19 March, 2024

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July 1983 – When A President Master-Minded A Riot

By Basil Fernando

Basil Fernando

What thrust Sri Lanka into the political hotspots of the world was the July 1983 riots, which is now known to be a crisis sponsored by president JR Jayewardene himself. At least, there exist evidences that this happened with his knowledge and approval. The immediate circumstances that brought about these riots were the killing of 13 soldiers in the north of Sri Lanka by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This was a political outfit that took up arms in order to achieve a separate state for the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka. 

When the news of the 13 deaths was reported to the rest of the island, the immediate response of the military was the demand that the 13 corpses be brought to Colombo together to have a joint funeral. The then prime minister of the country, R Premadasa, represented an electorate in which there were several ethnicities living together. His friend, the mayor of Colombo, according to the story as told by the mayor, met the president and requested him not to allow these funerals to take place in the manner that had been requested because they had had information that this would lead to racial riots. The mayor wrote that the president agreed not to allow that to happen and upon that assurance they left for home.

However, president Jayewardene did nothing to stop the funerals being held together and by the noon of that day the riots broke out. Substantial evidences gathered in the aftermath demonstrate that the riots were well organized. There were lists of persons prepared beforehand in order to attack their families and houses. The video footages of the houses burning, wounded people screaming, and people fleeing from their houses were broadcast immediately all over the world. That was how Sri Lanka entered into the political map of the world as a troubled spot.

A Tamil boy stripped naked and later beaten to death by Sinhala youth in Boralla bustation |pic by Chandraguptha Amarasingha

I was then a practicing lawyer and on that day I was in the magistrate courts in Wattala, a suburb very near to Colombo. By about eleven to twelve in the morning, some smoke was seen ascending towards the skies from the direction in Colombo. Murmur started amongst lawyers who were at the bar table that some serious trouble was beginning in Colombo. Around twelve o’clock the magistrate stopped working at the courts announcing that curfew will be imposed, and sought the help of the police to return to his house. 

Meanwhile the lawyers and the litigants were also hurrying back to their houses. As I passed the gate of the magistrate courts, I saw a very tall man who had an injury on his head or forehead, was severely bleeding, and was walking all alone perhaps back to his house. No one talked to him or stopped him to help. This was the first scene I saw of that day’s events, followed by days of more unrests. 

The violence and looting of that day that erupted across the country were also seen in the little suburb of wattala. Many Tamil shops and small factories, and other business places, were looted. There was no report of deaths in this particular suburb although there were many reports in the other parts of the country. When I returned home I found that in the house behind ours there was a Tamil family being protected by the villagers around. This family spent the night at our residence and in the early morning of the next day they left to some place, and to my knowledge they never returned to the village where they were residing.

When the curfew was lifted few days later, the discussions were all about various incidents that had taken place throughout the country, and some of the victims were known to us. I used this time also to go to the labor tribunals which were situated in the labor secretariat at Narahenpita. I knew a judge, a labor tribunal president, who was a Tamil and was liked by everybody living around the tribunal at Narahenpita. I learnt that he and his family had been severely attacked.

These riots were unusual that shocked everyone. Just a few days after the riots I wrote a poem that is one of the most reproduced ones I have ever written. I reproduced this poem below:

YET ANOTHER INCIDENT IN JULY 1983

Burying the dead

being an art well developed in our times, Our psychoanalysts having helped us much to keep balanced minds, whatever

that may mean, there is no reason really

for this matter to remain so vivid

as if s6me rare occurrence.

I assure you

I am not sentimental, never having had a “breakdown,” as they say.

I am  as shy of my emotions

as you are, and attend to my daily tasks in a very matter-of-factway.

Being prudent, too, when a government says: “Forget!” I act accordingly.

My ability to forget has never been doubted.

I’ve never had any adverse comments on that score either.

Yet I remember

the way they stopped that car, the mob, there were four in that car:

A girl, a boy

between four and five it had seemed

and their parents, I guessed, the man and the woman. It was in the same way they had stopped other cars.

I had not noticed any marked difference.

A few questions in a gay mood, not to make a mistake, I suppose. Then they proceeded to action   by then aroutine,

pouring petrol and allthatstuff.

Then someone, noticing something odd

as it were, opened the two left doors of the car, took a’)’ay the two children

resisting and crying as they were moved away from their parents.

Children’s emotions have to sometimes be ignored for their own good,

he must have thought.

Someone practical was quick, efficiently lighting a match.

An instant fire followed, adding one more to the many around.

