The newly nominated Cardinal His Eminence Dr. Malcolm Ranjith yesterday said the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is seriously concerned about peace and harmony in the country and believed that only a political solution could address the grievances of the minorities.

Testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the Cardinal called on the government to speed up the process to find a political solution to the issue that has been ravaging the country for decades.

The Cardinal told the LLRC that even though the war is over, the fundamental issue that led to the armed struggle still remains and a political solution is the only resolution in long run.

The Cardinal said he believes that the government must intensify the search for a political solution to the ethnic conflict.

Tracing back the cause of the war to the 1950s the Cardinal said the Sinhala only laws introduced in 1956 raised tensions between the two communities. He emphasized the importance of promoting tri-lingual education in the country.

Responding to a query by Commissioner M. T. M. Bafiq, Cardinal Malcom Ranjith said the Church accepted that safeguards were necessary in relation to security, but a certain amount of freedom was necessary as a confidence building measure and to promote goodwill and harmony. The leader of the Catholic community declared that the Church had never advocated the LTTE’s position and would never favour an armed struggle.

Kingsley Swamipillai, Bishop of Batticaloa and Trincomalee said the human right is worst affected victim during the war. He expressed his serious concern over those who had gone missing. He said that the paramilitary groups should be immediately rehabilitated.

Making representation to the LLRC, Rev. Father G. Sigamany said that the presence of High Security Zones in the North and East was a major impediment to the restoration of normalcy. He stressed the importance of resettling the IDPs in their native places and taking steps to back Sri Lankan Tamils living in India.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in May 2010 appointed the eight-member Commission to report on the lessons to be learnt from the events in the period from February 21, 2002 to May 19, 2009.

The Cabinet of Ministers last week granted approval to set up an Inter-Agency Advisory Group (IAAG) to facilitate the early implementation of the interim recommendations by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).