The National Inter Religious Committee (NIRC), comprising religious and civil society leaders from 16 districts, held a meeting and media conference in Colombo under NPC’s project Consolidating Ongoing Multi-level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT).

The meeting began with a political discussion on the current situation with a panel of experts including Mr Prabodha Rathnayake from Rights Now, Mr Thilak Kariyawasam from Sri Lanka Nature Group and Mr S. Vishvalingam from Food Initiative Action Network of Sri Lanka.

The panel also discussed the role of District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) in the country’s path to peace and reconciliation.

At the media conference, where journalists from electronic and print media were represented, religious leaders delivered messages of peace for the upcoming presidential election.

After the media conference NIRC members discussed the positive and negative impacts of the policies of the government since 2015. They appreciated the Right to Information Act and spoke about the challenges facing the country regardless of which presidential candidate wins and how it was important to change narrow religious ideologies and traditional values.