Around the fire they chattered

of some new adventure,

A few scattered.

What the two inside felt or thought was nomatter.

Peace-loving people were hurrying home as if in aprocession.

Then suddenly, the man inside the car, his shirt and hair already on fire,  broke open thedoor.

Then bending, took his two children.

Not even looking around,

as if executing a calculateddecision, he resolutely re-entered thecar.

Onceinside,helockedthedoor. I had  heard that noisedistinctly.

Still that ruined car is there by the roadside with other such things.

MaybetheMunicipalitywiUremoveit one of thesedays··

to the  capital’s garbage pit.

The cleanliness of the capital receives the Authority’s top priority.

Now this real life story is about a middle class Tamil family living in Colombo, the city they thought was theirs. They lived a happy life of co-existence with others where the issue of ethnicity had never been an issue. Colombo middle class lived in comfort and were cosmopolitan in nature. However, the family might have begun to notice that the attitudes and moods were slowly changing and they would not have thought one day their victimization would come. But that did come on that fatal day.

Their cars were stopped because they belonged to Tamil ethnicity. The mob proceeded almost by routine to put petrol all over the cars in order to set it alight. As it was set ablaze, someone noticed that there were two children also in the car, so by way of natural instinct of course they opened the doors and removed the children from the car. So now the children became onlookers while their parents were the sacrificial lambs facing death inside their own car.

Then something decisive happened. The father who was already facing burnings stepped out of the car, took the children, went back to the car and closed its door. Many people have talked about the meaning of this decisive action on the part of the father. Why could he not let the children survive? One of my friends, with whom I had friendship many years later, a former philosophy lecturer at the Peradeniya University, a Tamil whose family also migrated in the aftermath of this riot to Australia told me a suitable title for this poem, “Not in Your World”. Perhaps, this is what was working in the mind of that father.

This was not just the burning of a family but the end of an outlook people had to the circumstances of their life in Colombo. This was not their city anymore and the persons whom they considered their friends and neighbors, with whom they had friendly and loving relationships, have suddenly turned against them without any fault on their own part. The family was merely seen from the point of view of ethnicity they belonged to, and not as individuals who were living happily with others and were altogether enjoying cordial, friendly relationships. 

Should the children watch their parents die being burnt inside the car? And, if they do what kind of psychological and emotional impact would this have in their lives? Was it not better to liberate them from that terrible way of living if they were to survive? So the father did what he thought best under that circumstances. 

This poem was the summing up of the situation of the transformation taking place in the country. And the poem worked subconsciously in my mind. It was first published in the new Ceylon writings, a literary publication edited by Professor Yasmine Gunaratne. She devoted a whole volume of writings for July 1983 incidents. This poem was printed with another poem of mine titled, “Just Society”, which portrays the manner in which a riot was sponsored, or at least approved and supported, by the then president himself and was blamed on some leftist groups. The poem won the first prize of the collection together with a poem by Richard De Zoysa, a well-known journalist and an actor who paid the price of freedom of thought and expression, one of the most gruesome murders sometime later.

An internally peaceful society metamorphosed into a violent one. This transformation was not merely in terms of ethnicity but was in terms of how the internal problems within a society and a community was being dealt with. Violence became the mode of dealing with problems. This was to be repeated regularly in other incidents in the years to come. This psychology of resorting to violence in resolving problems transformed the attitudes of everyone. While the people who used violence, whether they be Tamil radicals or the mobs or the politicians, those who allowed the armed forces and the police to settle issues in whichever manner they would consider fit, changed a system. This change still remains. 

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Latest comments

  • 15
    1

    This is the world we live in today.
    Mighty is always rights .
    Poor and weak has to shut up and keep quiet.
    Look how Donald Trump behaves?
    Send her back compagin to win election and to get more white votes ?
    BBS will be happy to copy him now; all racist groups copy him.
    That is the world we live in today?
    Yet; when poor people of the world call for help ..
    No one care about it ..

    • 2
      1

      Thanks for reminding us. Sunday will be 3 months of the Easter Carnage, but the USAID funded NGO ladies have forgotten to mourn or have a vigil, because US was behind the carnage and would rather forget the Easter crime
      .
      So, while JRJ Diki bird was certainly culpable for 1983 with his Minister of Ports Cyril Matthews, let us not forget the Indian factor, and that RAW and IB were also on the ground like the US Special Operations Forces are in Lanka today to weaponize Buddhist- Islam conflct

      There is always an external factor in this sort of barbarism!

      SWRD was shot by a Buddhist monk when US was weaponizing Buddhism against communism and socialism in South and Southeast Asia.

