INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA

It was against the backdrop of the genocidal attacks in Trincomalee that President Jayawardene declared on 11 July 1983  - "Now, we cannot think of them. Not about their lives or of their opinion about us.''...

It was against the backdrop of the genocidal attacks in Trincomalee that on 11 July 1983, the elected President of Sri Lanka gave expression to the policy of his government in respect of a people whom he claimed as a section of his electorate. President Jayawardene, vested by the Sri Lankan Constitution with the executive power of the State, declared in an interview with Ian Ward of the London Daily Telegraph:

"I have tried to be effective for sometime but cannot. I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna (Tamil) people now." He said at one time his party had been anxious to apply policies in the northern region in such a way as to attract popular support there. "Now, we cannot think of them. Not about their lives or of their opinion about us.'' He went on: "The more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here.. really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.."

President Jayawardene's comments were tantamount to a public refusal by the Executive Head of the Sri Lankan State and the Commander in Chief of its Armed Forces to protect the lives of the Tamil people at a time when they were crying out for help. 

Some may have regarded his comments not only as a license but also as an invitation to kill.

In the perception of the Sri Lanka government, the claims of the Tamil people for the basic right of self determination had assumed a dimension that demanded a response - but, strangely, a response which did not have regard for the lives of the Tamil people or for that matter, their opinion.

On 22 July, in the Sri Lanka Parliament, a Tamil Parliamentary leader referred to President Jayawardene's statement and said:

''I only hope that what was published would be contradicted by the President... I hope to God that the article which was an interview was wrong as it was stated that the President did not care for the lives of the people of Jaffna.''

But no contradiction was ever made.

Two weeks after President Jayawardene's interview with Ian Ward in the Daily Telegraph, a vicious widespread attack was launched on the Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka.