The Sri Lankan army organised a Buddhist ceremony in Vavuniya earlier this month, reportedly marking the first time that Vesak was celebrated in the region in such a large scale.
The ceremony, which saw the participation of the Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Air Force, Sri Lanka Police and the Civil Defence Force, saw soldiers dressed in all white give offerings to Buddhist monks.
According to an official military website,
“two groups of school children from the Muslim Vidyalaya and the Hindu Vidyalaya sang Buddhist songs in Sinhala language and the group from the Army sang Buddhist songs in Tamil language”.
The ceremony is yet another in a series of religious Buddhist events being organised and carried out by the military in the largely Tamil North-East.
The US State Department commented on the increase Sinhala Buddhist activity in the North-East, noting that the continued building of such sites despite objections from locals and leaving civil society with the perception of “Buddhist Sinhalese religious and cultural imperialism” in its International Religious Freedom Report for 2016.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
