Source: ZENIT News Agency
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=46903
On January 1, 2004 ZENIT News Agency reported, "Sri Lanka hopes to introduce a law that will limit conversions from one religion to another, the country's Minister of Religious Affairs announced. The Colombo government will promote a legislative disposition directed to those who use a variety of 'incentives' to convince others to change their religion. 'More than 7,000 Hindus, from the northeast and central provinces of Sri Lanka, have converted to Christianity in the past 10 years,' Minister of Religious Affairs Thiagarajah Maheswaran, a Hindu, told the press during a visit to Madras, India. Maheswaran added: 'The conversions have grown in recent months, since international humanitarian agencies committed to the reconstruction of the country have begun to construct churches.'"