    • 1
      1

      “A Tamil boy stripped naked and later beaten to death by Sinhala youth in Boralla bustation |pic by Chandraguptha Amarasingha”

      This picture is no different to pictures of lynchings in the American South ……….. the gleeful joy in the crowds eyes

      Or stonings in Arabia or ……….

      Man is primarily an animal with animal instincts ………. with fleeting moments where a little morality permeates/filter-through the true/real instincts

      What keeps man “moral” is not deep conviction, religion or philosophy but the fear of retribution. ……….. and to some extent the fear of public-opinion …………


      And the Good Samaritan, he’s dressing
      He’s getting ready for the show — Desolation Row, Dylan

      The Good Samaritan does his one good act of kindness and spends the rest of his life walking around attending shows in his honour to soak up the accolades ……………

      Wish ye guys knew man as well as I do ………Hey, I’ve lived with myself all my life; I should know ……… all what’s required is a little intellectual honesty ………….

      • 0
        0

        What an eye opener.Man can turn into a beast any time without warning.

    • 1
      2

      Thanks for reminding us, Yes, JRJ dicky bird and his Minister Mattews was responsibe for 1983, but let us not forget the role of India’s RAW and IB who were also on the ground and stoking the fires of division at the time during the Cold War.

      Today same thing is happening with Easter Sunday attacks staged by US Special Operations Forces (SOF) to set up SOFA and a US base in Sri Lanka and turn Lanka into the Garbage dump of the Diego Garcia Military base on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) , Chagos Islands that is illegally occupied by UK and US.

      The US Ambassador has been weaponizing Buddhism – visisitng Mahanayakas to sell SOFA – and Saudi the US parnter weaponizing Islam in Sri Lanka. Teplitz is violating the US Constitutional Separation of Church and State and should be asked to get out of Sri Lanka and take the MCC’s paltry $ 480 with her.

  • 4
    2

    This, coupled with the Jaffna library is the reason why Tamils became unwavering, ardent UNP supporters. 1989 Bheesanaya is the reason why JVP became the guardian angels of the UNP. How? Don’t ask me.

    Soma

    • 6
      2

      the July 1983 incident that Basil described here .

      I witnessed , almost quarter of a century ago, during the 1959 riots under SWRD’s watch.

      another quarter of a century since the 1983 riots we have the 2009 genocide of Tamils under watch of the Rajapakse regime

      each time the veracity and scale of violence increased 25 time
      from few thousand murders in 1959 to tens of thousands in 1983 to hundreds of thousands in 2009

      the 25 year cycle will repeat itself leading up 2034 this time with the complete decimation of the Tamils

      probably under the watch of the Maha Sangaha who would have captured power by then

      so whether its UNP or SLFP, or SLPP or JVP or what ever Tamils have no choice….but always from the frying pan in to the fire.

      separate state is the only solution

      • 0
        0

        Rajash
        “separate state is the only solution”
        .
        I am the only Sinhalese in this forum who supports a separate state for Tamils (all Tamil speaking people irrespective of their religion caste or the date of arrival, scattered across the island)
        for which I am endlesly vilified as a racist. Without exception all Tamil nationalists in this forum oppose necessary relocation for the purpose and unashamedly display their slavish desire to live among the Sinhalese. You see the problem?

        Soma

        • 1
          0

          its interesting that you only contest me separate state comment

          • 0
            0

            Yes Rajash, please go back to my comment where I express my disbelief over this inexplicable conundrum around Tamil and JVP support for UNP despite worst cruelties (’83 Black July, Jaffna library and ’89 Bheeshanaya) they were subjected to by UNP thugs with the connivance of the rulers. Your response is totally out of line.

            Soma

        • 0
          0

          It is a case of wanting to have the cake and eat the cake. Have you heard of the song ‘E kandath mage thmai, me kandath mage thami’? One of these days, the Tamil community will make it their national anthem!

  • 15
    1

    “July 1983 – When A President Master-Minded A Riot”

    April 2019 when a President almost master minded another riot !!!

    • 1
      0

      Steve, the legend, who was able to do anything except turn man into women and vice versa, froze when the first news of rioting came in. It was not so much ‘master-minded’ as lost his mind. You should have seen the long face when his orders were studiously ignored for the first few days of the crisis. His forehead throbbed when he learned that Cyril Mathew and his goons were at the forefront of the rioting. It was surely the lowest moment in the long and ‘distinguished’ career of the wily fox.

    • 4
      0

      April 2019 he tried but thank God this fool was not competent even for that.

