Sri Lanka Assassination Hinders Mission Agencies
The assassination of a high-ranking government official in Sri Lanka and the state of emergency that was declared after has affected mission agencies working on the predominantly Buddhist island nation.
The assassination of a high-ranking government official in Sri Lanka and the state of emergency that was declared after has affected mission agencies working on the predominantly Buddhist island nation.
Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, 73, was assassinated by a sniper in his home on Friday in Sri Lanka’s capital city. Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil Christian, was believed to have been targeted because of his efforts to ban the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization but later backed peace efforts.
Many agree that the murder was a severe blow to Sri Lanka’s fragile peace process.
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“There is fear everywhere,” said F. Lawrence, a Tamil-speaking professional who lives in a suburb of Colombo.
“We are not as confident to go out to the road as we used to do,” he added. “We are getting calls from anxious relatives who want to know whether we are all right.”
According to Gospel for Asia’s Sri Lanka ministry leader, “roads are closed and every vehicle is being searched.”
“The biggest problem for our ministry is in the Batticaloa area, in the eastern area of the country controlled by the Tamil Tigers. This area was hard-hit by the tsunami, and we have a lot of relief and children’s work there. Our work there has been affected by these events.”
In response to the current situation, GFA President K.P. Yohannan said, “We continue to pray for peace to come to the nation of Sri Lanka.
"We trust that Christians will remain free to share the Good News with their countrymen,” Yohannan said from his office in South India.
While some ministries are adapting to the conditions, Voice of the Martyrs Canada's Glenn Penner says there are risks involved for those who continue evangelical work.
"Pray for continued stability in Sri Lanka," Penner told Mission Network News (MNN). "Christians go right across the ethnic boundaries. There are Tamil Christians, Sinhalese Christians who work side by side, working in the same organizations. This makes things really difficult for them sometimes, as they have family members on either side. And, Christians are sometimes seen as being disloyal to both sides."
Penner also said that there is a real danger that the pending anti-conversion laws could go through.
"They may pass the law, if for no other reason as they think that it might calm things down," he told MNN.
Although the bills were in Parliament awaiting action, Penner fears the Jathika Hela Urumaya (Buddhist monks' party) will use the assasination as an opportunity to drive their point home.
"There's this idea, among the Buddhists, particularly, that if they outlaw conversion, that it will stop, that it will go away. They might see this as a means of diminishing violence in rural areas."
