Interfaith Petition Calls on President to Stop War

November 10, 2007

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Indian Catholic

http://www.theindiancatholic.com/report.asp?nid=9049

Catholic and Buddhist priests handed a petition to the office of the president calling for peace in Sri Lanka after more than two decades of war. A small group of clergy was allowed to enter the President's House in Colombo on Nov. 6 to hand in the petition addressed to the president.

Initiated by a Catholic bishop in the war-torn north and signed by 85,000 people of various faiths from around the country, it calls for an end to the war between Tamil rebels and the Sinhalese-led government that has raged on this island since 1983.

The petition, written in English, calls for peace, not war. Part of the text includes an emotional appeal for the victims of the war.

"We do not like to leave mothers without children, widows without husbands, disabled people without care. We, the children, youth, women and men of this island can live in peace together, sharing power and resources among ourselves," it says.