  • 9
    0

    has history repeated but the Sinhala buddhist did not take the bait this time

  • 14
    1

    Anti-Tamil violence has been the character of the Sinhala state and continues to this day in various forms – July 1983, or Black July, is just one chapter of it. Yet, it is always the oppressed who are preached non-violence and patience.

    • 2
      9

      The July 1983 riots were initiated by racist Tamils by murdering Sinhalese, as was the case in 1958. Anti-Tamil violence is initiated by racist Tamils themselves. Mainly Tamil political leaders of race based political parties.

  • 17
    1

    This mad dog JR would be rotting in hell by now. Crazy low class poop!

  • 18
    1

    Why to blame him alone. These things happened before JRJ and after him. A community which was once the most prosperous of all communities in South Asia, a community which produced several intellectuals and eminent personalities was systematically marginalized and virtually made into second class citizens in their own homeland.

    I feel sad reading such stories. The sadness increases when I see that there is no solution in sight to end their plight.

    However, I am happy that a sinhala wrote this article. May be in future, there will be reforms and reconciliation as it happened in case of the Jews of Europe.

    • 1
      8

      Why not also blame racist Tamil politicians – the Ponnas, Sunda, Chelva who started the rot by laying the foundation for race based politics? Wan’t the 1983 killings started by Tamils? Tamils have to own the blame for the carnage they created. The racist Tamil leaders enjoyed comforts while their impoverished, majority Tamils were among the most marginalised in all of Asia – plantation coolies, toilet cleaners in Ceylon, Malaysia, Fiji, the West Indies, South Africa. The reforms Karthikdevan wishes to will follow once the high caste Tamils learn to see their low caste Tamils are equals. We can all look forward to a brighter future then.

      • 5
        0

        lal loo

        Its you again!!!

        “Why not also blame racist Tamil politicians – the Ponnas, Sunda, Chelva who started the rot by laying the foundation for race based politics? “

        There is a huge difference between starting the rot and starting a riot.

        Rot

        Decay or cause to decay by the action of bacteria and fungi; decompose.
        Make fun of; tease
        The process of decaying.
        A process of deterioration; a decline in standards.

        The rot started with 1883 Kotahena riots, progressed through 1915 (Sinhala/Buddhist bums were saved by Ponna the Demela), then 1958, 1977, 1981, …………… 1983, and it ended up with large scale death and commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, 2014, 2018, ……………….

        I am sorry did Ponnas, Sunda, Chelva train, arm and motivated JVP to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity not just once but twice?

        Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool than to Speak and Remove All Doubt
        Mark Twain

        You should consider going back to your mother country the Lala land.

  • 12
    1

    Volumes have been written about racial and political riots in Sri Lanka.
    It is time that our politicians search for justice – social, rather than political – to better our future.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice

    Most of our politicians are busy looking after their future, rather than of our society.
    Recently, police complicated the unrest in the aftermath of the Easter massacres, allowing more minor ones.

  • 9
    0

    JR used to talk of Buddhism a lot and observed Pansil at every opportunity. He went for the Royal Thomian big match faithfully and boasted about his school. That was his sense of fun and understanding of Western culture !

    But he wore a white national dress for public occasions. His son Ravi was a sharp shooter ( handled guns) and one time lived in Australia.JR also used to talk a lot about his family as if they were the best thing that God ever made ! He also was a megalomaniac and wanted to think of himself as a king ( President !)

    Of course he was a hypocritical rascal .

    To put the record in a balanced way he donated his land in Turret Road for the JR Jayawardena Centre and I think his property down Ward Place to the government.

    • 2
      0

      Correct me if I’m wrong, Kolla, but I seem to remember that JR got the govt to purchase the building that became the JR Jayawardene Centre. Crafty fellow, it wasnt a gift.

  • 10
    1

    JR said “If you want war I will give you war and if you want peace I will give you Peace”
    UNP sponsored two riots, one immediately after winning the elections in 1977 and the other in 1983 a big one. SWRD sponsored one big riot in 1958 the first one of that magnitude where Tamils were massacred. I was “FORTUNATE” enough to to go through all these riots and live to tell the tale but I shall not repeat the tale. I had already written my tale about the 1977 riots to the Sansony Commission appointed by JR with no results. It was not meant for any results.

  • 16
    1

    Thank You Basil. This shit head master mined riots and butchered thousands of innocent people. Same as MR who masterminded a humanitarian mission and killed Thousands. Srima and Premadasa in the name of suppressing insurrection killed thousands of people. In short every Lankan leader has masterminded mass killings for their self serving political gains. And the retarded citizens are busy debating who is better than the rest. (less evil). Immoral to the core.

