From Catholic News Service

Sri Lankans seek refuge in Church despite shootings

By Anto Akkara, Catholic News Service

NEW DELHI (CNS) -- Despite bloodshed in and around the Church of Our Lady of Victory in Pesalai, Sri Lanka, for thousands of Tamil people from the coastal fishing village, the church compound still remains a safe place.

"Nearly 7,000 people are still living in the church compound. We are struggling to feed them," Bishop Rayappu Joseph of Mannar told Catholic News Service in a June 20 e-mail interview.

Though the church has already started community cooking for those camping in the church, Bishop Joseph said, "we don't know how long we can go on like this."

"Innocent blood has been shed in the church. But for the people, it (the church) is the safest place," said the bishop, who led a three-hour purification service June 19 inside the blood-stained church, two days after the early morning shooting by the Sri Lankan navy.

Bishop Joseph, whose diocese is mostly ethnic Tamil, said Sri Lankan forces fired on Tamil villagers who had taken shelter in the church June 17. The initial shooting killed 75-year-old Manaval Claramma; 45 Catholics and a Muslim were injured.

Bishop Joseph said that security forces then asked six Tamil youths to kneel in the church compound with their identity cards in their hands and shot them through the mouth. Five of the six -- including two Catholics, two Hindus and a Muslim -- died.

The Sri Lankan forces attacked the church after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked the Sri Lankan naval base. Bishop Joseph said the security forces might have been taking revenge on the Tamil people for not informing the navy about the Tamil rebels' attack, in which several navy vessels were destroyed and a dozen sailors and 30 Tamil rebels were killed.

More than 65,000 people have been killed and more than 1 million have been displaced since 1983 when Tamil rebels demanded autonomy for areas in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Ethnic Tamils account for 17 percent of Sri Lanka's 19 million people, while Sinhalese account for 70 percent of the population.

Bishop Joseph said the villagers of Pesalai asked the Sri Lankan forces, "If a sacred place like a church is unsafe, where else will the innocent civilians find safety?"

The bishop said, "The people are mortally afraid of the ... navy, and any amount of assurance is not going to change their fear-ridden psychosis. When they sight the navy moving in groups, the people at Pesalai run for their life to the church."

"At the moment all fishing in Mannar district is forbidden, and the life of the poor fisherman is miserable," said Bishop Joseph. He said fishing is the only occupation along the coast, and some families were left only with plain water and a little sugar to feed their infants.

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