Blak July: Remarks & Testimonies In Retrospect

By Rajan Hoole -September 26, 2013 

Rajan Hoole

Sri Lanka’s Black July – Part 30

We have thus found that alternative explanations, which hold the general violence of July 1983, and the prison massacres, to have occurred spontaneously without a core of advance planning, are defective in every respect. As to the planning, we have further the testimony of Tamil UNPer Mr. Ganeshalingam, former Mayor of Colombo. The following is an extract from Victor Ivan’s article, “The best laid plans of government men…” in the Counterpoint of July 1993:

“The next question I put to him was whether Mr. Cyril Mathew had no connection with the incidents of July 1983.

His reply was that not only Cyril Mathew but all the main leaders of the Government at the time had a hand in it and that those incidents were planned and implemented by the Government.Read More

To be continued..

Part one - Sri Lanka’s Black July: Borella, 24th Evening

Part two - Sri Lanka’s Black July: What Really Happened At Kanatte?

Part three - Black July: ‘Api Suddha Kara’ – JR’s Failure To Declare Curfew

Part four - Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Cover Up

Part five -  30th July 1983: The Second Naxalite Plot

Part six  - Black July: The Testimony Of Lionel Bopage, Then General Secretary Of The JVP

Part seven - Black July: Thondaman & Muttetuwegama

Part eight - What Was Behind Tiger Friday – 29th July? -The Significance Of The Pettah

Part nine - Tamil Merchants In The Pettah – Post July 1983

Part ten –  Sri Lanka’s Black July: A Family’s Tragedy In Colombo

Part eleven -  Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Question Of Numbers

Part twelve –  Welikade Prison Massacres: The First Massacre: 25th July 1983

Part thirteen –  Welikade Prison Massacres: Testimonies Given At The Magistrate’s Inquest

Part fourteen -  Circumstances Leading To The Magistrate’s Inquest

Part fifteen - Welikade Prison: The Second Massacre: 27th July 1983

Part sixteen - Welikade Prison Massacres: Chief Jailor Observed Army Commandos Coming In

Part seventeen - Welikade Prison Massacres: Postscript

Part eighteen - July 1983: Planned By The State Or Spontaneous Mob Action?

Part nineteen - July 1983: Ranil Wickremasinghe Followed Cyril Mathew

Part twenty - Events Of 24th July – The Eve Of The Holocaust: Who Wanted A Military Funeral?

Part twenty one –  Events Of 24th July: What Were The Army’s Orders?

Part twenty two - Black July: Further Evidence Of Advance Planning

Part twenty three - Black July: The JSS Goon Squad Regime

Part twenty four - Institutional Implications Of The JSS And Black July

Part twenty five - Black July: Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gonalwela Sunil And The Kelaniya University

Part twenty six - Black July: Army Hathurusinghe Prevented Police From Assisting Prison Victims Under Attack

Part twenty seven - Black July: Justice Of Peace Gonawela Sunil And The Killings In Prison

Part twenty eight - Prison Massacre And The Alitalia Hijacker Sepala Ekanayake

Part twenty nine –  Black July: Further Indirect Evidence Of State Involvement

*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power  - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To be continued..