|
 
Black July 1983: the Charge is Genocide
Attack was renewed with vigour after
President Jayawardene spoke...
 It
was unsurprising therefore
that on the following day, the onslaught on the Tamils was renewed
with increased vigour.
''President Jayawardene's remarks that the violence of the
past four days had been an expected reaction.. seemed to
encourage a fresh wave of violence in Colombo and its suburbs on
Friday (29 July). (London Observer, 31 July 1983)
''On July 28th, Mr.Jayawardene spoke on TV to denounce separatism
and proscribe any party that endorsed it... Not a syllable of
sympathy for the Tamil people or any explicit rejection of the
spirit of vengeance.. Next day, Colombo was a battlefield. More than
100 people are estimated to have been killed on that Friday alone,
and 30,000 Tamils fled to refugee camps.'' (Economist, 6 August
1983)
''On July 28, President Jayawardene finally spoke to the
nation in a speech notable for its failure to chastise the
Sinhalese mobs or express sympathy for the tens of thousands of
victims... I witnessed the effect of this speech the next day on
my way to the airport; the situation which had begun to calm
down the day before, had deteriorated again... buildings burned
and panicky motorists tried to avoid gangs of thugs who stopped
outbound traffic in search of escaping Tamils. Vehicles that
would not stop were attacked.''
(Carlton L.Ames in the International Herald Tribune,
September 20 1983)
On the morning of 29 July, a rumour swept the city of Colombo:
the Tamil Tigers had arrived in Colombo Fort. Who started the
rumour? Reuter representative in Colombo sent a dispatch datelined
29 July which said:
"Panic swept through Colombo today and thousands of office
workers rushed home early after reports that the Sri Lanka
capital...had been infiltrated by guerillas. Government
spokesman, Douglas Liyanage, confirmed to reporters that 12 men
suspected of belonging to a guerilla movement had been arrested
and taken to a police station in the centre of the city. There
was no confirmation of rumours that the 12 had been sniping at
troops from buildings."
Mr. Liyanage was the Secretary to the Ministry of Information
headed by Minister Ananda Tissa de Alwis. But his own Minister
later denied that there were any suspected Tamil guerrillas in
Colombo on that day. He denied that any arrests were made. He
said that some shots had been fired in the city and some foolish
people had thought that the "Tigers" had come. It was all a grim
joke. He said:
"Some people from a roof, some Sinhalese people, threw some
explosive at our troops. Our troops fired back and these people
on the roof, some of them died. That is how the rumour began..."
(Ananda Tissa de Alwis: Televised speech on 30 July 1983)
But who were these alleged 'Sinhalese people' on the roof? The
government offered no explanation and held no inquiry. However, the
rumour served to set the frame for the attack that followed. On
29 July, hundreds of goondas transported in government owned
vehicles from outside Colombo, renewed the attack on the Tamils in
Colombo. Several Tamils were dragged out of their cars and
killed on the main roads of Colombo and in broad daylight.
''The violence on Friday July 29th was of horrifying
proportions and I heard eye witness accounts of terrible
atrocities. Cars were stopped.. and if Tamils were in the cars,
they were burned inside them, petrol was poured over people and
they were set alight, people were also burned in their houses
and were hacked to death.'' (Patricia Hyndman, Senior
Lecturer in Law, University of New South Wales and Secretary,
Lawasia Human Rights Standing Committee Report -Democracy in
Peril, June 1985)
''In Colombo nine Tamils were burnt to death yesterday at the
main railway station in front of European tourists while plans
were being discussed to ship thousands of Tamil refugees out of
the capital by sea..'' (Guardian, 29 July 1983)
The government sought to make out that like the "spontaneous
riot" in the prison, this was yet another "spontaneous riot", but
this time on the streets of Colombo, following a convenient
'rumour'. A 'riot' carried out by imported goondas following a
rumour bearing the stamp of Douglas Liyanage and which his Minister
sought to make out had something to do with Sinhalese on roof tops
who had decided to throw a couple of explosives at the Sri Lankan
army - presumably Sinhala leftists on roof tops who worked together
with Sinhala goondas travelling in government owned vehicles at
ground level. It was not a day that the Tamils who were in Colombo,
and who survived, were likely to forget.
On the same day,
Cabinet Minister Gamini Dissanayake arrived in Nuwara Eliya by
helicopter.
'' (On 29 July), Nuwara Eliya was closely guarded by the
army. All vehicles were checked. Bus conductors had orders not
to transport Tamils. Minister Gamini Dissanayake came from
Colombo to Nuwara Eliya to hold a meeting with party members....
Soon after the end of Gamini Dissanayake's party meeting they
(some well known rowdies who had been arrested the previous day)
were released. These people went out immediately, well equiped
with petrol, iron rods and other kinds of weapons and tried to
attack two Tamil priests in town. They managed to escape.
Without having succeeded they moved on.
Another mob joined up with the first one. They laid a ring of
petrol around a Tamil shop which was then burnt. They were
supported in this by the army who supplied them with gallons of
petrol. During the day all the Tamil owned shops were burnt...
Tamil people who walked the streets were beaten by soldiers. The
fire brigade which stood waiting was hindered by the army and
the Sinhalese mob in doing its job... Shops which had not been
burnt by the mob were set fire to by the army. Around noon,
Nuwara Eliya was like a sea of flames.'' (Sri Lanka -
Paradise in Ruins, Sri Lanka Coordination Centre, Kassel, 1983)
...continued...
|