    • 1
      1

      What about VP?

  • 8
    2

    Dear Mr. Fernando,

    I was witnessing similar sort of incidence in Pettah and Borolla on 24th Morning July 1983. Rowdies of Colombo ( Sinhalese, Muslims and even Tamils) mercilessly carried out what they were ordered and what they wanted in greedy.. From that day onwards I rejected to accept JR as a President and a patriotic Sri Lankan. . He ruined the good name and nature of our country and the curse continues in different way. This stupidity will continue until the country is physically divided. These cowards will never learn. They lost the mental capacity.

    • 0
      0

      If you are on the qui vive could you recollect where was the then Prime Minister at the time of the initiation of the 1983 riot. If you probe on it, you may find a clue who were the culprits involved in this genocide.

  • 1
    0

    We have had our share of devious leaders haven’t we. They use extremists in the majority to attack the minority, burn their homes, businesses, little shops, and terrorize them, even brutally killing them, and in 1983 JRJ looked away and took a couple of days to react, but he did not condemn the brutality and the massacre of innocent tamils, in fact he JUSTIFIED THE VIOLENCE. The Tamils who were attacked had nothing to do with the LTTE, just like the Muslims had nothing to do with the Easter day terrorists. Still, it seems there is a large percentage of Sinhalese mobs who cannot differentiate between terrorists and their neighbors. The politicians simply encourage that, and take advantage of their ignorance and hatred.

  • 2
    6

    ’83’ did not happen out of the blue. Indira-MGR-Tamil defence minister at the time trained, armed and funded several Tamil terrorist groups to attack Sri Lanka from the mid 70s, but MGR’s favourite was Prabakaran. Look what happened to Indira and Rajiv, they where victims of their hidden motives.
    /
    So, whether JRJ or not, this kind of riot can happen at anytime, considering the stupid demands based on lies, myths and fantasies of Tamil politicians. Will Sinhalese stay silent when aliens demand 1/3 of their mother land?

    • 2
      0

      Johnny Boy

      “Indira-MGR-Tamil defence minister at the time trained, armed and funded several Tamil terrorist groups to attack Sri Lanka from the mid 70s,……………)

      Your patriotic leaders and Ranavirus were so scared to fight the Hindians they got the thugs in saffron, sarong, and Khaki to kill the innocent Tamil. What brave lot you are.

      What was your share of profit from your joint enterprise in 1983?

    • 0
      0

      Oh Johnny boy, you peed in your panties again. Shame shame!!

  • 1
    5

    1983 massacre of unarmed off duty officers by Indian terrorists was to launch the migration of Indian Colonial Parasites from Ceylon to the West. It was timed with the World Council of Churches gathering in Canada.

    The shops in Pettah was burning from inside and photos were taken by Tamil terrorists and send to various media in India and in the West.

    The photo of an naked Tamil youth is the best example of false propaganda used by Indian intelligence services.

  • 1
    3

    I am sure this man Basil is the same one living in Hong Kong and working for an Indian intelligence service funded and operated human rights mob known as Asian Human Rights or something. Behind this mob is are people like Sooka from South Africa an Indian Colonial Parasite.

  • 3
    1

    JR was of Colombo cherry origin Refer national archive
    He should have protected minorities

  • 1
    5

    Why not also blame racist Tamil politicians – the Ponnas, Sunda, Chelva who started the rot by laying the foundation for race based politics? Wan’t the 1983 killings started by Tamils? Tamils have to own the blame for the carnage they created. The racist Tamil leaders enjoyed comforts while their impoverished, majority Tamils were among the most marginalised in all of Asia – plantation coolies, toilet cleaners in Ceylon, Malaysia, Fiji, the West Indies, South Africa. The reforms Karthikdevan wishes to will follow once the high caste Tamils learn to see their low caste Tamils are equals. We can all look forward to a brighter future then.

    • 2
      0

      lal loo

      You forgot to mention Migettuwatte Gunananda, the Public racist Aryan Anagarika Homeless Dharmapala, …………….
      While you racists are worried about impoverished, majority Tamils, plantation coolies, toilet cleaner, ………the Sinhalese are wipe cleaning Arab bums throughout middles east, in several countries.

      You should be worrying about the majority of Sinhala women who are being subjected to unspeakable human right violation. Their hard earned foreign exchange keep you enjoy a luxury life. You not only ought to be ashamed of yourself but also about rest of your fellow Sinhala/Buddhist fascists.

