President Ranil Wickremesinghe is visiting India and meeting its top leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and billionaire Gautam Adani. This visit takes place in the shadow of the 40th anniversary of Black July. During the week of July 23 in 1983 an anti-Tamil pogrom with sections of the government conniving took place in Colombo primarily, but also in several other parts of the country. The destruction of life and property and physical violence that followed constitutes a period of shame and sorrow that has haunted the country ever since.
So far the Sri Lankan state has failed to reassure the ethnic and religious minorities that they are safe and secure in the country. On several occasions there have been localized anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim riots in which the security forces have not been able to stop the rampaging mobs. The National Peace Council urges the government, opposition and civil society to recall those days and strengthen their resolve that such terrible and evil deeds will never again occur in Sri Lanka.
We also urge the government, opposition and civil society to collectively strive to find a political solution to the ethnic conflict to the ethnic conflict that will strengthen and unify the country and our people to face the economic and social challenges it faces. We believe the 13th Amendment which is an outcome of the Indo Lanka Peace Accord of 1987 provides the basis of a solution based on the devolution of power. The 13th Amendment needs to be implemented in full, including the devolution of police and land powers as specified in the constitution, together with the re-establishment of elected provincial councils which have been defunct for over five years due to the failure to hold democratic elections.
We hope that the visit of President Wickremesinghe to India leads to increased support from India to resolve the ethnic conflict through political reform and bring relief to the long suffering people of Sri Lanka. The Indo-Lanka Peace Accord is an international treaty and the 13th Amendment to the constitution that was formulated under it can be considered to be an international obligation. We take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the people and government of India for having provided economic and political sustenance to the country and people at our time of greatest need.
Governing Council
The National Peace Council is an independent and non partisan organization that works towards a negotiated political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It has a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka in which the freedom, human rights and democratic rights of all the communities are respected. The policy of the National Peace Council is determined by its Governing Council of 20 members who are drawn from diverse walks of life and belong to all the main ethnic and religious communities in the country.