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Lanka massacres that triggered civil war haunt 40 years later

Published

3 years ago

2023/07/30

Thilina Walpola

Forty years ago, anti-Tamil violence in Sri Lanka exploded, fuelling a civil war that continues to haunt survivors.

by Amal JAYASINGHE

Forty years ago, mobs in Sri Lanka burned 13 people alive, part of a week-long pogrom that turbocharged simmering ethnic unrest into all-out civil war.Known in Sri Lanka as “Black July”, the brutal violence triggered a 26-year conflict that killed about 100,000 people and set development back by decades, ending only after the Tamil rebels fighting for autonomy were massacred in 2009.

The 1983 anti-Tamil mob attacks escalated on July 29, when Mohan Panneer Selvam was just eight years old.A rampaging gang torched his home in the tea-growing central town of Hawa Eliya, burning 13 people inside, including his parents, relatives and their staff.

“My grandmother started to escape, they shot her and threw her body into the house,” Panneer Selvam said, breaking down while recalling the events narrated to him by his older sister.

He and his younger brother were away at boarding school when the riots broke out, returning as orphans to the ruins of their burned home two months later.His sister — then a child of 10 — was the sole survivor only because their mother “threw her out of the kitchen window,” he said. She was wounded and found “two or three days later” by police and sent to a camp for Tamils made homeless by the violence.

“My sister saw the burnt bodies — they put the bodies in a municipal tractor (trailer),” he told AFP. “They dumped them somewhere.”

Ethnic tensions between the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the largely Hindu and Christian Tamil minority had long simmered, and worsened after ex-colonial ruler Britain quit in 1948.The conflict erupted in July 1983, when a landmine ambush laid by Tamil rebels killed 13 Sinhalese soldiers, in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna.The government flew the bodies to Colombo for a mass burial, but relatives demanded individual funerals and rioted.

The backlash degenerated into a week of violence targeting Tamils, with the worst of the violence on July 29, dubbed “Black Friday”, when Panneer Selvam’s family was killed.According to the government, about 400 to 600 people died over the course of the massacres — mostly Tamils. But minority groups say the true toll could be in the thousands.

“The events that happened… changed the course of history,” said Tamil legislator M. A. Sumanthiran.

“We don’t regard what happened in 1983 as a riot, because it was planned violence unleashed on the Tamil people in this country. It was a pogrom.”

Some claim the army was actively involved or provided tacit support to the attacks in revenge for the loss of their 13 comrades, and several then-government officials were seen leading mobs. No one has been prosecuted.But some Sinhalese did protect Tamil neighbours.Human Rights lawyer Nimalka Fernando, who is Sinhalese, sheltered Tamil and Muslim neighbours.

“Over 40 years, it has been a journey to grapple with waves of internally displaced people, waves of refugees in my own country,” she said.

Sumanthiran said autonomy was the “political standard of the Tamil people”, noting they had always voted for a federal system — and had even demanded a separate state during elections in 1977.

“To quell that, to subdue that, violence was practised,” he said. “So ‘83 was the height of that kind of strategy by the government”

Sumanthiran says about 1.3 million Tamils fled the country after the riots, many north to neighbouring India — motivating their increasing interest in the conflict.New Delhi pressed Colombo to seek peace by granting autonomy to the Tamils, and the Sinhalese leaders’ policy “boomeranged” back in their faces, he added.

“While everything was on fire, the Indian government intervened,” Sumanthiran said.Of the estimated 100,000 killed in the war, the dead are split roughly equally between the security forces, Tamil fighters and Tamil civilians, with Sinhalese and Muslims also among the dead.

The physical scars of the war fade, and only a few of the battle-scarred buildings remain. But the legacy of events 40 years ago lives on.Today, Sumanthiran said many Tamils still dream of political autonomy.

“Successive governments after the war ended have been successful in sort of delaying it — promising and not doing,” he said. “But I don’t think they can do that for too long”.

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New Chairperson and Members appointed to the Finance Commission

Published

7 hours ago

2026/07/22

Priyan

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed Ms N. R. Anees as the new Chairperson and a member of the Finance Commission.

J. M. C. J. Wijetunga and K. Karunaharan have been appointed as the other members of the Commission.

The letters of appointment were presented to the appointees by the Secretary to the President, Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, at the Presidential Secretariat ton Monday (20) afternoon

The appointments were made to fill the vacancies createdy following the expiry of the terms of office of the previous members of the Finance Commission.

(PMD)

News

True leadership is not about titles or power, but about acting responsibly for the well-being of others – Prime Minister

Published

8 hours ago

2026/07/22

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that true leadership is not about titles or power, but about acting responsibly, with compassion, and working for the well being of the others.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while attending the President’s Guide Award and Prime Minister’s Award Ceremony, organized by the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association, one of the country’s leading voluntary organizations dedicated to empowering girls and young women. The ceremony was held on Sunday (19th July )at Temple Trees in Colombo.

During the event, the Prime Minister presented medals and certificates to the award recipients.

