Sri Lankans call for apology

By Frances Harrison BBC correspondent in Colombo

The riots led to civil war

More than 100 civil society groups in Sri Lanka have called for the president and prime minister to apologise for the 1983 anti-Tamil riots which triggered the country's civil war.

In what they called an act of remembrance for the riots, human rights activists called for serious attempts at ethnic reconciliation.

But the event was only attended by a few hundred people and a strong groundswell of public feeling still seems to be missing in the peace process.

Humanitarian agencies have issued a statement calling the 1983 riots an outbreak of unprecedented and shameful violence.

It said the killing and looting showed the state's unwillingness to maintain law and order.

Discrimination

One speaker at the event described how his father was burned alive in anti-Tamil riots in 1977 and then his wife's foster brother was burned alive in 1983.

He went on to say that there was not a month of his life when he had not suffered discrimination as a Tamil living in Sri Lanka - including recent police harassment because of his work as a peace activist.

ANTI-TAMIL RIOTS Twenty years on - riots that led to war

On behalf of the government commission for refugees, Bradman Weerakoon spoke of the need to accept that minorities had been wronged by the state in the past.

But he stopped short of acknowledging state involvement in orchestrating the 83 riots as widely alleged at the time and since.

Instead, Mr Weerakoon blamed the inaction of the security forces on the prevailing chaos and confusion.

The organisers of the event called for government compensation for the victims who 20 years later are still waiting for financial help in rebuilding their lives.

A recent presidential inquiry received complaints from nearly 1,000 Tamil victims of the riots - almost all of whom were still facing bureaucratic obstructions in obtaining redress.

The event ended with a candlelight vigil in Independence Square but the poor turnout suggested few people want to dwell on the past now or reflect on what is needed to heal Sri Lanka's divided society.