By Rohan Wijesinha
The recent resistance of many conservationists and conservation agencies to the expansion, in the last few years, of the Pallenkandal Shrine, within the boundaries of the Wilpattu National Park, is based on Law and Principle, and is not a matter of religion, ethnicity or politics. It is also a matter of conservation – the preservation of the remaining wild places and wild creatures for the future health and prosperity of Sri Lanka. Any attempt to make it otherwise, by any of the parties involved on either side of the breach, should be strongly resisted.
History records that, the Roman Catholic missionary, Saint Joseph Vaz, came to Sri Lanka in 1687 and was in the Puttalam region in 1690. Local tradition says that in his movement down South from Jaffna to Puttalam, he built a series of small chapels for use by the beleaguered Catholics undergoing Dutch persecution, mainly fishing communities. One of these small churches, though inland from the coast, it is alleged is Pallenkandal, though there does not seem to be any contemporary written record that confirms this.
There is no doubt, however, that this little chapel was in existence prior to the establishment of the Wilpattu National Park in 1938, and hosted an annual feast for the fishing communities of Puttalam, a couple of hundred, who would erect temporary shelters for the three days of the feast, which were taken down when they returned home. There was little damage done to the environment surrounding this charming little chapel, an area of approximately a quarter of an acre, if that. The chapel then returned to the quiet of its surrounds for another year, steeped in the sanctity of the natural creation that surrounded it.
Consecrated in the name of St. Anthony, understandably with his connection to sailing and this being primarily a shrine for fishing communities, it could also have been ascribed to the founder of the Franciscan Order to whom St. Anthony belonged. This simple edifice of wood, mud and stone, placed in its forest setting, would have been a place of worship consistent with the simple, unworldly teachings of St. Francis of Assisi whose love for animals and the natural environment place him in a special place among the canon of Christian Saints. And in what better setting – the pristine surrounds of the Wilpattu National Park; for many, the most beautiful of this country’s protected areas.
Law
In 1938, Wilpattu was declared a National Park under the Fauna & Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO, 1937). Under this Law, all private tenements, rights and privileges seized to be operational over the said land, unless otherwise recognized by Law as a ‘traditional practice/use’. As such, the shrine at Pallenkandal can be maintained within the National Park, and its annual feast held there as it was before the declaration of the National Park, but only to the same degree of use – as per its tradition.
During three decades of war, this being a conflict zone, the chapel fell into disuse and disrepair, with the roof falling in. Then, at the end of the war, it was repaired and the annual feast resumed but to an extent that places it in breach of the FFPO, and has serious implications for the integrity of the National Park, its environment, and of the safety of its wild inhabitants.
Illegal Expansion
Within the last couple of years the chapel has been enlarged well beyond its original dimensions, and various other structures built around it; including halls, rooms, and a line of washing rooms, encroaching into an area of the National Park well beyond the extent of the original shrine. Numerous water tanks have also been added in the surrounds, some with advertising hoardings on them. No temporary shelters these.
From being an annual event for a few simple fishing communities to express their faith and hope in a guardian deity and saint, this has become a huge festival to match that, which takes place in Madhu in the Mannar District – a competition of feasts! An estimated 30,000 attended the feast in July of this year. A carpark of five to six acres in extent was cleared for the devotees, new paths cut down to the river and off the illegal new Mannar Road, and what was an annual feast has now become a weekly event, with a river bath and picnics thrown in for good measure for the entertainment of the pilgrims. The scale of the pollution (paper plastics, food remains, human excreta) can only be imagined, if not actually witnessed. Despite a cleanup following the feast, the impact on this pristine wilderness and its wildlife cannot be made light of. The administrators of the shrine, it is rumoured with political patronage, have a permanent fiesta in mind.
All of this development is taking place in an area noted as the best pasture for the elephants of Wilpattu. So what of their statutory guardians? The State’s representatives in protecting its National Parks, Sanctuaries and the wild creatures they host? They, the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), remain silent…if any proof were necessary of political complicity in this breach of the Nation’s Laws.
Recourse
So once again citizens of this nation have to go to Courts to have the law of the land upheld, while those assigned to that duty remain silent. It is fitting that the Wildlife & Nature Protection Society (WNPS) is leading the protest against this illegal encroachment in a National Park. The oldest organization of its kind in Sri Lanka, at over 122 years old, it was responsible for the setting up of the first National Parks, Wilpattu being one of them, and in the establishment of the DWC. It is already in Court over the laying of the illegal New Mannar Road by the previous political regime that has directly contributed to this illegal development too. At a recent press conference, the DWC issued the following statement:
“It is the WNPS’s position that the construction and forest clearing undertaken by the St. Anthony’s Church at Pallenkandal, in the recent past, are inside the Wilpattu National Park and being carried out without resorting to the proper Law and procedure.
The construction/renovation and clearing of forest land conducted by and/or on behalf of the said church are in violation of the law of the Land i.e. Sections 6 (1) of the FFPO No. 2 of 1937 (as amended). In addition, the detrimental impact on the National Park caused by the uncontrolled and / or unregulated human intrusion by thousands of pilgrims who visit the church on a weekly/monthly /annual basis cannot be ignored, and amount to an offence under the Sections 5, 5 (A), 5 (B) & 6 (1) of the FFPO.
Even to claim any right under ‘traditional use’, a claim which the WNPS does not concede to, the applicable provisions of the FFPO are quite clear that such a right should be exercised subject to the control and supervision of the DWC, as the Custodian of the Wilpattu National Park, who hold it in trust for and on behalf of the people of the Republic.
As such, there is a grave failure on the part of the DWC to uphold their mandate and effectively enforce the law within the boundaries of the Wilpattu National Park.”
A Precedent
If this illegal development remains unchallenged, it can have far reaching consequences that can spell the doom of all protected areas.
Almost every National Park and Sanctuary has within it places of religious worship, mainly Buddhist. If all of these sites were open to development, then the wild places and wild creatures of Sri Lanka are doomed, and with it, a source of major income to the country in foreign exchange, and with their destruction, great potential harm to the health and well-being of the people of this Nation.
All religions acknowledge a Creator God, and all religions preach the value of preserving the natural world – the forests, the waters, and the creatures they host. Fundamental to this was the ancient knowledge that their preservation was vital for the continued existence of the human species.
Perhaps, none, in recent times, has put this importance of the preservation of the natural environment and the wilderness better than that other Francis, His Holiness the Pope, who stated in a speech on Jan 18th 2015 in Manila – “As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to make the earth a beautiful garden for the human family. When we destroy our forests, ravage our soil and pollute our seas, we betray that noble calling.”
Courtesy:Ceylon Today