Lanka Buddhists take on Church

Lanka Buddhists take on Church

Sandhya Jain

Lion-hearted Sri Lanka leads by example once again. It was the first nation in the post-World War II era to elect a woman Prime Minister; then it became the first nation to spurn ineffective external intermediaries in a fratricidal war and launch a concerted armed effort to end violent secessionism once and for all.

Now, the island’s Buddhist religious leadership has risen to redeem the Indic tradition by repudiating inter-faith dialogue and demanding national legislation against conversions. India would do well to take a leaf out of Sri Lanka’s book, given the mischief Christian colonial powers are wreaking in our neighbourhood: Myanmar, Nepal, Tibet, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and of course, Iraq.