We have seen some heinous killing of Catholics in recent years, including a service with Bishops that cost the lives of many in leadership. The Catholics attacked today are not alone.
If I may?The plans Daesh made in the Middle East were completely undermined. It's leadership probably left the region some time ago. I will assume they still have this ideology they can develop a caliphate. Well. Why not in an island country where any attack upon them can be spotted before it happens?
Sri Lanka has a population of nearly 22 and a half million people with this religious demographic: Buddhists make up 70.1% of the population, Hindus 12.6%, Muslims 9.7% and Christians 7.6%.
There is already an armed militia within Sri Lanka and tensions still exist with the Tamil Tigers. Why not promise the Tamils the moon and have a ready militia to begin the end of a civil war lasting nearly three decades or more? I think the current civil war dates back less 30 years.
The conflict between Sri Lanka's government forces (click here) and armed Tamil rebels has raged for nearly 60 years. Thousands have died and many more have been made homeless by the fighting.
Here we answer questions about the Tamil rebels, their composition and their stated goals.
When was the LTTE formed?
Since Sri Lanka's independence from Britain in 1948, the Tamil minority has felt increasingly marginalised and politically disenfranchised. In that very year, Solomon Bandaranayake, the country's first prime minister, made Sinhala, which is spoken by the majority of Sri Lankans, the official language....
The Tamils (not the Tamil Tigers) are not adherent to any one religion in particular.
...Most Tamils (click here) live in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, and they comprise approximately 10 percent of the island’s population, according to a 2001 government census. Their religion (most are Hindu) and Tamil language set them apart from the four-fifths of Sri Lankans who are Sinhalese—members of a largely Buddhists...
There is a very big difference between the extremist militia group and the people that are Tamils. They are not the same. The extremist group can be viewed as similar to the Northern Ireland conflict that raged for centuries. The deaths and sentiment run deep. Some of what the extremist militia stands for has sympathy among the Tamils, but, I am sure the Tamils would renounce the acts carried out today.
At any rate, if this is Daesh, the Sri Lankan government will need assistance in identifying the group and bringing it to an end. It is important those responsible for today's violence are brought to justice and their militant actions ended. The Sri Lankan people do not deserve this and the people need to understand an enemy to their lives walks among them.
There may have been some Tamils included in the deaths and injuries today. Some Tamils are Catholic. That should be made clear to the people. These killers will kill anyone, including those most religious on a very holy day. Just because it is Catholics today, doesn't mean it will be only Catholics targeted. This is only the beginnings for Daesh.
There are other countries in this region that practice Catholicism, namely Indonesia. We know there are tensions between the religions at times, but, today there are also mixed marriages between Catholic and Muslim in Indonesia. The point is Daesh will seek to exploit any religious tensions in the region and seek to rekindle violence.
This is not an event that can be dismissed by the global community. This can be the continuing ideology of Daesh and it's leadership needs to be found, jailed and held for trial as responsible for these deaths and the terrorism of the Sri Lankan people.
One might think reaching the people to inform them of the kinds of tactics terrorists use to find others to recruit is found in the same media Daesh uses, the mobile phone.
This is a massacre of innocent people that all faiths abhor. There is no mass killing that is sanctioned by the great faiths of the world, including the Hindus and Buddhists. This is an act of mass murder surmounted out of hatred. The souls of these killers are already marked for damnation.
Don't leave Sri Lanka alone in recovering from this act of hatred. Please.
April 21, 2019
A series of eight bombings in Sri Lanka targeting Christian churches (click here) and hotels in three cities killed at least 207 people and wounded up to 450 others on Easter Sunday. Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene described the coordinated blasts as a terrorist attack by religious extremists. Here is what we know:
At 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, bombs tore apart three churches, one in the capital of Colombo, and two others in the cities of Negombo and Batticaloa.
Four hotels in Colombo were also attacked: the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand, the Tropical Inn and the Kingsbury. There was another explosion at a housing complex in Dematagoda.
Those targeted were members of Sri Lanka's Christian population and guests at the island nation's luxury hotels.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "several U.S. citizens" were among those killed.
The government of Sri Lanka has temporarily blocked social media services like Facebook and WhatsApp to prevent the spread of misinformation.
Sri Lanka's state minister for defense said seven suspects have been apprehended and the attacks appear to have been carried out by suicide bombers.
