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 Another Catholic priest has been killed in the ongoing war between Tamil and national Sri Lankan forces near Jaffna. This time, the priest leaves behind a brother and widowed mother living in Toronto’s large Tamil community.
Fr. Nicholaspillai Pakiaranjith, 40, was struck with the blast from a claymore mine while delivering food to people left homeless by the war and stuck in a refugee camp near Kilinochchi in northeastern Sri Lanka. Packiyaranjith worked for the Jesuit Refugee Service.
Claymore mines are used extensively by the Sri Lankan military. The JRS claims U.S.-supplied claymores have killed more than 230 civilians in the last five years in Sri Lanka.
For Toronto’s Fr. Joseph Chandrakanthan, Pakiaranjith was the second former student he has lost in just over a year. Fr. Thiruchchelvam Nihal Jim Brown disappeared at an army check point Aug. 20, 2006, and is presumed killed. Chandrakanthan taught moral theology at St. Xavier’s Seminary in Colombogam to both young priests.
Chandrakanthan said it was with “deep sadness” that he learned of Pkiarannjith’s Sept. 26 death.
A man who was working with Pakiaranjith was also injured by the blast.
Pakiaranjith’s bishop praised his priest’s commitment to the poor and marginalized.
“It is a heinous crime to attack and kill such peace-loving and unarmed heroes of our society,” said Bishop Rayappu Joseph of Mannar. “Enough blood has flowed on this little island nation. This blood cries for peace and not for vengeance.”
Since 1983 more than 65,000 have been killed in the war between separatist Tamil forces and the Sri Lankan armed forces. Ethnic Tamils make up 18 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 19 million people, while the Sinhala-speaking majority represent 70 per cent of the population.
Packiyaranjith isn’t the first priest the Jesuit Refugee Service has lost to the Sri Lankan civil war. The first was American Jesuit Father John Herbert, who was killed June 27, 1990.
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