Pointing a finger at the Buddhist Bhikkus who disturbed the demonstration and the public meeting of the National Movement Against War, Mano Ganeshan,Member of Parliament has raised the question whether they are Buddihst bhikkus or war mongers.

It is a wonder why the Buddhist bhikkus wearing saffron cloth should disturb a demonstration that demands cessation of war. The war-mongers disguised in saffron cloth are the curse of the land.

Had Lord Buddha who preached and sacrificed his entire life for peace been alive today, he would have wept and bled at the war drums in the name of religion founded on his philosophy.

That the South of Sri Lanka wants to go to war with the LTTE, the sole representatives of the Tamils is another matter. But this philosophy of eye for an eye has no place among the values propagated by Lord Buddha.

Racism and religious fanaticism are the causes for the Sri Lankan ethnic strife.It is this chauvinism and craze for majority domination that led to the oppression of the Tamil people and the deprivation of their human and political rights. This has resulted in the determination of the Tamil people to rise against all oppression and realise their demand for the right to life.

It is these Buddhist priests who are responsible for forging violence in this Island. It is these priests who are responsible for creating animosity between Sinhala and Tamil people.

It is said that Lord Buddha visited Sri Lanka three times, twice to propagate Dhamma and once to avert war and preserve peace. When a Buddhisht priest preached Dhamma to Emperor Ashoka in the midst of destruction, he renounced war and chose peace. It is a pity, the Buddhist priests are in the fore front today to propagate war and hatred.

But there is hope the people of the South will not be fooled for long by these war-mongers, judging from the treatment they received at the hands of the public at Vikara Mahadevi park.

An English translation of the Editorial of Uthayan,a Tamil daily based in Jaffna

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