Source: Religious New Service
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, January 18, 2001: After 18 years of civil war, Norwegian diplomats have attempted to bring peace to the island nation of 19 million by initiating talks between the Sri Lankan government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Unlikely adversaries to stopping the conflict, Buddhist conservative monks are vocally promoting the war. Fearful of loosing their place as the most “Prominent country in the world for Orthodox Buddhism,” they view the war as necessary to protect their 2,300-year-old faith historically and culturally. Rather than granting the Hindu Tamils autonomy over affairs in their northern homeland, the monks are pushing for a complete military victory.