Mannar Bishop’s allegations condemned and dismissed

Appeals made by Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph to the Australian government to halt all deportation of Tamil asylum seekers have been condemned and his whimsical claims have been refuted. The Mannar Bishop who was a strong supporter of the tiger terrorists and even was nicknamed as a “tiger terrorist in white cloak” has written an open letter to the Australian government saying that the deported Sri Lankans are meted out with restrictions, intimidations and also subjected to questionings and surveillance and other forms of harassments and discriminations in Sri Lanka by the military and police, and has said that the lives of these people are under threat.

 Fr. Nicholas Selvarajah responded to vehemently condemning the Mannar Bishop and points out that: - Fr. Rayappu Joseph is working hard to promote the LTTE separatist agenda; - He never uttered a word against the terrorists when they held and herded the hundreds and thousands of innocent tamil civilians including women and children from place to place placing their lives as a human shield; - He allowed the terrorists to fortify the sacred sanctum of the Madhu shrine with bunkers and launch attacks at the troops; - He on his own accord removed the sacred Statue of our Lady of Madhu from its safe sanctity to further into the terrorist held territories thereby compromising its safety. - Once he hoisted the LTTE flag at a rally in Mannar town condemning the killing of a top rung terrorist leader and was audacious enough to make a statement defending his action - His recent remarks at a skype meeting organized by the NGOS and human rights groups in Sri Lanka a day prior to the 14th session of Universal Periodic Review in Geneva is detrimental to the country’s image in the post conflict era and also threatening the hard earned peace over defeating the LTTE’s scourge Fr. Nicholas Selvarajah also points out that at a time when Sri Lanka is rising up from the decades long sufferings and terror, the clergy like Bishop Rayappu Joshep have a vital role to play, if they are genuine enough to be true crusaders of peace.

 Rev. Fr. Nicholas Selvarajah also states that even foreign diplomats including British diplomatic officials have accepted that there are no abuses or threats to lives of deportees whether they are Tamil, Sinhalese or Muslims in Sri Lanka, and the government has not placed any restrictions on the operations of a single reputed INGO from Sri Lanka as it is being claimed by the Mannar Bishop. Rev. Fr. Nicholas Selvarajah says it is high time not only for the Catholics but all Sri Lankans to question Bishop Rayappu how ethical is it for him to take the cover of the church and the holy cloak to go against a united and peaceful nation and its people. Meanwhile, the government has also issued a response in the foreign media regarding the letter by the Bishop dismissing his allegations as fanciful.