• Dr. Archchuna ‘apologises’ for North’s role/LTTE

The main Parliamentary Opposition Party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) called on the Government to apologise for the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s (JVP) actions of bombing the Temple of the Tooth relic premises in Kandy in 1981 due to political tensions in the country at the time.

“I ask the JVP to also apologise as they have also bombed the Dalada Maligawa,” SJB Parliamentarian Kabir Hashim said in the Parliament yesterday (19).

The JVP attack on the Temple of the Tooth took place on 8 February 1989 after the JVP and its military wing, the Patriotic People’s Movement, attacked various government and civilian targets.

This clarion call by Hashim came in the wake of Independent Northern MP Dr. Ramanathan Archchuna also apologising for the alleged role of the people of the Northern Province in the bombing of the Temple of the Tooth in 1998. 

“If it was by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and if the LTTE represented us, then, we apologise for the wrongdoing of the Dalada Maligawa bombing,” Dr. Archchuna said. 

“Unfortunately, since 1983, we are facing systematic discrimination in this country and that is the only reason that the Tamil people have been forced to take arms into their hands.” However, Dr. Archchuna requested that the country move on from the discussion of ethnic tensions in order to focus on a broader message of national unity.  

Dr. Archchuna’s comments reference the LTTE driving a truck with an estimated 300-400 kilograms of explosives into the Temple of the Tooth premises. The attack killed 16 people and injured 25 more, while costing the Sri Lankan Government Rs. 150 million in reconstruction. This was a result of the 30-year long internal conflict between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE which ended in 2009.