70s and had “got involved with” the Tamil Tiger militants while living in their heartland.
Bishop Swampillai said Father Francis was among those leaving the war zone in May 2009 and passing through the military checkpoint at Omanthai when people travelling with him saw him taken in for special questioning.
“And then he was no more – nobody saw him thereafter,” the bishop said.
Former wife of a Tamil Tiger official, testifying at the commission hearings in northern Sri Lanka six weeks ago mentioned that Father Francis had vanished.
Most bishops have remained highly critical of the security forces, and more so with the recent trend of events.
“The rights have been violated with impunity by the security forces and by unidentifiable persons and groups especially in the north and east. The situation has worsened by the state sponsorship of paramilitary groups during the height of the war, out of the former militants.”
For more information, please see:
BBC – Sri Lanka bishop accuses forces over missing priests – 4 November 2010
Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka bishop accuses forces over missing priests – 4 November 2010
CathNews Asia – Lankan bishop accuses sercurity forces – 4 November 2010
