NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
After almost 18 years, Sri Lanka has appointed a three-member commission to probe the ethnic violence of 1983 in which Sinhalese gangs hunted down minority Tamils.
"The (truth) commission will go into the worst incidence of ethnic violence committed in the recent history of the country," said a statement issued by Director of Information Ariya Rubasinghe.
An estimated 400 to 600 Tamils were killed in the 1983 riots, which led to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam stepping up their bloody campaign for a separate state.
The communique said President Chandrika Kumaratunga had decided to appoint the panel after representations were made by several national and international organisations to report on 'gross violations of human rights and damage to property' committed during rioting between 1981 and 1984, 'with special reference to July 1983'.
Violence spread overnight after 13 soldiers were killed in a landmine explosion in the embattled north. Since then, some 60,000 people have lost their lives in the ethnic conflict.
The commission is to be headed by a retired chief justice S Sharvananda, MM Zuhair, a lawyer and former ruling party legislator, and SS Sahabandu, a lawyer.
The panel has also been mandated to identify 'persons, groups and institutions directly or indirectly responsible for such violence and to decide the nature of relief to be provided to victims or their dependants'.
Indo-Asian News Service
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
