Neelan Tiruchelvam memorial lecture : Reconciliation is a journey

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture was held yesterday (July 28) at the BMICH. Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, academic, politician and Member of Parliament. He held several distinguished academic positions in both Sri Lanka and the USA. Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam's assassination on the 29 July 1999 was condemned globally. The event was organized by the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust and was delivered by Robi Damelin, a spokesperson of the Parents Circle Families Forum, which brings together bereaved family members of Palestinians and Israelis who died in the decades-long conflict. Robi Damelin expressed that he had discovered that only parents who have suffered the same loss understand each other as they grieve over a shared pain. He went on to note that if an Israeli and a Palestinian could bear each other, set aside differences and work together for reconciliation everyone else could do the same. He advised not to consider reconciliation and forgiving as a similar state and added that reconciliation occurs over time and its a personal journey.