Daily mirror, 05 April 2010
The Catholic Bishops' conference in Sri Lanka has been quite vocal for some time about the undesirable elements that are trying to pit Buddhists against Catholics. The accusing finger has long been pointed at some new churches and prayer centres which observe anti-Buddhist practices that amount to sacrilege thereby provoking the Buddhists.
Due to a variety of reasons, mostly due to stiff resistance the frequency of such incidents has witnessed a downward trend and the two religious communities today enjoy fairly good vibes as a result. This religious harmony has certainly contributed to the social stability of the country.
Against this backdrop, one was indeed quite shocked to hear what happened at Elamalpotha in Dambulla on March 26 where a senior government minister and his son had allegedly desecrated a Buddha statue. While attempts are made to make the incident look purely politically motivated, those in the area had attributed the act of vandalism to the influence of the minister's wife and the remarks from leading monks indicate that they had been quite concerned about her anti-Buddhist behaviour for some time.