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court battles confront anti-conversion bill The JHU said it would be organising twenty seminars during the first two weeks of August to create an awareness among the general public as a means of counteracting the island-wide signature campaigns against the bill. The Sihala Urumaya Administrative Secretary, Udaya Gammanpila told The Sunday Times that there 'might be technical flaws' with the JHU bill and said the party would take steps to initiate a dialogue with the mainline Christian churches. He said the JHU would not resort to signature campaigns to garner support from Buddhists as the JHU had received a mandate for the introduction of a bill to protect Buddhism. The Catholic Church and the Christian Council has presented some 22 petitions in court challenging the bill. Referring to the proposed government's anti-conversion bill proposed by the Buddha Sasana Ministry, the JHU administrative secretary accused the government of ‘delaying tactics’. "No deadline has been set for the government draft. We were not consulted about it. Neither have we seen it", Mr. Gammanpila said while alleging the government was bowing down to pressure from western powers. The Buddhasasana Ministry said there was also the possibility of amalgamating the government draft with that of the JHU. Buddha Sasana Ministry Secretary D.W. Abeywickrema said the government would present the draft Bill titled the Religious Freedom Act and the Supreme Sangha Council Bill on a priority basis. "We cannot give a definite time frame for the bill to be presented in Parliament. We are awaiting the draft from the Legal Draftsman’s Department after due scrutiny. We will look into the possibility of amalgamating both drafts", Mr. Abeywickrema said. The government bill on conversions has been drafted on recommendations made by the ten-member Presidential Buddha Sasana Commission report of June 28, 2002. Mr. Abeywickrema said a 21-member Supreme Sangha Council would be appointed to advise the government on all matters pertaining to Buddhism in Sri Lanka. A spokesperson for the Malwatte Chapter when contacted said they have not taken any formal stand on the issue of the anti-conversion bill. UNF Deputy Secretary, Tissa Attanayake told The Sunday Times that the party has not taken any decision on the JHU bill. Minister Susil Premajayantha meanwhile said there were 'ample differences' between the proposed government bill and the private members bill presented by the JHU. "The Government bill is based on the Buddhist Commission report of 2001 but is applicable to forced and unethical conversions affecting any religion", Minister Premajayantha said adding that the government would not introduce any draft in an 'ad hoc manner'. "Yes, we are taking time. We are not in a hurry. We have sent the bill to the Legal Draftsman and once we get it back we will submit it once again for Cabinet approval", Minister Premajayantha said, responding to allegations by the JHU that the government was avoiding presenting the bill in Parliament. He did not comment on the JHU bill that was read in Parliament and said the government would await the ruling by the Supreme Court. Colombo's Archbishop Dr. Oswald Gomis, who is the Head of the Catholic church in Sri Lanka -- comprising some 6.9 percent of the country's population -- said the Catholic Church would be lobbying for an inter-religious committee to tackle the issue of unethical conversions as opposed to any legislation. He dismissed the JHU bill as being too broad and alleged the bill could lead to false and malicious charges being made on the grounds of personal animosity. "We have informed the JHU that we believe the issue of conversions should be resolved through equal representation of all religious denominations in an inter-religious committee. It should be the committee who should determine if religious action should be initiated against any complaint of unethical conversion", Colombo's Archbishop said. Meanwhile a petition was filed by the All Ceylon Hindu Congress President, Kandiah Neelakandan, protesting against the preamble to the JHU bill which Mr. Neelakandan alleges is seeking to portray Buddhism as the country's foremost religion but the petition does not oppose the main objective of the bill. The Muslim Theological Council, the All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema said that although the Muslims were not directly affected by the bill they were perturbed by the likelihood of legal action being constituted against people who convert and not so much against the fundamental missionaries. Moulana Rilwan Rahim of the Muslim Theological Council said the Council was concerned about illegal conversions but added that if the anti-conversions bill becomes law it could have serious implications on human rights. National Christian Evangelical Association's President Geoffrey Theagaraja said the Association which represents five denominations -- the Dutch Reformed Church, the Assembly of God, the Salvation Army, the Calvary Church, the Church of the Four Square Gospels -- with a total of seventy four churches was fully opposed to the bill. |
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