Statement by Sri Lanka Startup Community on Easter Sunday Attacks in Sri Lanka

The members of the Sri Lanka Startup Community are traumatized and deeply saddened and with the recent attacks in the country. Many of us have spent our formative years in the shadows of a 30 year long civil war that scarred our lives forever. Some of us lost loved ones, some were harmed and all of us lived under the constant fear of paying the ultimate price for a crime that we did not commit.

Since the war ended in 2009, we faced a diverse set of challenges in our lovely island nation. Thankfully, terrorism was not one of those challenges. This changed on the 21st of April 2019. Once again, we are forced to live in a state of terror because a small group of people decided that intimidation through terrorism is the way to resolve problems.

The Sri Lanka Startup Community is a vibrant group of hard-working people who have been building entrepreneurial ventures to move Sri Lanka forward, economically. We speak different languages, wear different clothing, come from different places, worship different Gods, and some no God at all. The one thing that brings us together is our country. As a group of people, we aspire to do great things and we dream of a flourishing Sri Lanka.

We vehemently condemn these attacks and urge the relevant authorities to take all necessary actions immediately to bring the situation under control and we assure our continued support to them in this time of need.

In this difficult time, we request our brothers and sisters to remain calm and not engage in spreading hate. We have a lot to look forward to. We urge all Sri Lankans to stay strong and aspire to be ambassadors of goodwill, empathy and tolerance.

We offer our deepest sympathies to all those who have lost loved ones in these attacks and we pray for those who are injured a speedy recovery.

We also appreciate and acknowledge the sincere work carried out by the members of the tri-forces, Police, emergency services, medical services, blood donors and everyone else who provided help whatever the way they could. Because of you, we truly believe that we are standing on the shoulders of giants.

Let us stay united. Let us emerge stronger than ever.