Lanka has right to resist interference - Archbishop of Canterbury

E. Weerapurema

COLOMBO: Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Rev.Dr. Rowan Williams said Sri Lanka has a right to resist any interference in its internal affairs by another country.

“The British Government as such had no hand in bringing the proposal to appoint a Committee on Sri Lanka,” he said when asked if the British Government has taken a proposal for discussion on appointing a committee on Sri Lanka.

It was a proposal by a member of the British Government. If the British Government as a Government tries to put its hand into internal affairs of another country, that country could protest such moves,” Rev. Williams said.

The Archbishop said minorities living in a pluralistic society should feel secure and experience a sense of belonging and that sufferings of people belonging to a certain society or part of the country is bound to affect the whole country.

Addressing a media conference at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour at Bauddhaloka Mawatha yesterday, Rev. Williams said: “I wonder being an outsider if it is wise to offer unwelcome advice. I do not want to speak about matters I do not understand. But one thing is necessary and that is to strengthen the belonging of the minorities for the benefit of the whole country”.

The Archbishop said he regretted very much not being able to visit every part of the country during this brief stay.

“I was able to meet a large number of clergy, laymen from Anglican Diocese of Sri Lanka. I was able to listen to their concerns and experiences and get some idea of the prevailing situation in this country,” he said. Speaking to the Daily News after the press conference, the Archbishop said the Church has a role to play but that is not the role of the politicians.

“It is difficult to make a distinction or draw a line over the duty politicians and religion leaders’ play. “The church has access to a wide range of people and their experiences.

They can tell the politicians ‘these are voices we hear - can you hear them. They have a role to play not as politicians, but bringing out the voices of the people”, he added.

The Archbishop said he would be taking away with him the impressions he got speaking to a large group of religious and laity he met during the past few days.

“I have heard about the situation in some of the IDP camps in the Eastern Part of the country”. I have been made aware of the difficulties they face in getting their food and education of their children.

Mention of children underlies to me the fact that it is one of the most tragic features of the present conflict. There are large numbers of children and youth growing up in these camps and the country at large who have been nothing except instability and violence, he said.

Majority of this country shares that the next generation of Sri Lanka should grow up confidence in their society, confidence in its political processes, confidence in rights of minority, he said.

The Extraordinary history of this island, its history of rich culture, and cultural pluralism and members of great religions of the world have shared experience and have lived side by side. All of them have been enriched by that fact. Sri Lanka has the capacity to be a model to the rest of the world of that kind of genuine pluralisms. That history has been shattered in the recent past, by conflict and terror.