{"id":192531,"date":"2018-08-02T12:23:04","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T06:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=192531"},"modified":"2018-08-06T21:22:14","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T15:52:14","slug":"black-july-haunting-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/black-july-haunting-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Black July – Haunting Memories\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Karikalan\u00a0<\/span>S. Navaratnam<\/a> –<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Karikalan S. Navaratnam<\/p><\/div>\n

“I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people… now we cannot\u00a0<\/i>think of them, not about\u00a0 <\/span>their lives or their opinion… the more you put\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people\u00a0 <\/span>will be here… Really\u00a0<\/span><\/i>if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.”<\/i> \u2013 President <\/b>J.R. Jayewardene, Daily Telegraph (London) , 11 July 1983<\/b><\/p>\n

Another July has just come and gone \u2013 35th<\/sup> Anniversary of \u201cBlack July\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>President\u00a0<\/span>J.R. made the egregious statement (cited above)\u00a0<\/span>in an interview\u00a0<\/span>to the \u201cDaily Telegraph<\/i> \u201c (which was\u00a0<\/span>reproduced in the Colombo \u201cSunday\u00a0<\/i>Observer<\/i>\u201d of 17 July 1983), just a few days before the July 1983 pogrom erupted. Not only that it foreshadowed the impending carnage and\u00a0<\/span>calamity, it had also been a\u00a0 <\/span>contributory factor engendering the pogrom.<\/p>\n

Racial\u00a0<\/span>antipathy against\u00a0<\/span>ethnic Tamils was palpably evolving into an\u00a0explosive situation. The political predator President J.R. had wilfully\u00a0<\/span>accelerated the process.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The die is cast<\/b><\/p>\n

Alea\u00a0 <\/span>iacta\u00a0 <\/span>est<\/i> (“The die is cast”) is a phrase attributed to Julius\u00a0Caesar as he led his legion across the Rubicon river in\u00a0<\/span>49 B.C. while he\u00a0set out to take over Rome and became embroiled in a civil war. In\u00a0<\/span>crossing the Rubicon, Caesar had made a major military commitment.\u00a0\u201cThe die is cast\u201c- the\u00a0<\/span>metaphorical\u00a0<\/span>phrase suggesting that\u00a0<\/span>an irrevocable\u00a0choice had been made and the process was past the point of return. Anti-Tamil pogrom in July 1983<\/a> was an organized effort, as were the series\u00a0of massacres\u00a0 <\/span>routinely carried out against Tamils in a medieval\u00a0<\/span>milieu.\u00a0In 1983, it was organized on a larger scale. Spiritual and temporal\u00a0 <\/span>forces \u2013\u00a0<\/span>sections of the clergy, state security agencies, the police, bigoted press\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and \u2018patriotic\u2019 politicians – had\u00a0<\/span>ganged up with the\u00a0 <\/span>like-minded rabid rabble\u00a0<\/span>to wage\u00a0 <\/span>war on the Tamil people.\u00a0<\/span>President\u00a0<\/span>J.R.\u2019s\u00a0 <\/span>bellicose rhetoric was\u00a0<\/span>a call to arms addressed to this bloodlusted\u00a0 <\/span>nationalist fascist forces. With\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>his clarion call, the die was cast and the ensuing ethnic war was inevitable. \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Orgy of violence<\/b><\/p>\n

The\u00a0 <\/span>pogrom claimed the lives of several thousands of\u00a0<\/span>innocent Tamils.\u00a0<\/span>And the orgy of killing was complemented\u00a0<\/span>by a host of other acts of\u00a0<\/span>atrocity – maiming, rape, arson, looting and what not. Haunting memories\u00a0<\/span>of the horrors of Black July 1983 continue to cast\u00a0 <\/span>a shadow over\u00a0<\/span>ethnic\u00a0<\/span>relations in Sri Lanka\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>tend to define the Tamils\u2019 political\u00a0 <\/span>agenda. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, the genocidal\u00a0 <\/span>killings of 2009 and the\u00a0<\/span>post-Mullivaikal\u00a0<\/span>experiences have drastically changed our mindscape and pursuits..<\/p>\n

