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Bishops Malcom Ranjith and Rayappu Joseph have denied a report, which appeared in ‘The Island’ on Monday under the heading “Govt. wants military solution to ethnic issue.” Earlier, a similar report was carried on the eelamnation website. “We are surprised at the contents of this report and we wish to clarify its inaccuracies as well as errors in the statement attributed to us, in that report”, the two Bishops said in a joint statement. The report said that the two Bishops had stated that the Sri Lankan government did not seem to be interested in a solution through negotiation, but by military means. The statements were reported to have been made during a press conference in London. Reacting to the reports, the government expressed regret at the reported statements of the Bishops, in spite of its commitment towards peace. “We did participate in a meeting with representatives of Tamil and Muslim associations in London at St. George’s Church Hall, organised by a local NGO to which we were invited, but it was not a press conference as reported,” the Bishops said in a signed statement clarifying the reports. “We did not state that the government in Sri Lanka wanted a military solution to the ethnic issue. What was stated was that we expect both the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to show a more flexible and positive approach to the stalled peace talks. We expressed our sadness that instead of that signals counter to creating an atmosphere of dialogue and compromise were being given.” “We called upon all Sri Lankans living overseas to unite for peace and take a more proactive role for the creation of peace and harmony in our beloved home island by their own example. Thus they would be able to contribute towards the peace process themselves,” the statement added. The Bishops who are in charge of the Catholic National Commission for Justice, Peace and Human Development in Sri Lanka visited London and some other European cities as a part of a study programme on peace and reconciliation.
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