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23Jul 2018
Today we mark thirty-five years since the horrors of the anti-Tamil pogrom of
1983, when Tamils were killed by Sinhala mobs backed by the then UNP
government and state forces.
Sinhala rioters halt a minibus searching for Tamils
Armed with electoral rolls, Sinhala mobs targeted Tamil homes and businesses,
looting and ransacking property. Driven from their homes, particularly in
Colombo, over 3000 Tamils were massacred, whilst thousands more were
effectively deported by the state to the North-East.
Eye witness reports described mobs chasing Tamils down the street with knives
and setting them alight alive. Many hundreds of women were raped. Tamil
political prisoners locked up in Welikada jail, deep within the island's south, were
also targeted as prison guards allowed Sinhala inmates to slaughter them.
We look back at events through international press coverage at the time:
“Motorists were dragged from their cars to be stoned and beaten with
sticks. Others were cut down with knives and axes. Mobs of Sinhala
youth rampaged through the streets, ransacking homes, shops and
offices, looting them and setting them ablaze, as they sought out
members of the Tamil ethnic minority. A mob attacked a Tamil cyclist
riding near Colombo’s eye hospital. The cyclist was hauled from his
bike, drenched with petrol and set alight. As he ran screaming down
the street, the mob set on him again and hacked him down with jungle
knives.”
Black July was not the first time Tamils had been targeted and killed by rampaging
Sinhala mobs. In 1956, over 150 Tamils were killed in the Eastern Province. Two
years later, in 1958, widespread riots left over 300 dead. In 1977, less than a
month after the UNP came to power, anti-Tamil riots left another 300 dead. In
1981, anti-Tamil riots took place, with ruling party MPs supervising the violence in
Jaffna.
For more on the events that led up to Black July, see our previous feature,
'Anatomy of a pogrom'. Extract produced below:
"Contrary to popular belief, the July 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom, sometimes referred
to as their Holocaust, was not a spontaneous reaction to the ambush of a Sri
Lankan army patrol by Tamil guerrillas. In a report on the attacks, the
International Commission of Jurists said “the suspicion is strong that this
organised attack on the Tamil population was planned and controlled by
extremist elements in the government UNP party, and that the killing of the 13
soldiers by [Tamil guerrillas] served as the occasion for putting the plan into
operation. The reports go so far as to allege that a member of the Cabinet was
actively involved in planning these attacks."
[more]
Posted by Thavam