Aide\u00a0<\/span>Memoires<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it<\/i>.”\u00a0<\/span>(George Santayana, Philosopher\/Poet<\/b>).\u00a0<\/span>Lest we may forget, a brief\u00a0review of the horrific events of July 1983, as recounted by discerning\u00a0commentators\/ observers may serve as a sort of aide memoires<\/i>:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cActs of Genocide\u201d – ICJ<\/b>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The crimes of July 1983 were a watershed for our country | pic by Chandraguptha Amarasingha – A Tamil boy stripped naked and later beaten to death by Sinhala youth in Boralla gustation – 1983 July<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the\u00a0<\/i>Sinhala rioters on the Tamils amounted to Acts of Genocide<\/i>.” (The\u00a0<\/b>Review, International Commission of Jurists, December 1983)<\/b><\/p>\n

“Mobs of Sinhala youth rampaged through the streets, ransacking\u00a0<\/span><\/i>homes, shops and offices, looting them and setting them ablaze, as they\u00a0<\/span><\/i>sought out members of the Tamil ethnic minority<\/i>.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“… a mob attacked a Tamil cyclist riding near Colombo’s eye hospital\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026..The cyclist was hauled from his bike, drenched with petrol\u00a0<\/i>and set alight. As he ran screaming down the street, the mob set on him\u00a0<\/i>and hacked him down with jungle knives…”\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

“Motorists were dragged from their cars to be stoned and beaten with\u00a0<\/i>sticks… Others were cut down with knives and axes<\/i>.”\u00a0 <\/span>(London Daily\u00a0<\/b>Telegraph, 26 July 1983<\/b>)<\/p>\n

”All over the city by mid-morning lorries jammed with young men\u00a0<\/span><\/i>shouting anti Tamil slogans, were moving into Tamil areas and into\u00a0<\/span><\/i>shopping centres picking out Tamil shops… Petrol was siphoned from cars\u00a0<\/span><\/i>into\u00a0 <\/span>buckets and plastic bowls to speed the work of arson.. By noon\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Colombo resembled a city after a bombing raid. Smoke obscured the sun,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Main\u00a0<\/span>roads were blocked by burnt out vehicles.. The rioting surged into the\u00a0<\/span><\/i>heart\u00a0<\/span>of the city. In area after area Sinhalese rioters systematically picked\u00a0<\/span><\/i>out\u00a0<\/span>Tamil homes and shops, whether occupied or empty, and looted and\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>destroyed them.<\/i>..” (Guardian, 26 July 1983<\/b>)<\/p>\n

“The rioters seeking out Tamil homes and burning them had a\u00a0<\/span><\/i>particularly detailed knowledge of who lived where and who owned<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>what.”\u00a0 <\/span>(<\/i>London Times, 8 August 1983)<\/b><\/p>\n

“The violence was vicious and bloody\u2026\u2026..Troops and police (almost\u00a0<\/span><\/i>exclusively Sinhalese) either joined therioters or stood idly by. \u00a0The events\u00a0<\/i>were so well organised no one doubtsthat there was a master list of\u00a0<\/span><\/i>targets<\/i>.” (Financial Times, 12 Aug. 1983<\/b> )<\/p>\n

‘‘A tourist told yesterday how she watched in horror as a Sinhala mob<\/i>\u00a0deliberately burned alive a bus load of Tamils… Mrs.Eli Skarstein, back\u00a0<\/i>home in Stavanger, Norway, told how she and her 15 year old daughter,\u00a0<\/i>Kristin, witnessed one massacre. ‘A mini bus full of Tamils were forced to\u00a0<\/i>stop in front of us in Colombo’ she said. A Sinhalese mob poured petrol\u00a0<\/i>over the bus and set it on fire. They blocked the car door and prevented\u00a0<\/span><\/i>the Tamils from leaving the vehicle. ‘Hundreds of spectators watched as\u00a0<\/i>about 20 Tamils were burned to death’<\/i>\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.( London Daily Express,\u00a0<\/b>29th August 1983<\/b>)<\/p>\n

Welikada Prison Massacre<\/strong><\/p>\n

Welikada\u00a0 <\/span>massacre was yet another grisly chapter in the Black July\u00a0narrative. On Saturday, 16 July 1983\u00a0<\/span>morning I visited prisoners Thangathurai,\u00a0<\/span>Kuttimany and Jegan at\u00a0 <\/span>Welikada prison.\u00a0<\/span>Senior lawyer\u00a0<\/span>M. Sivasithamparam\u00a0<\/span>and I had represented them (and some other\u00a0political prisoners)\u00a0 <\/span>in the Colombo High Court.\u00a0<\/span>While leaving them, I\u00a0<\/span>promised to see them again the week after next. But, that was not to be !<\/p>\n

