World News | Lankan Tamils Say Govt Failed to Deliver Justice as They Mourn Victims of Civil War

Colombo, May 18 (PTI) Sri Lankan Tamils on Thursday said the government has failed to deliver justice to the victims of the brutal civil war as they observed the 14th anniversary of the end of the three-decade long conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Lankan forces.

On May 18, 2009, the separatist campaign led by the LTTE to establish a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern province of the island nation came to an end with the killing of the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran by the Sri Lankan Army in Mullaithviu's Vellamulivaikkal.

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Every year on May 18, while the armed forces celebrate the war victory, the Tamils mourn their dead during the final phase of the conflict.

The remembrance ceremony was convened on Thursday at Mullaivaikkal in the north eastern district of Mullaithivu - the scene of the final battle on May 18, 2009.

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Father Leo, a Catholic priest on behalf of the Mullaivaikkal Memorial Committee, called for justice and accountability at the ceremony held this morning at the site.

The mourners said the government has not delivered justice to the victims of the civil war.

In Colombo, a group of civil society activists said their attempt to commemorate the death of Tamil civilians was disrupted by the members of the majority Sinhala community who branded the commemoration as an act of remembering the "LTTE terrorists".

The riot police who intervened dispersed both sides from the site.

Sinhalese, mostly Buddhist, make up nearly 75 per cent of Sri Lanka's 22 million population while Tamils make up 15 per cent.

The majority hardline Buddhist clergy has also been thwarting attempts for reconciliation with the Tamil minority since 1948 when the country gained its independence from Britain.

The government has also planned for a remembrance of the fallen soldiers in the conflict on Friday near the parliament with all war-winning military commanders in attendance.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe who is the commander-in-chief of the troops is to preside over the event.

The Tamils allege that thousands were massacred during the final stages of the war that ended in 2009, a charge the Sri Lankan Army denies.

At least 40,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed in just the final months of the civil war, according to a UN report.

Sri Lanka has been subject to the UN human rights council resolutions since 2013 calling for accountability through international investigations to the incidents of alleged war crimes.

Ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was the defence secretary during the final phase of the conflict, is accused of ruthlessly ending Sri Lanka's civil war with the killing of LTTE supremo Prabhakaran in 2009.

The island nation has had a long history of failed negotiations with the Tamils. An Indian effort in 1987, which created the system of a joint provincial council for the Tamil-dominated North and East, faltered as the minority community claimed it fell short of full autonomy.

Wickremesinghe, who took over as the president last year amidst the unprecedented economic crisis and political turmoil, earlier, underlined the need to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to grant political autonomy to the minority Tamils in the country.

The 13A provides for the devolution of power to the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. India has been pressing Sri Lanka to implement the 13A which was brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)