Lankan Buddhist monks visit bombed church; say 'we don't have any anger' against other religions

A small group of monks in saffron robes visited the bombed St Anthony's Church here on Monday and said they dont have any anger or ill will towards anyone of any other religion in the Buddhist-majority nation. The Buddhist monks visited the historic Catholic church located at Kochchikade, a day after a suicide bomber reportedly triggered a huge blast, killing many worshippers who had gathered for the Easter Sunday morning mass.

Venerable Prof Pitigala Vijitha Thero was outside St Anthony's Shrine said he was "extremely saddened and grieved" by the incidnet. "Since the (civil) war, people belonging to all religions and faiths had been co-existing and living together in unity and harmony. This is not something that anyone could have anticipated," he told the BBC.

He said he condemned the attacks, but "we don't have any anger or ill will towards anyone of any other religion". "I pray that peace prevails - not only in this country but in the whole world," he said.

Sri Lanka is a country of great religious diversity that crosses ethnic lines, and the monks' presence at the church was a sign of this, CNN commented. Sunday's attacks are the deadliest seen in Sri Lanka since the end of the country's civil war in 2009. The civil war ended with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, who had fought for 26 years for an independent homeland for the minority ethnic Tamils. The war is thought to have killed between 70,000 and 80,000 people.

The nation has seen some sporadic violence since. In March 2018, a state of emergency was declared after hardline members of the majority Buddhist Sinhala community attacked mosques and Muslim-owned properties. According to census data, 70.2 per cent of Sri Lankans identifies as Buddhist, 12 per cent Hindu, 9.7 per cent Muslim, and 7.4 per cent Christian. It is estimated that 82 per cent of Sri Lankan Christians is Roman Catholic.