Monks of War is Al Jazeera’s second news feature on Sri Lanka aired in August. As noted on their site:

To many of us, Buddhism, with the sacred principle of non-violence, is the most peaceful religion of all. But in Sri Lanka a group of radical monks who say they represent the Singhalese majority are urging the government to take a hard-line, pro-war stance against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

To make their voices heard in the political arena the monks have even set up their own political party - the JHU - which participated in the 2004 elections and secured nine seats in parliament.

They are monks, they are political and they are not shy of controversy. Their belief that only a full-out military offensive will end the conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels has put them at loggerheads with peace activists, foreign mediators, and Buddhists who favour non-violence. Pro-war monks have attacked peace marches and accused international NGOs of secretly funding the Tamil Tigers to stop the global advance of political Buddhism.

But how representative are they of popular Singhalese feelings? Is it true that Buddhism in Sri Lanka is under threat? And can war really be the way to peace?

Watch Monks of War below, and How the East Was Won here. Both programmes are reviewed here.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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• Sri Lanka’s Dirty War July 2007 In the past 18 months, over 2,000 Sri Lankans have been kidnapped or murdered, allegedly by government death squads. Now Human Rights Watch is calling for aid to Sri Lanka to be withheld. The Tamil homeland of Northern Sri Lanka is once again a war zone. The government is convinced it can crush the rebels... groundviews, August 7, 2007
• How The East Was Won - Watch the Al-Jazeera documentary Groundviews was the first to review the new Al-Jazeera documentaries on Sri Lanka (Mistaking Night for Day in the New Dawn of the East: A Review Article of the al-Jazeera Documentaries, ‘How the East was Won’ and ‘Monks of War’). You can now watch this documentary online. See the Groundviews video channel for Al-Jazeera’s previous videos... groundviews, August 29, 2007