TULF\u00a0<\/span>Convention<\/b><\/p>\n

On Saturday, 23 July 1983, I was in Mannar to attend the TULF party\u00a0<\/span>Annual Convention. I was a Politburo member. The 1st day sessions\u00a0were over and 2nd day sessions were scheduled\u00a0 <\/span>for Sunday, 24\u00a0July.\u00a0<\/span>Members of Parliament\u00a0<\/span>A. Amirthalingam, (TULF Secretary),\u00a0M. Sivasithamparam (President), V. Yogeswaran, R.Sampanthan, Neelan\u00a0Tiruchelvam and I were staying at Mannar Rest\u00a0 <\/span>House. In the early hours\u00a0of 24th, there was a phone call from Jaffna M.P. Yogeswaran\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>wife. She\u00a0<\/span>conveyed the grim message that a barrage of explosions were heard the\u00a0previous night and that\u00a0 <\/span>army in Jaffna was\u00a0 <\/span>running amok on a shooting\u00a0spree, killing civilians at sight. Follow-up calls\u00a0 <\/span>from different sources,\u00a0ominously informed us that attacks on Tamil targets were spreading out.\u00a0Because of menacing military movements in Mannar we were compelled\u00a0to cancel the Sunday political sessions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawyer Manouri\u2019s Call<\/b><\/p>\n

On 26 July morning some of us met at (Mannar MP)\u00a0<\/span>P. Soosaithasan\u2019s\u00a0residence. There was a call to Sivasithamparam (Siva) from lawyer\u00a0<\/span>Manouri\u00a0<\/span>Muttetuwegama\u00a0<\/span>(Communist M.P. Sarath\u2019s wife and Dr. Colvin\u2019s\u00a0daughter). She informed Siva that some of his clients in Welikada jail had\u00a0been killed, the previous day (25th\u00a0 <\/span>July). She could not give details.\u00a0Thereupon, Siva telephoned the Deputy Commissioner of Prisons in\u00a0Colombo and the latter confirmed that there was \u201csome bad news\u201d, but\u00a0politely declined to give details. Mr. Amirthalingam, who arrived there\u00a0<\/span>a bit later, telephoned President Jayawardene. He confirmed that some\u00a0Tamil prisoners were killed and added\u00a0 <\/span>that he was \u201cnot going to hush it\u00a0up\u201d and that the victims\u2019 names would be broadcast over the radio that\u00a0<\/span>night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

53\u00a0<\/span>Prisoners\u00a0 <\/span>butchered<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Black July 83 – Boralla | Photo – Chandraguptha Amarasingha<\/p><\/div>\n

Even as army threats intensified in and around the neighbourhood, we\u00a0moved out to the house of a party stalwart,\u00a0<\/span>V. Kayilayapillai\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>Iluppakadavai village.\u00a0<\/span>On the way we came across\u00a0<\/span>a group of local TULF\u00a0<\/span>functionaries, including Mannar DDC Chairman Sebamalai, with bleeding\u00a0injuries. Army men lurking under a culvert had attacked them, damaged\u00a0their vehicle and left them bleeding. After arranging for them to be taken to\u00a0hospital, we proceeded to Iluppakkadavai.\u00a0<\/span>It was a spartan house of a\u00a0<\/span>farmer and there was no electricity.\u00a0<\/span>In the evening we all gathered in the\u00a0<\/span>front yard,\u00a0<\/span>with a battery-operated\u00a0 <\/span>radio, anxiously awaiting the broadcast.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those were agonizing moments.\u00a0<\/span>At 9.00 pm, names of 35 victims,\u00a0<\/span>including Kuttimany, Thangathurai and Jegan were announced. The\u00a0<\/span>government tried to make out it was a prison riot. Slaughter\u00a0<\/span>of\u00a0<\/span>further 18\u00a0<\/span>Tamil prisoners on 27 July 1983\u00a0<\/span>said it loud and clear that it was a pre-planned\u00a0<\/span>operation, organized and orchestrated by Sinhala prison officers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Official complicity<\/b><\/p>\n

They had served alcohol to hardcore criminals in the jail, armed them with\u00a0<\/span>machetes, kitchen knives, clubs etc, opened the cells for them and set\u00a0<\/span>them upon the Tamil prisoners.\u00a0<\/span>In the two days of gory attacks, 53 Tamil\u00a0<\/span>prisoners were butchered to death and their bodies were piled up in front of\u00a0<\/span>a Buddha statue (within the prison complex) as an offering to Lord Buddha.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was a strong contingent of army on guard outside the Welikada jail.\u00a0<\/span>Responding to the clamour and commotion inside, they had rushed to the\u00a0<\/span>spot and figured out what was going on. Waving at the armed convicts, the\u00a0<\/span>soldiers continued to watch the \u201cfun\u201dapathetically. Perhaps, to them, the\u00a0<\/span>victims were not humans, but vermin..\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Incidentally,\u00a0<\/span>on 25 July 1983 Siva\u2019s house at Colombo-Norris Canal Road\u00a0<\/span>was looted and razed to the ground , and my house at Cotta Road, Borella\u00a0<\/span>was attacked by a mob led by a saffron-robed\u00a0 <\/span>monk.).<\/p>\n

