Lanka's Buddhist monks say no need for a new Constitution

The chief prelates of three main Buddhist chapters in Sri Lanka today unanimously decided that there is no need for a new Constitution, a move likely to have a significant impact on the government's effort to draft a new charter.
The Chief Prelates of the three Buddhist nikayas (chapters) -- Siyam, Ramngnna and Amarapura -- took the decision at a special meeting convened in Kandy.
The decision puts a major barricade to government's efforts to draft a new Constitution which will include electoral reforms and a political solution to the Tamil issue.
The Parliament has already commenced the process of drafting a new Constitution or amending the existing one.

Making changes to the current Constitution was an election pledge of President Maithripala Sirisena.
Earlier, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa also called MPs to vote against the bill, saying the proposed law is an attempt to subject soldiers for international prosecution over warcrime charges.

The Buddhist monks also called the government to delay the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances Bill, which is scheduled to be taken for debate in parliament this week, enabling the parliamentarians to study it well.
The monks also requested the government to resolve the ongoing crisis in the health and education sector over the country's only private medical college, South Asian Institute for Technology and Medicine (SAITM).

Doctors of government hospitals had planned to launch an island wide indefinite strike from tomorrow, demanding the closure of SAITM, but later postponed for one week following a request made by Archbishop of Colombo.
Representatives of the Buddhist monks are expected to meet Siriaena later this week to convey their concerns over the Constitution and other issues.
The stand taken by the leadership of the Buddhist monks is a clear morale boosting for the growing opposition to the new Constitution.