Lankan minister apologises for Jaffna library arson

June 24, 2010 09:26 pm

Colombo (PTI): Nearly three decades after the world famous Jaffna library was burnt, a Sri Lankan minister has apologised for the incident which destroyed around 97,000 books and manuscripts, including many on Tamil culture.

“Thirty years back this library was set on fire by the goondas (goons) and caused indescribable loss not only to Jaffna but to the whole country,” Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawake said.

“I have come to apologise for that dastardly act and beg the pardon of the Tamil community,” Ranawake said at a function in the library auditorium in Jaffna yesterday.

“The small gift of books I am presenting to the library would go a long way to remove the scars of the wounds suffered by our Tamil brethren,” the Buddhist Jathika Hela Urumaya party member said.

Jaffna Mayor Y. Patkunarajah presided over the function.

Disclaimer: All the comments will be moderated by the AD editorial. Abstain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or slanderous. Please avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment and avoid typing all capitalized comments. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by flagging them(mouse over a comment and click the flag icon on the right side). Do use these forums to voice your opinions and create healthy discourse.