Indian\u00a0<\/span>Foreign Minister calls\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Late in the night,\u00a0a messenger\u00a0<\/span>from the local sub-post office showed up\u00a0with an urgent\u00a0 <\/span>message : There was an important\u00a0<\/span>telephone call waiting\u00a0<\/span>for Mr. Amirthalingam. (In that village, the local\u00a0 <\/span>post-office cum dwelling\u00a0only had the telephone facility). Taking care not to alert the restive army,\u00a0<\/span>we avoided using the vehicle headlight and instead using a torch light,\u00a0gingerly proceeded to the post office. The call was from \u2018India House\u2019\u00a0(Indian High Commissioner\u2019s residence) in Colombo. The caller at the other\u00a0end was Indian Foreign Minister Mr. Narasimha\u00a0 <\/span>Rao. Mr. Rao expressed\u00a0condolences on the loss of lives and his message to Amirthalingam was\u00a0<\/span>brief and poignant. He wanted Amirthalingam to travel to India early for\u00a0<\/span>\u201cdiscussion\u201d.<\/p>\n

Watershed moment<\/b><\/p>\n

Evidently, feelings were running high in Tamil Nadu over the killings of\u00a0<\/span>Tamils and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had dispatched her Foreign\u00a0<\/span>Minister with a strong message to President J.R.\u00a0<\/span>Though an impulsive\u00a0small step that Mrs. Gandhi had taken, it was a watershed moment that\u00a0<\/span>had changed the course of Indo-Sri Lanka relations. J.R.\u2019s response was\u00a0<\/span>sullen and subdued – a far cry from his earlier\u00a0 <\/span>grandstanding !<\/p>\n

Mr. Amirthalingam arrived in India in 1st<\/sup> week of August\u00a0<\/span>1983. I had left for\u00a0<\/span>India\u00a0 <\/span>before he did.\u00a0<\/span>In Colombo, my good friend Vasantha\u00a0<\/span>Obeysekera\u00a0(the film director, who is no more)\u00a0<\/span>helped me at a moment of adversity\u00a0<\/span>and despair.\u00a0<\/span>On my way to Katunayake airport,\u00a0<\/span>I passed by the skeletal\u00a0remains of burnt out houses, business places and charred remains of\u00a0<\/span>hundreds of vehicles\u00a0 <\/span>strewn all over. Mercifully, I did not come across any\u00a0<\/span>human remains. Probably,\u00a0<\/span>they were already removed. Nonetheless, the\u00a0<\/span>cruel scenes, conjured up images of brutal attacks on hundreds of Tamils\u00a0<\/span>who were hacked to death or burnt alive.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>legion\u00a0<\/span>of Sinhala nationalist forces had\u00a0<\/span>crossed the Rubicon\u00a0<\/span>long ago.\u00a0The\u00a0<\/span>remorseless\u00a0<\/span>perpetrators\u00a0<\/span>of\u00a0<\/span>horrendous\u00a0<\/span>crimes\u00a0<\/span>against\u00a0<\/span>our people have lately\u00a0<\/span>started shouting\u00a0 <\/span>a sanctimonious slogan:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cPeace and\u00a0<\/span><\/i> Reconciliation\u201d. <\/i>Reconciliation\u00a0<\/span>on\u00a0<\/span>whose\u00a0<\/span>terms and\u00a0<\/span>with whom?\u00a0<\/span>Not\u00a0<\/span>on the terms of the Rajapaksas, the Rasputins\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>Ranaweerayo,\u00a0<\/span>the tribalists who call all the shots.\u00a0<\/span>Of\u00a0<\/span>course,\u00a0<\/span>there are sections\u00a0<\/span>of\u00a0<\/span>the Sinhala\u00a0<\/span>polity, with enlightened\u00a0<\/span>views. But, theirs is a\u00a0<\/span>tame and timid voice \u2013\u00a0 <\/span>a voice\u00a0<\/span>crying\u00a0<\/span>in the wilderness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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