A press release by several women’s groups states:

We recall with deep regret and remorse the tragic events of July 1983 in which thousands of Tamil women, men and children lost their lives and homes due to politicized and organized ethnic violence.

We express our deep sadness at the bereavement, loss and grief suffered by families who lost loved ones, friends and cherished memories and acknowledge the wounding and scarring fear and trauma that has haunted the Tamil community since then.

We deeply regret the consequence of the violence that led to large scale displacement and forced thousands of Tamils to flee the country of their birth and seek refuge in countries across the world causing painful fragmentation of the Tamil community.

In this year which marks 20 years since the events of July 1983, one of the most horrendous ethnic pogroms of modern Sri Lanka, we wish to strongly condemn all the acts of commission and omission in July 1983 and its aftermath. We also strongly condemn the two decades of official silence with no acknowledgement or reparation to the Tamil community. We wish as women who have been working for a peaceful and just political solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict to apologize for the events of July 1983 and promise to make every effort to ensure that such a pogrom will never again be the fate of any ethnic community living in Sri Lanka.

It is our sincere hope that we, as women from all ethnic communities, can work together to sustain the current peace process and search for a lasting peace in our country which will protect the human and democratic rights of all our peoples. This is the real hope of the Sri Lankan Tamil community and all Sri Lankans who do not wish for a 1983 to ever happen again.

MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS OF LANKA
WOMEN’S COALITION FOR PEACE
WOMEN’S FORUM FOR PEACE