COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lankans flocked to temples, mosques and churches Monday to pray for the success of historic peace talks aimed at ending one of Asia's longest running civil wars.
The talks between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels opened in Thailand on Monday.
The formal talks are the first in seven years, although government and rebel officials have met informally during the past few months to discuss implementation of a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire they signed on Feb. 22.
"Today is a ... start to put a permanent end to this country's woes," said Surangani Jayasundere before offering a basket of lotus flowers at the Gangarama Buddhist Temple in Colombo.
"Our only prayer is that both parties will work with sincerity. This island has suffered enough," said Jayasundere, who stopped at the temple on her way to her job as a secretary in a government office.
Hindus participated in a one-hour ceremony at the Kadiresen Temple to Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god of prosperity.
"We pray for blessings on members of both delegations and the return of peace and prosperity to our nation," said Jeyaraj Kumar, 56. The former trader has worked in a bicycle shop in the capital, Colombo, since being driven from his home in the northern Jaffna Peninsula by fighting in 1995.
"It has been my dream for the last seven years to go back home and it is only if these talks are successful that this will be possible," Kumar said.
Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority is predominantly Buddhist, while the Tamil minority is mostly Hindu. The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, have fought since 1983 to carve a separate homeland for the Tamils, claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese.
The Roman Catholic Church organized three days of religious observances in Jaffna, a northern city that has changed hands several times. Worshippers marched from the government-held city to the rebel-held Wanni jungle area on Sunday.
In Colombo, clergy representing Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity gathered at the Independence Square to light candles for the success of peace talks. They were joined by about 200 people from various peace groups.
"We are finally witnessing signs of ending this long and arduous conflict," said Ananda Vimalajoti, a Buddhist monk. "We are all stockholders in this peace process and it is our duty to make sure that returning to war won't ever be an option."
More than 64,500 people have been killed and 1.6 million displaced in the 19-year fighting.