The fire that was set 25 years ago is still burning within us says Mano Ganesan

(July 23, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The fire that was set twenty five years ago which shattered our lives is still burning within us as the conditions prevailed then are yet applicable and not mended. We Tamils are prepared to forgive but not prepared to forget the trauma of 1983 as the Sinhala political leadership has failed provide the sense of accommodation even after all these black historical past said WPF Leader Mano Ganesan MP while addressing the workshop organized by National Peace Council in Colombo today. Ganesan said further in his presentation,

Sinhala film director Yasapalitha Nanayakara deputed by my late father’s friend Vijaya Kumaratunga saved all the members of our family from instant death in Havelock Town in Colombo on the fateful July 23rd in year 1983. I can remember it as I remember yesterday. But from personal experiences we ought to search for the root causes of the issues. Unless and until we address the root cause, basics of the black July are going to remain. What performed then in 1983 against Tamils was initiated by state terrorism and it is what is prevailing against Tamils now in 2008.

We cannot also simply by pass the occurrences of 1989. During this period state terrorism ruthlessly performed against Sinhala youths. Let us together condemn the occurrences of 1983, 1989 and 2008 and also the non state terrorism then and now. We cannot selectively condemn according to the present political agenda. We cannot do justice to 1983 victims by doing so. The LTTE, EPRLF, PLOTE, TELO, EROS and then EPDP and the JVP did not fall from the sky but the conditions for the formations of these respective armed violent movements were created by the first twenty five years of the history of Ceylon and then Sri Lanka. This history is being continued.
- Sri Lanka Guardian