There should be some sort of international mediation or intervention...somebody has to play the role of an umpire right now. There is a lot of untruth being said in the media and the people are believing them. There should be international observers, international mediation. One thing that could solve the problem almost immediately is implementation of a federal solution…a federal framework to this whole problem so that power is devolved to all the regions…not only to Tamil areas but also to Sinhala areas. Actually federalism was first demanded by a group of Sinhala people because they too once felt that they were being discriminated.
Q. To what extent have your social and mission work been affected because of ongoing the conflict?
NCEASL has been carrying on a lot of housing programs in tsunami affected areas…we have been working on shelter, children's work, water sanitation and income generation. In the south, our work is progressing very well. However, work in the northeast has almost come to a standstill. We had a target of building 125 houses, but due to the ongoing conflict, our work has stopped. Out of the 36 houses that were completed, 15 of them have been taken over and occupied by the army. It is also very difficult to procure building materials. Arbitrary arrests and search operations have put a question mark on the safety of our staffs. The income generation projects that we had started in some areas by giving boats have failed as boats have been destroyed in the conflict because of shelling and artillery fire. So sometimes we feel frustrated and feel that we cannot continue the work. All these things have affected our work a lot.
NCEASL has relief and development arm which are separate from mission work. The relief and social work are independent because we do not want to be accused of using unethical means of converting people. We are doing social work for its sake and trying to alleviate the people from poverty and improve their life, etc. In the process we are demonstrating the love of God.
In the present circumstances, doing mission is not very easy. Of course, a lot of training is going on in the churches but evangelism and evangelistic work is getting affected. There is a lot of pressure and a lot of hostility towards the present churches in Sri Lanka. So mission is not very easy.
Q. How has the anti–conversion law affected the rights and activities of Christians in Sri Lanka?
The anti–conversion law has not been passed yet. It has been tabled in the Parliament and all it needs is a show of votes in order to be implemented. One of the reasons it has not been passed yet is due to international pressure. We have been lobbying a lot with US State Departments, the Canadian government and many international bodies and trying to bring pressure on Sri Lankan government.
NCEASL has also challenged the Bill in court of law and though the court has watered down some of the clauses by making some amendments on the penal clauses, yet, largely it has allowed it in whole. In Sri Lanka, the judiciary, the executive and legislature are very merged and none of the wings of the government has any clear and well defined powers or authorities.
Society
Interview with Rev. Godfrey Yogarajah, general secretary, EFA
By: Jacob Chaterjee
Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 12:02 (IST)
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