Expert panel recommends recognising right to commemorate Sri Lanka's conflict victims

Colombo, Jun 12 (PTI) An expert panel appointed by Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has recommended the right to commemorate the victims of the armed conflict during the three decades of civil war in the island nation.
    The panel, appointed by Wickremesinghe a year ago to make recommendations on the vexed question of commemorating those who had fallen victim to armed conflict, political unrest or civil disturbances between 1983 and 2009, submitted its report to him.
    The expert Committee recognises the right to memorialise and reveals in its Report that various groups and individuals have been engaging with the question of memorialisation and reconciliation in different ways. This constitutes a rich body of work that should be made part of the attempt to record, comment, or otherwise engage with the country’s conflict-related past.
    Every May since 2009, the security forces and civilians in the North and East provinces clash over the right to memorialize those who had perished during the final conflict in the over three-decade-old civil war. The forces claiming that the LTTE is still on the list of banned terrorist organisations resist civilian commemorations by way of restrictions.
    The rights groups alleging discrimination point to the state ceremony of marking the war heroes’ day to honour the fallen soldiers in the same conflict while denying the right to Tamils.
    The panel conducted public sessions in the former conflict districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara.
    "The public sessions provided a free and open forum to express aspirations and grievances related to community healing and reconciliation," a release said.
    The committee had recommended among others a centrally located iconic building as a repository associated with conflict and reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka with the collective commitment for non-recurrence and promote community healing and reconciliation among all Sri Lankans.
    From the mid-1980s to 2009, more than 100,000 people were believed to have died in the conflict which included 27,000 troops. A large number remains unaccounted for.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)