Grief is aware of no ethnicity, says Dissanayake, pledging lasting peace in Sri Lanka

File photograph of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, President of Sri Lanka.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“Grief knows no ethnicity”, Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has stated, as he vowed to make sure “lasting peace” and construct a society “anchored in justice”.

Mr. Dissanayake made the remarks on the sixteenth “War Heroes’ Commemoration Ceremony” held on Monday (May 19, 2025), a day after hundreds of Tamils gathered in Mullivaikkal, within the northern Mullaitivu district, to recollect their family members who have been killed by the armed forces within the ultimate section of the island nation’s civil warfare that led to 2009.

According to the United Nations, some 40,000 civilians have been killed, together with in areas declared “no fire zones” by authorities, and hundreds disappeared, within the gory battle that spanned over three many years. Survivors have been unrelentingly demanding accountability and justice for what worldwide rights teams have discovered to be grave abuse of human rights.

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“Our predecessors endured conflict; ours is a generation still grappling with its residual divisions. But we must resolve to leave our children a nation free from strife, a society anchored not in power struggles but in justice,” Mr. Dissanayake stated in his handle to troopers. Observing that warfare is “synonymous with tragedy and devastation”, he famous, “Today, we witness the remnants of this devastation, children orphaned, parents bereaved, and spouses widowed. Across our land, from North to South, grief knows no ethnicity.”

In a uncommon acknowledgment from a southern chief, of the scores of lives misplaced within the Tamil majority areas of the north and east, Mr. Dissanayake pointed to individuals — “not only in the south but also in the north” — holding up images of their family members on the streets, mourning their demise. “To every parent, their child is precious. So, as a country that has faced such a massive tragedy, our responsibility today is to prevent such a war from happening again in our country,” he stated.

Elected to the nation’s high workplace final yr, Mr. Dissanayake and his majority-wielding National People’s Power, raised expectations, together with amongst Tamils who backed them, over delivering significant reconciliation and equitable improvement. Six months since, the federal government faces rising scrutiny over pending implementation of its pledges.

Contending that conflicts, racism, and extremism have been “strategically exploited” at varied instances to accumulate, maintain, and strengthen energy, President Dissanayake stated, “These issues have not emerged naturally; rather, they have been manipulated to secure authority and to obscure the wrongdoings committed.”

“Today, peace is increasingly being portrayed as a sign of betrayal. Reconciliation is being distorted into surrender. But as a progressive society we must raise our voices for more than ever for humanity and compassion. This applies not only within our own country, but across the world,” Mr. Dissanayake stated, asking what wars and conflicts raging across the globe have really delivered to individuals. “Victory? No, only destruction. That is why I believe we must act with unwavering commitment and clarity in our efforts to achieve lasting peace.”

Watch: 15 years on, justice and economic progress elude Sri Lanka’s Tamils

In a social media put up, opposition MP and Tamil Progressive Alliance Leader Mano Ganesan stated Sri Lankans ought to attain a “patriotic destination” the place they’re able to commemorate “all our dead souls and if need to be, victory over all kind of terrorism, state and non-state [actors]” and within the south and north of the nation.

Urging the federal government to deal with “root causes” of the warfare, Mr. Ganesan pointed to the discrimination of minorities starting in 1948, with the Ceylon Citizenship Act that disenfranchised Indian Origin [Hill Country or Malaiyaha] Tamils, the Sinhala Only Act of 1956, and the failure by successive governments to implement varied political commitments and legislative pledges, together with the 13^th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution.

“Will the new government undo the past failures of its predecessors and bring justice and accountability?” rights watchdog Amnesty International requested in a put up on the commemoration.