Police and Sinhalese nationalist groups this year again attacked the porridge distributions with which the Hindu minority remembers having starved in the final siege of the war that ended 15 years ago. Outrage of activists of all religions at : without memory there can be no reconciliation
Kandy () – Once again in Sri Lanka, May 18 – the day when Tamils remember the victims of the long civil war that ended 15 years ago – was strongly marked by acts of repression against this memory. This has sparked protests from many members of civil society, who consider that the memory of so many innocent deaths is an indispensable step towards true reconciliation.
To remember their relatives who died in the war, the Tamil population prepares and distributes kanji, rice porridge in memory of the victims, on May 18. The gesture is reminiscent of the fact that in the final stages of the 30-year war that ended in 2009, thousands of innocent Tamil citizens faced severe food shortages. All relief services, including the Red Cross, were prevented from entering war zones and only the limited amount of rice provided by the government helped alleviate the hunger. All the rice was harvested and this porridge was prepared with sea water without even salt. In this way, thousands of people survived starvation.
However, this type of memory was also suppressed by the Sri Lankan police in several cases this year. Three women who were organizing this initiative at a Hindu temple in Sampur, Trincomalee, were brutally tortured and detained by the police, who entered their homes during the night. Also in Colombo these commemorations were threatened by racist Sinhalese-Buddhist groups and the police.
Several personalities of all confessions have expressed their outrage at these incidents to . The Buddhist Ven. Yatawatte Dhammananda Thero, deputy secretary of the Kandy district of the Sri Lanka Amarapura Maha Sngha Sabha, said: “People on both sides have lost their lives in the war. We are saddened that a large number of Tamils have died due to this conflict. The commemorations are not for those who joined the Tamil militias, but for the innocents who died. Remembering them is not an act of terrorism: I see nothing wrong with it, preventing it is a great injustice.’
I still remember well the 1983 riots,” adds Siddique Hajjiar, president of the Federation of Muslim Mosques in the Kandy district: “How many people were burned to death on the road? For thirty years, lives and property have been destroyed in our country. What have we achieved? The current crisis is the result of that war. And there is nothing wrong in commemorating the Tamils who died in this way.
“Let’s take the example of other places where genocides have taken place and memory is taken into account,” Sister tells . Deepa Fernando, social justice activist and educator: “In Rwanda, many Catholic churches have been named places of remembrance for those who were murdered. In Norway, the island called Utoya, the scene of a heinous terrorist attack in which 77 young people lost their lives, has become a place where people facing various sufferings, confusions and mental illnesses can express their pain and achieve peace. “mental healing.”
“Remembrance is a long-term healing process,” concludes Kumara Illangasinghe, Anglican bishop emeritus and human rights activist, “to ease the burden, pain and suffering of those affected. If we do not allow it, we commit a great injustice to them. Our country has been blessed with four great religions. None of these religions teach to oppress people, to hurt them, to destroy lives. To harass them. Therefore, these people must have the right to remember their dead relatives.
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