By Fr Pan Jordan OP and Fr Claude Mostowik MSC, 13 Jan 2013 - We, Christians and concerned people, are disturbed by past and continuing actions by the Sri Lankan government against the Catholic Bishop of Mannar, Most Rev Dr Rayappu Joseph. Bishop Joseph has consistently expressed concern at the plight of the all people of the North and East of Sri Lanka. His concerns have been taken President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the UN Human Rights Council (by Skype, because travel was too dangerous), to visiting US Ambassadors who came to Sri Lanka prior to the UNHRC meeting in Geneva (March 2012), and a detailed letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself expressing his concerns at the problems faced by civilians in the north and east.

By ASSIST News Service, Christian Today, 12 December 2012 - A mob of about 1,000 people in southern Sri Lanka, led by Buddhist monks, protested the presence of a church by overpowering police, vandalising property and beating the pastor on 9 December, Christian sources have said. According to a story by Morning Star News, the Buddhist monks had given a day's notice for the church to close down. About 80 monks led the multitude as they stormed the Jeevanalokaya Sabhawa church in the Weeraketiya area of Southern Province's Hambantota district during worship on Sunday morning. That's according to what a Christian source in Colombo told Morning Star News by phone.

Calls for intervention to end 'unjust' harrassment of the Bishop of Mannar

ucanews.com reporter, Colombo, June 15, 2012 - An opposition lawmaker has appealed to the pope this week to put pressure on the government to diffuse a row in which alleged threats have been made against Bishop Rayappu Joseph of Mannar. In a letter sent to the pope on Wednesday, Jayalath Jayawardena said the bishop is coming under increasing attack by several government ministers and the media. “Use your good offices to dialogue with the Sri Lankan government to ensure his [Bishop Joseph’s] safety so he can continue his mission without threats, intimidation and false allegations,” the United National Party lawmaker’s letter said.

/EINPresswire.com/ June 11, 2012-- "While Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka are organizing non-violent activities risking their lives, we in the diaspora will stand by them and internationalize the struggle. It will be a joint struggle. They will not be alone." Rudrakumaran. Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) today announced that it will organize parallel events around the world to support non-violent activities taking place inside the island of Sri Lanka against Sri Lankan government's actions against Tamil people.

Video: Young Asia Telivision / YouTube, 15 mai 2012 - The emergence of new Buddhist structures in the North has raised concerns among local residents and has become an issue which has even been taken up in parliament by Tamil politicians.

BY TARIQ A. AL-MAEENA, Saudi Gazette, 02 05 2012 - There’s a crisis brewing in the island and it does not bode well for the people of Sri Lanka. It seems that lessons that should have been learned following a civil war that lasted for more than 30 years and ended some three years ago, are being quickly forgotten.

By Sudha Ramachandran, Asia Times, 02 April 2012 - BANGALORE - Sri Lanka's Muslim community is insecure and angry. - A mosque in the central town of Dambulla was attacked with petrol bombs and vandalized around 10 days ago by a mob led by radical Buddhist monks. To add insult to injury, the government has bowed to the mob's demand and ordered the mosque's demolition and relocation. Muslims say the mosque is about 60 years old. The monks insist it was built after 1982 when the government declared the area to be a "Buddhist sacred area". They allege that the mosque is an "illegal structure".

Hindu, 30 April 2012 - Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has deplored the reported demolition of a mosque at Dambulla in Matale district of Sri Lanka recently.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) April 29, 2012 - United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) condemns attack on Muslim mosque in Sri Lanka by Buddhist extremists, denounces government complicity, and calls for tolerance and protection of religious freedom for minority communities.

/EINPresswire.com/ April 27, 2012-- "A Buddhist Monk shot and killed a Prime Minister in 1958 for having dialogue with Tamils." - In a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom, Mr. Heiner Bielefelt, the Prime Minister of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, urged the UN Rapporteur to visit Sri Lanka to investigate an attack on a Mosque by Buddhist monks and Government's actions to close that Mosque and Hindu Temples. "We urge you to immediately visit Sri Lanka, as the Government of Sri Lanka has failed to protect religions other than the State religion Buddhism" said Mr. Rudrakumaran. "Destruction of Tamil and Muslim places of worship warrants the need for an International Protection Mechanism."