A total of 350 awards were presented at this year’s ceremony, comprising 338 President’s Guide Awards and 12 Prime Minister’s Awards, in recognition of the recipients’ discipline, resilience, integrity, and commitment to serving others.

Addressing the occasion, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that one of the greatest strengths of the Girl Guides association is its commitment to providing equal opportunities to every child, regardless of their background or abilities. The Prime Minister also emphasized that true leadership is not defined by titles or power, but by acting responsibly, listening with compassion, and working for the well-being of others.

The Prime Minister further noted that while women had limited opportunities in the past, today increasing opportunities are being created for girls and women across all sectors, and young women are making remarkable progress in every field. The Prime Minister further stressed that every girl and young woman deserves equal opportunities to improve themselves, noting that the country needs young women leaders who are ready to step forward to build a better future for Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister also highlighted that, particularly at a time when Sri Lanka is undertaking significant economic and democratic reforms, achieving sustainable national progress requires not only economic growth but also the development of citizens who uphold strong ethical values and social responsibility. In this regard, she commended the invaluable contribution made by the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association.

Guided by its motto, “Be Prepared,” the Girl Guiding Movement in Sri Lanka was first established on 21 March 1917 at Kandy High School by Miss Jenny Calverley Green. Today, the movement operates through seven branches; Butterflies, the Little Friends, the Guides, the Rangers, the Youth, the Differently Abled Guides, and the Community Guiding Units, catering to different age groups and abilities. The President’s Guide Award is the highest honour that can be achieved by a Girl Guide and is awarded only to those who successfully complete the required challenges, written and oral examinations, and the BP Challenge. The Prime Minister’s Award is presented as the highest recognition within the Ranger Guide section.

The event was attended by at the President of the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association Swarnika Pitigala, Chief Commissioner Dr. Kushantha Herath, President’s Guide Commissioner Pushpa Perera, Prime Minister’s Guide Commissioner Aruni Karunaratne, other senior officials of the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association, President’s Guides and Prime Minister’s Guides, as well as a large number of their parents.

(Prime Minister’s Media Division)

News

Customs asked to resume probe or face legal action

Published

17 hours ago

2026/07/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

Rs. 16 bn BMW revenue fraud:

Public interest litigation activist Nagananda Kodituwakku has said he will initiate appropriate proceedings against Director General of Customs, Wimal S.K. Liyanagama, in terms of the Anti-Corruption Act No 9 of 2023, unless the Customs carries out a revenue fraud inquiry to recover approximately Rs 16 bn in lost government revenue.

General Secretary of Vinivida Foundation, and former Customs officer, Kodituwakku said that though the Department, in response to his request for a meeting to discuss the issue, in writing, assured them that the investigation was underway, they found that the actual situation was not so.

Kodituwakku alleged that the Customs Chief had neglected what he called statutory duties under the Customs Ordinance, by disregarding his request for a meeting.

Kodituwakku said the investigation into the importation of 1,728 brand new BMW vehicles, under the concessionary duty permits issued by the government for the public servants, between 2011 and 2014, had been stalled.

The civil society activist said that investigations had revealed the vehicles hadn’t been imported by the permit holders themselves but others. It also transpired that the value of the imported vehicles, mentioned in the commercial invoices, proforma invoices and the CusDecs, tendered to Customs in the names of the permit holders, were not the actual values for the vehicles in question.

The high-profile case has been handled by the Central Investigation Directorate, at that time headed by Murugesu Thayabaran, a batchmate of Kodituwakku.

The ex-Customs officer said that he had appeared as counsel for Thayabaran in Court of Appeal and was determined to bring the case to a successful conclusion. According to him, the importer, over the years, had been represented by nine President’s Counsel as the case dragged on from the time of P.S.M. Charles, Director General, Customs.

Kodituwakku made available letters he wrote to the Customs and other parties on this issue, to The Island. Pointing out that the Court of Appeal on 7 May, 2024, dismissed the importer’s final appeal regarding the case pertaining to the revenue loss of Rs. 16 bn, Kodituwakku said that although the court had cleared the way for the Customs probe, no action had been taken.

However, the Court of Appeal ruling was given before Liyanagama succeeded Seevali Arukgoda as DG Customs on 6 May, 2026. Liyanagama served as Director General of the Department of Management Services at the Treasury before the new appointment.

Kodituwakku said that he had also brought the Customs case to the attention of the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

Emphasising the failure on the part of the Opposition to raise this issue, both in and outside Parliament, Kodituwakku said that since the exposure of the BMW scam, during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency, there had been four presidents, namely Maithripala Sirisena, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Ranil Wickremesinghe and incumbent Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Unfortunately, successive administrations had allowed the interested parties to drag the case. The lack of interest shown by political parties revealed that they not only protected those responsible but encouraged corrupt practices of allowing third parties to import vehicles in terms of permits issued to legitimate recipients of such permits.

Having campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, during the presidential and parliamentary polls in 2024, the NPP couldn’t, under any circumstances, turn a blind eye to this situation, Kodituwakku said, adding that even the IMF should be concerned of the failure on the part of successive governments to recover the money.

By Shamindra Ferdinando