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Sri Lankan President Appoints Commission to Probe 1983 Riots
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed a three-member "truth commission" on Friday to conduct investigations into ethnic riots in 1983 which sparked the 18-year ethnic war between government forces and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
The commission headed by retired chief justice S. Sharavananda also includes a former MP who is a supporter of the ruling party.
The Presidential Secretariat said in a statement that the commission is authorized to probe incidents of ethnic violence between 1981 and 1984, particularly the July 1983 riots, during which 13 soldiers of the majority Sinhalese community were killed by Tamil Tiger rebels,
The riots sparked an all-out war between government forces and the Tamil rebels who want an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country ever since then.
The statement said that the commission has also been mandated to inquire and ascertain persons, groups and institutions directly or indirectly responsible for the ethnic violence and to decide the nature of relief to be provided to the victims or their dependants of the violence.
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