A charred massacre
By Cassendra Doole-2016-07-24Black July also known as 'Kalu Juliya' is the common name used to refer to the anti-Tamil pogrom and riots in Sri Lanka in July 1983. The riots began as a 'response' to a deadly ambush on 23 July 1983 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a Tamil militant group that killed 13 Sri Lankan soldiers.
Yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of the pogrom which paved the way for a three decade civil strife in Sri Lanka.
Brief history
Thirty-three years ago on the night of 23 July, members of the LTTE ambushed an Army patrol at the Post Box junction in Thirunelvely in Jaffna and killed 13 soldiers. Troops went berserk in Jaffna in the hours that followed and shot dead 51 innocent civilians in the Jaffna peninsula including seven passengers in a mini-van at Manipay.
Some hours later on the Sunday that followed members of the Sri Lankan Navy ran riot in Trincomalee burning down Tamil houses and also forcibly relocating Tamil refugees.
In Colombo the broadcast and televised news about the 13 soldiers being killed by the Tigers was seditious to the violence that followed. The move was even more instigating when the same media blocked out the reprisals by the armed forces.
Brief history
Thirty-three years ago on the night of 23 July, members of the LTTE ambushed an Army patrol at the Post Box junction in Thirunelvely in Jaffna and killed 13 soldiers. Troops went berserk in Jaffna in the hours that followed and shot dead 51 innocent civilians in the Jaffna peninsula including seven passengers in a mini-van at Manipay.
Some hours later on the Sunday that followed members of the Sri Lankan Navy ran riot in Trincomalee burning down Tamil houses and also forcibly relocating Tamil refugees.
In Colombo the broadcast and televised news about the 13 soldiers being killed by the Tigers was seditious to the violence that followed. The move was even more instigating when the same media blocked out the reprisals by the armed forces.
In an even more inflammatory move it was decided to stage a mass funeral for the dead soldiers at the Borella cemetery. The situation took a violent turn and mobs began moving in the direction of Borella and Thimbirigasyaya.
Civil strife
Mobs of the Sinhalese majority allegedly took revenge, killing Tamils around the country and triggering a civil strife that lasted nearly three decades and sent hundreds of thousands of Tamils into exile.
The supposed 'avengers' would stop anyone who looks like a Tamil and show him or her an object demanding to know the Sinhala word for it.
If they failed to tell them the word, or even pronounced it wrong they were killed. Most of them were stripped naked, humiliated and burnt to death.
People were burned alive in their cars, stripped naked. Women were raped. Witnesses, both Sinhala and Tamil claim that in Colombo and provincial towns, soldiers stood by and even supplied petrol. In two pogroms in the biggest prison, Sinhalese inmates killed 53 of their Tamil counterparts.
Witness accounts
There was almost certainly government complicity. A Sri Lankan human rights group says gangs operated at the behest of hard-line ministers.
Ceylon Today contacted several individuals who witnessed the dark day and the days that followed.
Forty-six-year-old Nishanthi Seneviratne said she remembers an incident where her father assisted a Tamil friend to flee the area during the assault.
"My thaththi had a friend called Bala. When the 13 soldiers were killed, we heard several rumours of the Sinhalese turning against the Tamils. Although we lived outside Colombo, the pogrom spread to our area as well. When thaththi heard of Tamils being killed, looted and burned alive, he immediately called Bala over to our place and hid him. Several rioters arrived at our place and asked if we had any Tamil servants or friends. Thaththi said 'no.' The rioters then looked around, and seeing my mother huddled with myself and my sisters, retreated. After things calmed down, thaththi helped Bala escape to the North where he said he had his family."
Nishanthi's father received a letter with the Canadian postmark several months later.
Mysterious letter
"The letter asked for thaththi's account number, stating that a sum of $ 100,000 will be sent. The receiver should withdraw 50,000 from it and hand it over to another unknown source. The remaining $50,000 can be kept for the receiver's needs. The letter was signed from 'A Friend'. Thaththi immediately burned the letter. But he said he had a feeling it was from Bala. He said in a way, it was Bala's way of thanking him for saving his life, but on the other hand, Bala was using him too."
Nilanthi's father was not the only one who helped save a life.
Seventy-nine-year-old Jayatissa Perera lost one of his closest friends in the pogrom.
"Siva was our neighbour. He had a small bookshop in Nugegoda. He also had a three-year-old son. That day, I was late for work because I had to drop my daughter off to her school in Bambalapitiya. There was a lot of traffic the entire way back and entering Nugegoda was nearly impossible. It took me over an hour. That was when I noticed the sky was covered with black smoke. It only occurred to me that this must be a result of the soldiers being killed when I saw the line of shops, including Siva's shop burning.
Drunken rioters
"I managed to get home to my wife. Siva's wife and child were hidden in my daughter's room upstairs. I told my wife what I saw. We watched as they burned down his house, his possessions... everything he owned, except for the hastily packed suitcase that was hidden in another neighbour's house. The drunken rioters didn't come to our place to search. Siva's wife stayed at our place for a few weeks, but Siva never came home. His body was found burned inside his shop."
Jayatissa said Siva's wife went to the US with her son. "Her son married an American and they have two beautiful children."
The aftermath
On 27 July 1983, the former President J.R. Jayewardene made his first speech on the events, offering no sympathy to the minority and instead emphasizing Sinhala grievances.
The violence went on for three days reaching a peak on Wednesday 27 July and ebbing on Thursday 28 July the day that Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent her Foreign Minister P. Narasimmha Rao as her special emissary to Colombo.
More killings followed. By the time the violence dwindled on 31 July 1983, tens of thousands of Tamils had fled to the northern and eastern provinces or abroad.
Friday 29 July saw Colombo and suburbs being terrified by the rumour that the Tigers had come to town. The afternoon of that fateful 'Koti Dawasa' (Tiger Day) saw the goon squads massacring Tamils again after being 'sure' that no Tigers were in town.
International pressure
On 30 and 31 July the violence diminished gradually. By August the violence had ceased as international opinion and pressure compelled the J.R. Jayewardene regime to 'normalize' the situation.
Each and every Sri Lankan, be they Tamil, Sinhala or Muslim, just want to live in peace. Thus, we would like to think, or even hope that July 1983 pogrom was only an aberration and a repetition will be unheard of.
The Aluthgama incidents in 2014, the emergence of Sinha-Le in January, and even the recent clash at the Jaffna University show that people still have mob mentality. Therefore, the constant rekindling of the disturbingly tragic incidents of "Black July 1983" is necessary to prevent a repetition
