The Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, has issued a statement refuting Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse’s allegation that he and the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) have demanded a ban on Buddha’s statues being erected in the Northern Province.

The Chief Minister said that he and the Northern Provincial Council had only objected to the illegal erection of Buddhist statues and the building of Buddha Viharas in areas where there are no Buddhists. He also said that the objection was to the erection of these illegally on forcibly seized privately owned lands and that statues of the Buddha and the construction of Buddhist temple are being done without consulting the elected Provincial Council.

Wigneswaran clarified that neither he nor the Council is against the building of Buddhist places of worship, provided it serves the people around, is done with the sanction of the local council and on land which is not seized from private owners.

Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse said in parliament recently that the Northern Provincial Council had no constitutional authority to ban the construction of Buddhist places of worship. 

According to the Governor of the Northern Province Reginold Cooray the threat from the construction of Buddhist places of worship is being blown up as there are only 15 Buddhist places of worship in the entire North in contrast to hundred so Hindu temples and Christian churches.

But Wigneswaran said that the whole controversy had arisen from a misunderstanding of the Tamil case. No one in the North would object to construction of Buddhist temples there if it can be justified in terms of the population around, and if it is done as per the law of the land. But the fact was that there had been illegalities and absence of consultation, he pointed out.

Source: The New Indian Express

-Agencies