      When is your wife/partner returning from Medieval Middle East Kingdom?
      I hear the fathers are screwing their daughters while their wives are away for years and being tortured by their bosses and their sons.
      You don’t mind whatever happens to your wife do you?

  • 2
    0

    JR was of Colombo chetty origin Refer national archive
    He should have protected minorities

  • 2
    1

    This was a deplorable action taken by the JRJ government.
    Unfortunately successive governments have followed in his foot steps to engauge in subduing disent through malicious methods that cannot be accepted in a civilized society.
    This type of shallowminded dirty politics will only lead to the complete anhilation of Sri Lanka as a nation.

    All polititians should have the betterment of Sri Lanka as a nation in mind, that has strong values where all citizens and peacefull vistors to the country could live in peace without any fear of persicution or violence.

    And I mean all politicians and leaders that is – UNP, SLFP, TNA, JVP Muslim polititians CP , Mahajana Peramuna , trade unions, Proffesional bodies, religious bodies etc.

    For this a strong leagal framework with an efficient , well trained police force with a streamlined judiciary should be in place.

    And there should be a fullstop to political interfearence with the Police or the Judiciary

    and these officials who are entrusted with law and order should discharge their duty without any bias or favor according to the rule of law and the constitution.

    Unleashing violence as a means of gaining political leverage should end from the Sri Lankan political culture.

    Leaders will have to undestand the point of vew of others and try to come to an undestanding where issues could be resolved amicably.

  • 1
    0

    Singapore too had its “race riots”. After nipping it, steps were taken not to repeat the same. We all know people here will not go out to streets, spontaneously driven by passion in a hurry but a well organized set of hoodlums may appear to be so. Like any politician JR too had its ups and downs. If JR instigated violence, it would be through hints where the lackeys who boot-licked him knew what to do to please the master. His successor in office, Premadasa, was more open than JR about giving orders of violence but discreetly. Successive political presidents (exception may be DB Wijetunge) were up to some act involving or bordering violence, murder, thuggery etc The more important issue here is must a member of a political party be the President and disgrace that office for political ambition? I am taken up by the model in Singapore where the President, directly elected by the people, is the repository of the state. That office has definite functions to perform and not merely symbolic. People babble on whether the Government should be Parliamentary or Executive Presidency. Either system permits the pardoning of convicted rapists and making them Justices of Peace, perform a Bond Scam and hire assassins to eliminate one’s opponents or journalists. Leave the policy initiation and law making to Parliament. A President, directly elected by the people and not involved in a political party, should be in charge of security, state assets and the governance with the ability to question the abuses of Parliament and even refer an issue to the people direct through a referendum.

  • 3
    4

    Sad history of an otherwise blessed land. I do hope that people can forgive and in a couple of generations forget these sad events.

    However, the real threat to Lanka now is the radical ISIS Moslems Jihadi threat with the vast majority of Moslems radicalized beyond redemption and howling for Kaffir Buddhist, Christian and Hindu blood. Lankans should realize that they are overwhelmed in commerce through corruption and bribery by the Moslems who are well supported by global ISIS network and will strike again very soon with devastating attacks. Lankan politicians are mostly corrupt and have no mercy for their own people. Therefore people must become their own protectors and keep the Moslem killers under control.

    Lankans must form groups of either militia or volunteers who will police the streets of Moslems majority areas and at the slightest sign of radicalism arrest and detain the killers. Very soon the Moslems will plot a way around the politicians to seize power and then all bets are off for Lanka. Time to act is now. Not a moment should be lost.

    • 3
      2

      JC you have hit the nail on the head. I do not know why Sinhala politicians on both sides are not able to grasp this and are selling the country for money and votes of Muslim terrorist supporters. Despite incriminating evidence, Bathurdeen and Hisbullah are walking free. How did they amass wealth which is unaccountable. It has been exposed that Hisbullah received funds from a banned Islamic terror organisation. This would be the same for Bathurdeen. Two centers of Islamic terror activity are Kathankudi the hone town of Hisbullah where bombs were made and Wannathivilluwa where terrorists were trained, an area where Bathurdeen was active clearing forest and settling Muslims with foreign funds. Do you want people to believe that these activities took place without the knowledge and support of these individuals. Only few of the front liners were arrested and Sinhala politicians of both sides say everything is fine and want the matter closed. Sri Lanka and South India are ear marked for Islamisation by international Muslim terrorists. When India is taking vigorous action to stamp out this menace, Sri Lanka wants to sleep.

