INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA

Black July 1983: the Charge is Genocide

Who were the planners who were in a position to command
thousands to obey their orders to kill and burn and
to assure the would be killers and arsonists,
that no harm would befall them?...

Again, it was necessary that the planners were persons who were in a position to command thousands to obey their orders to kill and burn and to assure the would be killers and arsonists, that no harm would befall them.

Who were the planners who were able to assure the would be killers and arsonists that there would be no arrests by the police and that the army would look the other way? Who were the planners who occupied such positions of authority that would render such assurances credible?

But that was not all. It was not merely a matter of assuring the would be killers and arsonists that no harm would befall them. It was not merely a matter of such assurances being credible. The success of the plan itself depended on securing that the police and the armed forces did in fact look the other way whilst the deed was done. Goondas are notorious for their cowardice and if the police and the army were seen as being ready to move into action, the attack would have collapsed.

And, in fact, the police and the armed forces cheered or looked the other way. This happened not in one place. It was not the case that a particular battalion of the army had mutinied. The army in Nuwara Eliya, the army in Kandy, the army in Badulla, the army in Colombo, the army everywhere, acted in the same way. The uniformity was chilling. In the words of Minister de Alwis, "now, if this happened in Borella and did not happen in Nugegoda, then there is no pattern; then there is no unity of design; there was no instruction. But where it happened, it was exactly in the same way. This was the pattern."

The part played by the Sri Lankan armed forces constituted a chilling pattern. It was a pattern which Minister de Alwis found convenient to ignore. Nevertheless, it was a pattern which revealed a 'unity of design'. In the words of Minister de Alwis :

"How can there be a pattern if there was no leadership ...pre planning, instruction about what each group was to do.."

...continued...