President Chandrika Kumaratunga offers a ‘national apology’ to all victims of ‘Black July’ in a speech commemorating its 21st anniversary.

Source
Speech by President Chandrika Kumaratunga at the 21st Anniversary of ‘Black July’, Presidential Secretariat, Colombo, 23 July 2004.

Extracts from the speech
“[Today] we commemorate one of the most shameful crimes ever perpetrated on this nation. … We know what occurred on that day and I don’t think I need to remind anyone of you here of the details of that day and the week that followed. Twenty one years is a long time, but I’m happy that at least today I have the opportunity to correct, even in a small way the tragedy that was perpetrated upon some of the Tamil people of this country.

“Many years after 1983, my Government had the occasion to appoint the Truth Commission under the distinguished chairmanship of former Chief Justice, Mr. S Sharvananda and two other distinguished members, Mr. M M Zuhair and Mr. S S Sahabandu, both legal luminaries; and that we were able even to some extent to elucidate the details of the incidents that occurred on those days. …

“The Commission has recommended certain amounts of monetary compensation to these victims of the various forms of violence. I must hasten to say that we do not believe that these small amounts of monetary compensation will in any way make up for the suffering undergone by those people. It is only symbolic of what the State wishes to do or say to those people, it is only symbolic of the apology that we wish to make to all those victims who have been identified and whose who may never be identified. The consequences of those incidents are horrendous. I don’t think I need to elaborate, those of you who are here are only too well aware of it. Over 700,000 Tamil people out of a total of about 1.2 million Tamil people living in this country at the time had to run away and find homes in other countries. Amongst these we count some of the best qualified professionals of Sri Lanka; committed qualified professionals and decent people. In addition these incidents of 21 years ago have radically changed the entire fabric of Sri Lankan society. From the top, right down to the bottom, vertically, horizontally and entirely. …

“Maybe the sociologists and other types of researchers could tell us, tell us how to honestly and truthfully look at what happened on that fateful day in Black July 1983, the reasons that led up to this and the consequences of that day.

“I believe at 21 years, one is supposed to come of age, human beings are said to come of age at 21 years. At least now I believe that we as a nation and especially the Sri Lankan state should come of age, look the truth in the face and make a national apology, first to all the victims of that day in Black July and then beyond them to the entire Nation.

“Perhaps it is the responsibility of the State and the Government to engage in that exercise first and foremost, and then all of us as the Nation, every citizen in this country should collectively accept the blame and make that apology to all of you here who are the representatives or the direct victims of that violence, and through you to all the other tens of thousands who suffered by those incidents. I would like to assign to myself the necessary task on behalf of the State of Sri Lanka, the Government and on behalf of all of us; all the citizens of Sri Lanka to extend that apology. It is late but I think it is still not too late. …

“All I wish is that we can all do collectively; all I would like to ask you at this moment is that we put that unpleasant past of about 50 years or a little bit more behind us and attempt to move forward. … We cannot forget, we cannot blind ourselves to the mistakes we have made; we will have to accept collective guilt for the wrongs, and then move forward. When I say collective guilt I mean first the State of Sri Lanka for the horrors they perpetrated upon one section of our peoples, 21 years ago and at other lesser moments, but I also mean all the others on the other side of the divide who have also used young children as suicide bombers, and killed hundreds of people and caused much suffering to other people. They will have all kinds of justifications, they will say, we have been wronged so therefore we must do the same thing. I do not think any of the religious leaders here or any one of us would accept those excuses. Those who use violence as a response to violence will have to understand as Lord Buddha has said and many others, Jesus Christ and all the other religious leaders, violence begets violence, it will never resolve the problem. …

“Today we are compensating just a handful of the victims, because we could not get together all the others, but from Monday onwards my office will be ready to undertake the task of distributing the relevant compensations to all those who would wish to present themselves, all those who have been identified in the Truth Commission Report. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my deep and sincere gratitude to Justice Sharvananda and the members and the Secretary of the Truth Commission for having painstakingly gone into all the details and the complaints that were presented to you and for having done this gigantic job with great success.”

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