    • 2
      1

      Oh, god, you’re back again, JC. And seem to have acquired an acolyte in Lanka Perera. Telling combination that, his name — Nationalist/Sinhala “Lanka” plus Portuguese “Perera”, just like me, tho mine doesnt reveal half of me or where I ws born.
      Are you part of the conspiratorial forces that Darini-Rajasingham writes about below? (I cant make up my mind about her scattering
      “dialectical materialism” here + there.)
      You certainly seem to be carrying out frontline rabble-rousing to promote chaos in SL. I dont understand how you’re given free rein to do this, time + again. Do you do this in Germany, too, with the neo-Nazis? Going back + forth, stirring up hatred? Does it give u a high?
      Dont u think SL has suffered enough & needs help to treat her wounds, make peace all around + strive to build a prosperous future?
      No, that wdnt suit u at all, would it, JC, u cant wait to see concentration camps in SL — they’re a part of yr heritage, aren’t they? A million Muslims behind barbed wire + you’d die happy.
      Go back to where u came from, JC!

      • 1
        0

        JC, I must say I don’t understand how YOU get away with all yr hate speech & persistent calls to incarcerate Muslims, when someone like Shakthika Sathkumara is charged & Imprisoned under the ICCPR Act for portraying paedophilia + sexual abuse in temples in his short stories.
        ‘He was charged under Section 291B of the Penal Code + Sri Lanka’s International Covenant on Civil + Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, Section 3, No. 56, which states: “No person shall propagate war or advocate national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.”’
        Poor guy has been in prison for about 3 months.
        How is fictionalising something that is pretty well common knowledge in SL more likely to attract the attention of this act than regular calls to demonise + incarcerate a whole community — until, of course (how good of u), the sheep have been separated from the goats?
        Something really wrong in the way SL law is observed.

        I repeat: “No person shall propagate war or advocate national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.”’

        • 0
          3

          My sincere hope is that Lanka has more people of the Lanka Perera pedigree and less, much less of the Manel Fonseka type. What a difference. One talks sensibly about the current volatile situation and imminent terror that will be unleashed by Moslem Jihadis. The other utters incoherent mumbo jumbo about goats, monks, Penal Codes, my heritage, etc. If Fonseka has a fetish about abuse in religious places there are plenty of pending lawsuits that can sink the Catholic church and Fonseka can leave the impoverished Lankan monks and temples and focus on that, to perhaps gain some traction towards a lawsuit and possible payout. Please focus this forum on an intellectual debate and perhaps by osmosis an impact on Lankan people and politics to save them from the radical Moslem pestilence.

  • 1
    1

    Individuals who destroyed our country are JR Jayawardene, Rohana Wijeweera, Velupillei Prabhakaran and Zahran Hashim – in that order. Contribution of the first far outweighs that of all other three taken together and the effects are irrecoverable. The last holds a world record in regard to time taken to do the job.

    Soma

    • 6
      1

      Soma, first person who destroyed the country was none other than D.S. Senanayake. A prosperous Sri Lanka much more advanced than Singapore was handed to him by British He started the ruin. Economically he squandered all foreign reserves by importing unwanted items and did not take any measures to earn foreign exchange. Those born before 1961 will remember that we had everything found in UK from confectionery to vehicles in SL, accessible to even middle class families. Politically he ruined by starting the gulf between Sinhalese and Tamils, by disenfranchising Tamils of Indian origin and by altering demographic pattern of Tamil dominated areas by state sponsored colonization. So he is the first culprit. He was followed by SWRD and his wife both of whom practiced anti-Tamil policies to discriminate first in state employment and then in higher education. SWRD is also responsible for the indiscipline and lawlessness in the country by letting loose people. So they are the next set of culprits for destroying the country. Others who followed are not saints in destroying the country economically and politically. Lee Kwan yew in disgust said Sri Lanka is an example that you should not follow for peace and progress.

    • 3
      1

      somass

      “Individuals who destroyed our country are JR Jayawardene, Rohana Wijeweera, Velupillei Prabhakaran and Zahran Hashim”

      I envy your selective memory.
      You forgot the public racist Anagarika Homeless Dharmapala, Rajaratna, SWRD Banda, his wife the weeping widow, Rajapaksas, Wimal, Champika, Nalin, ….. you, Lal Loo, Champass, ……………………………………….

      “The last holds a world record in regard to time taken to do the job.”

      I know you never had a sense of Justice only now I have come to know you don’t have sense of proportion either.

