Hakeem offers condolences over death of Ven. Bellanwila Wimalarathana Thero

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader and Minister of City Planning and Water Supply, Rauff Hakeem, expressed his condolences over the death of Prof. Ven Bellanwila Wimalarathana Thero.

The following is his message of condolence.

An intense sense of grief strikes me as I take a few moments from my hectic election campaign to reflect upon the passing away of the preeminent, most erudite Venerable, Professor Bellanwila Wimalarathana Thero of the Bellanwila Rajamaha Viharaya. I have all along been an ardent admirer of the Maha Thero for his singularly commendable and brave viewpoints and for his formidable preaching and writing as a missionary and educator. Above all, I always knew him as a principled, standard-bearer of the council of inter-religious harmony in Sri Lanka and had the honour and privilege to be a co-speaker at the High-Level Buddhist Muslims Summit in Yogjakarta and Borobudur, Indonesia recently and in many other forums with him. We spoke at length about how we as followers of different belief systems were respectively secure and comfortable in our Buddhism and Islamism, intrinsic to our Sri Lankan patriotism. It was important for him that we nurture this exquisiteness in our country.

It was not long ago that we were grappling with the loss of peace and ethnic and inter-religious tension. Wherever and whenever needed, Ven. Bellanwila Thero steadfastly stood his ground to help diminish any chance of perpetually recurring ethnic enmity and tension. In his passing away, as a Muslim political leader, I cannot for a moment doubt, under any circumstance, what would have been the course of this country and what our future holds if we failed to have erudite monks of responsibility such as the Ven. Bellanwila Maha Thero. In his work and service are deeply laid the seeds of future welfare, not merely to the Buddhists but also to those of all faiths in this country. 

Ven. Bellanwila Maha Thero in the true sense of a Buddhist priest understood the universe, spoke and lived in the most civilized manner, a life with righteous intentions for the larger goodness of humanity. I deem, in his passing away, as his supporters, we have collectively and dangerously increased our responsibility as a nation to work towards inter-religious amity.