the tamil national alliance, the largest political party representing the sri lankan tamils, issued a statement on 18 april 2011 welcoming the report and its findings, stating that the report "confirms the truth of what happened to the unarmed tamil civilians in the course of the conduct of the recently concluded war and is an irrefutable confirmation of the accounts of the events as reported by us to parliament as and when they occurred". the statement welcomed the reports recommendations and hoped that "they will be honestly implemented". the statement noted the panel's observation that at present there wasn't "an environment conducive to accountability which would permit a candid appraisal of the broad patterns of the past, including the root causes of the long-running ethno-nationalist conflict". the statement urged the sri lankan government "not to miss this opportunity and to constructively engage in a process which would result in all the peoples of sri lanka being the beneficiaries of genuine democracy, equality and justice". the tna's reaction to the report has led to a backlash against it by sri lankan nationalists.