    • 0
      0

      Soma
      Where does Gotler Stand in this Order?

  • 3
    2

    You think 1983 was bad? VP tried to instigate far worse riots by deliberately slaughtering hundreds of Sinhala villagers time and time again. But of course he and his TNA and RC Bishop supporters are never mentioned. Tamil leaders have been a curse on the Tamil people.

    • 2
      1

      WE MUST THANK JR BECAUSE OF HIS ACTIONS PRABAKARAN TOOK UP ARMS AS RESULT MORE THAN ONE MILLION TAMILS ARE LIVING WITH GOOD SHELTER ,HEALTH CARE,EDUCATION, AND ALL COMFORTS IN UK,GERMANY,FRANCE,AUSTRALIA,CANADA ,SWISS,HOLLAND AND MANY OTHER SMALL COUNTRIES ALL OVER THE WORLD.BLESSING IN DISGUISE.

      • 1
        1

        Paragon, Tell me from which paradise you have posted this.
        .
        Prabakaran came in to the picture even before JR had a chance to taste power.
        .
        You have no sympathy for the many thousands who perished in the seas and lands in search of the shelter(s) you have been lucky to reach.
        .
        Academics and qualified Tamils toil hard in fields not even remotely related to their own, to bring up their children, under very trying conditions. It is their children who have come up well thru their hard work, dedication and sacrifice.
        .
        That is no blessing; there is no disguise.

        • 1
          2

          UNREAL: Ask those Tamils to fight for Tamil homeland in those countries too. I ca not understand why Tamils do not blame all those things to discrimination, and all kinds of crap and go to fight for another homeland.

          • 0
            0

            JD: Thank you for your interest in securing a homeland for us wherever that may be. It shows your poor understanding of the Tamil homeland concept. Your confusion is real!

      • 1
        2

        PARAGON: that is why I blame Mahinda Rajapakse. He should have held the war for another Ten years. If that happened, By now all the Tamils are enjoying good living in the west.

    • 3
      0

      Venn

      “You think 1983 was bad? VP tried to instigate far worse riots by deliberately slaughtering hundreds of Sinhala villagers time and time again. “

      Be fair.
      Let me have the certified figures of death on both sides.
      How many innocent people did die during the riots between 1958 and and 1983?
      How many Tamil civilians have been killed by the armed forces between 1974 and 2015?
      How many Sinhala civilians have been killed by VP’s LTTE?
      How many Sinhala civilians have been killed by the armed forces between 1974 and 2015?

      You do not have to respond to my comment if you do not have answer.

      By the way feel free to use Venn diagram if you need to.

      • 3
        0

        Native Vedda, You throw in Venn to good use, – to publicise your tertiary learning. However, nowadays, it is secondary school stuff.

  • 2
    2

    This is a very dishonest article which states facts in a very deceiving manner. This shows how biased the writer is.
    I fair person, would write the then Geo-political situation, cold war, Oppression, Casteism and discrimination among Tamils, Tamil engaged in extensive smuggling in VVT and appearance of LTTE as a ploy of India. Tamil govt agents legally killed so many innocent sinhala – farmers during the 1956 Racial riots. Those things are never mentioned. No where in the world, govts involved in civil unrest or riots among ethnic groups in a country.

    • 0
      0

      What is also never addressed is that it was the ordinary people of this country who protected their fellow citizens from a government organised pogrom. Whomever directly instigated the violence the responsibility rests firmly on JRJ’s shoulders. Sure there were a few people who joined the goons but the numbers tell the truth. For the violence of their masters the ordinary people of this country have paid with their lives, their freedoms, their culture and their livelihood. Their name has been sullied, the 2nd largest economy in Asia decimated, and all their assets sold off for the price of a commission. Along the way we have forgotten how to behave. The writer of this article has not done his research. There are at least two books he should have referred to before writing this. One is by Hoole and the other by Gamage. Your reference, to global geopolitics, would include Reagan and Gorbachov and the recognition of India as a regional Superpower. For example, China would not buy our rare earths today without India’s ok.
      I too do not believe that JRJ was directly involved in the riots, but I do think he could not contain the racists in his cabinet. It is my belief the President’s warrant did not run, and that JRJ was misinformed about the alleged anger of the Sinhala people. That is the only explanation for his notorious Wednesday address to the nation. However that maybe, he was still responsible, not only for not being able to prevent it from happening but for not turfing out and trying the scoundrels in his government that did.

  • 0
    0

    Please rectify your article it was pogrom aimed at the Tamils Sri Lanka by the then Gov.

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