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  INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA
The Charge is Ethnic Cleansing
TAMIL PARLIAMENTARIANS ATTACKED
BY SINHALA MOBS & 150 TAMILS KILLED - 1956
"Every human being has the inherent
right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No
one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life." -
Article 6.1, International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights
"What happened on
6 June 1956 when the Sinhala Only Bill was being
debated in Parliament? The members of the Federal Party,
exercising their undoubted constitutional right, wanted
to protest against the imposition of (the Sinhala Only)
Bill. The Members of the Federal Party said that they
would sit in silence on the Galle Face Green... It was a
silent protest which they were entitled to make. They
were seated there on the Galle Face Green, and Parliament
was sitting solemnly listening to the Prime Minister.
Troops and police were drawn round the place.
What happened? Hooligans, in the very precincts of
Parliament House, under the very nose of the Prime
Minister of this country, set upon those innocent men
seated there, bit their ears and beat them up
mercilessly. Not one shot was fired while all this
lawlessness to persons were let loose... Why?
Orders had been given: 'Do not shoot, just look
on.' Thereafter on that day, 6 June, every Tamil
man was set upon and robbed. He was beaten up. His
fountain pen and wristlet were snatched away. He was
thrashed mercilessly, humiliated and sent home. The
police were looking on while all this was happening
before their very eyes.
Shops were looted... but the police did nothing... Why
did that happen? All that happened because specific
instructions had been given to the police that they
should not shoot, should not arrest, should not deal with
the lawlessness and disorder that was let loose...
rowdies and hooligans were given a free hand to assault,
humiliate and rob any innocent Tamil walking the roads on
that day. That was the attitude taken up by a Cabinet
composed of Sinhalese Ministers...
These (hooligans) were instigated by some members of
Parliament... they were heading the gang of
hooligans. The Prime Minister made a remarkably
wonderful speech on that occasion. He came, he smiled and
he told the crowd, "Don't do that. Rain is coming down.
They will be cooled in no time." That was the type of
appeal he made. If Sinhalese men were being thrashed
by Tamils and their ears bitten, I wonder whether the
Prime Minister would have adopted the same attitude."
- Senator S.Nadesan Q.C., Sri Lanka Senate
Hansard 4 June 1958
"On 5th June 1956, the date the 'Sinhala Only' Bill
was introduced by (Prime Minister) Bandaranaike in the
House (of Parliament), as an act of protest,
Chelvanayakam, the leader of the Federal Party, led a
party of 300 Tamil volunteers and staged a sit down
Satyagraha (peaceful protest) of the kind popularised
by Mahatma Gandhi in the days of the Indian freedom
struggle.
It was a peaceful sit down protest outside the
House, on the Galle Face Green... On that day, the
police were all around but allowed the Satyagrahis to
be beaten up... Some Tamil Satyagrahis were thrown into
Beira Lake near the Parliament House. From that moment
every Tamil seen on roads of Colombo was attacked.
Tamil office employees going home from work in public
transport were caught and man-handled. Tamils had to
stay indoors for personal safety for days on
end.
Sinhalese hooligans took charge of the
situation and went on a rampage of arson and looting of
Tamil shops and homes. The rioting and violence were
instigated by the government and actively supported by
the Sinhalese organisations and Bhikkus (Buddhist
priests) to frighten Tamils into accepting the 'Sinhala
Only' Act...
The violence and rioting spread to Gal Oya and Amparai
where, under an irrigation and re-settlement scheme,
thousands of Sinhalese had been resettled in clusters
around thinly distributed Tamil villages in the Eastern
province. In the race riots in 1956, 150 people
died. They included many Tamil women and
children..." - Satchi Ponnambalam: Sri Lanka - The National
Question and the Tamil Liberation Struggle, Zed Books
Ltd, 1983
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