The Jaffna District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC), with the guidance of its partner organization SOND, organised a peace march followed by a media conference. These were to highlight the growth in religious tension, request restraint on the part of all religions and to urge the government to prevent escalation.
At a time when the government is discouraging public protests, Jaffna DIRC was willing to take to the streets to protest against the increased instigation of religious disharmony in which the government is widely seen in the North as siding with one religion. The government has been using archaeological regulations to take over privately owned lands.
NPC, through its capacitation and mentoring activities, has been building the capacity of DIRCs to act collectively with the participation of religious clergy and lay people of all four religions. The DIRC invited NPC to join the peace march and media conference. They believed this would give the events a larger national significance. The DIRC also wanted NPC to be present alongside it for reasons of north-south solidarity.
During the media conference a question raised by a journalist was whether there was any understanding of the position of Tamil people who found their lands being suddenly taken away from them and fenced off on the grounds that there was an ancient Buddhist monument present there. It was pointed out that the president himself has spoken in opposition to this type of arbitrary take over and insisted that the legal process would be followed.