Resume peace talks - Church of Ceylon

COLOMBO: The Bishop and the clergy of Church of Ceylon has urged to explore ways and means to resume peace talks without delay and make a sincere and firm commitment to find a sustainable and just solution to the conflict through peaceful means.

The statement by the Church of Ceylon: The Bishop and the Clergy of the Diocese of Colombo met in Synod from May 29th - June 1st to prayerfully deliberate on matters concerning the Church and the Nation.

During these deliberations we took serious note of the escalation of violence in many parts of the country and the mounting loss of life.

We are much grieved and particularly concerned about the inexcusable and brutal killings of unarmed civilians such as the killing of the five students at Trincomalee, the 6 young farmers at Gomarankadawala, the 12 villagers at Allaipiddy and the more recent killing of 13 construction workers at Welikanda, leading to acute fear and the deterioration of social trust and human security. These and all killings must be condemned. Such killings must never be repeated.

We call on all parties to the conflict to take necessary steps towards an immediate cessation of hostilities and the cycle of violence.

We urge the Government and the LTTE to also concurrently explore ways and means to resume Peace Talks without delay and make a sincere and firm commitment to find a sustainable and just solution to the conflict through peaceful means.

We assure the leaders and people of all communities of our country of our unstinted efforts and ceaseless prayers in our shared journey towards peace.