South Asian Peacebuilders Condemn Bombings in Sri Lanka

2 May 2019 News Regional Centre for Strategic Studies

The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) South Asia, together with its GPPAC partners around the world, strongly condemns the deadly bombings in several churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on the 21st of April, 2019, which killed over 250 people and injured another 500. These barbaric acts, which were committed on Easter Sunday, are an ugly manifestation of violent extremism, which undermines all our collective efforts towards maintaining sustainable peace and long lasting security.

GPPAC shares the grief of the families and friends of those who were killed and wishes a swift recovery to all those who were wounded.

It is extremely important that the perpetrators are brought to justice under the law of the land, to ensure that such malicious acts are prevented in the future.

Cooperation and sharing of intelligence across countries in the region is also of utmost importance in countering violent extremism. Accordingly, we strongly urge the countries of South Asia to resolve the problems that divide them and unite for the protection of our people through gender inclusive, interfaith and inter-generational dialogue and peacebuilding initiatives that will enable us to get to the heart of the root causes of such violence

This horrendous act of violence underscores the need for systematic and collective efforts toward preventing violent extremism. This hideous incident just shows the imperative to re-double our efforts in shifting the prevalent paradigm of reaction to conflict into prevention and transformation.