Tomorrow, July 23, will mark the 42nd anniversary of the anti-Tamil rioting in Colombo and throughout the country that led to the deaths of hundreds and the displacement of tens of thousands of Tamil citizens. The trigger for the anti-Tamil rioting that commenced in Colombo on July 23, 1983, was an LTTE ambush of an army patrol in Jaffna, in which 13 soldiers were killed. The truth about the week that followed in July is still difficult to uncover. Among the unresolved issues is the question of how many died during that week in mob violence when law and order broke down and the government appeared paralysed. Much violence was prevented due to protection given to their Tamil neighbors by Sinhalese and Muslim families. The question of responsibility and accountability for the crimes that were committed in July 1983, and not prevented even when they could have been prevented, echoes today’s concerns about the Easter Sunday bombings of 2019 and the Chemmani mass graves dating back to the late 1990s.

Sri Lanka is not unique among countries that have faced difficulty in dealing with mass crimes that divided their populations and which overwhelmed the capacity of the regular legal system. It is for this reason that the concept of transitional justice was developed, grounded in the recognition that political life is interconnected and that post-conflict societies need institutional mechanisms to establish the truth and promote accountability. The first step in this process is to ascertain what actually happened. Just as the government needs to cope with the challenge of dealing with the truth of the Easter bombing and the Chemmani mass grave, it must also establish the truth about Black July 1983. It needs to identify the causes of the failure of the Sri Lankan state to prevent mass atrocities that took place in full view of the public and the international community and which tarnished the image of Sri Lanka and the Sinhalese community in particular for many years.

In Europe, countries like Spain and Cyprus have faced similar challenges, where atrocities occurred more than fifty to ninety years ago and where only those beyond middle age have any direct memory of them. In Sri Lanka, most people under 50 years of age have no memory or knowledge of Black July. As a result, there is little political demand today for the truth about it. However, if Sri Lanka is to progress as a united country there needs to be reconciliation which requires more than political agreements. A peaceful and united future depends on the present generation building a state that protects, respects and treats as equals all communities regardless of ethnicity, religion, caste, or class. The present government, which is committed to “system change” for which they were voted into power has a special obligation in this regard, as they won the vote of all communities from an electorate that rejected the broken promises of rival political parties.

Forward Looking
Black July needs to be remembered as a time to engage with the truth and to strengthen the collective resolve that such violence will never be permitted again. In this context, the government’s proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission would need to give a thorough examination of the events of July 1983. The draft legislation says as much. Section 12 of the Bill states that its scope will be “damage or harm caused to persons or property, loss of life or alleged human rights violations … which were caused in the course of, or reasonably connected to, or consequent to the conflict that took place in the Northern and Eastern Provinces during the period from July 24, 1983 to May 18, 2009, or its aftermath”. Indeed, Black July must not be left out of the official process of truth-seeking. If younger generations are to inherit a country based on justice and equal citizenship, they must be given the opportunity to learn the truth about what happened and why.

However, if Sri Lanka is to overcome its past and become a united and inclusive country, it must also do more than examine the past. Reconciliation requires the creation of political structures that address the underlying causes of conflict and exclusion. A peaceful future depends on the building up of a system of governance that protects all communities, regardless of ethnicity, religion, caste, or class. Over the past ten months, significant changes have taken place. The new government has reduced wasteful public spending and curtailed displays of privilege by political leaders. There is visible belt-tightening across state institutions. The political culture that tolerated corruption is changing as prosecutors and courts initiate legal action against former politicians and officials in a manner never seen before.

However, there remains a key area in which the government has yet to deliver the system change it was voted for by the electorate and which it promised to deliver. This is in the area of devolution of power, which would enable multi-ethnic and multi-religious participation in national decision-making. The demand for such participation from the Tamil and Muslim communities predates independence from British colonial rule. The failure to share political power equitably between the ethnic majority and the minority communities lies at the root of the ethnic conflict that led to a thirty-year civil war and episodes of mass violence such as Black July. The LTTE and the broader Tamil militant movement took up arms after the peaceful efforts of Tamil political leaders were ignored. Their goal was to end the domination of minority communities by a centralised state structure that represented the majority.

Provincial Councils
The provincial council system, introduced in 1987, was designed to address the need for power sharing between communities. However, since 2018, provincial council elections have not been held. This means that the second tier of government is non-functional, and the provinces are in practice governed by presidentially appointed governors. According to the election manifesto of the National People’s Power, provincial council elections should be held before the end of the year. If that promise is to be fulfilled, the government must take immediate steps to address the obstacles preventing these elections. It is essential that representatives from ethnic and religious minority communities be empowered to participate in the decision-making process.

The provincial council system is not only about decentralised administration. It is about devolved governance, where elected representatives have real authority to make decisions. Excessive political and economic centralisation has created deep disparities and sustained inequality. More significantly, it has contributed to the sense of political exclusion that fuelled the civil war. In comparative perspective, power sharing through decentralised governance is standard practice in multicultural societies. India, with its size and diversity, and Switzerland, despite its much smaller scale, are both examples of countries where federal or devolved structures have been effective in managing diversity and ensuring local autonomy.

Centralised governance since independence has produced persistent imbalances in both political representation and economic development. While Colombo, as the capital city, has developed rapidly, many provinces remain economically marginalised and politically disconnected from national policy-making. Centralised decisions have often failed to reflect local realities, particularly in sectors such as agriculture, education, and public infrastructure. Reactivating the provincial council system and granting it both fiscal and administrative autonomy would bring governance closer to the people. The need for decentralised governance is especially urgent today, as Sri Lanka continues to face demands from citizens for “system change” and from minority communities for meaningful participation in the political life of the country. This would be the most effective safeguard against ethnic polarisation and separatism, which culminated in tragedies such as Black July.