Sri Lanka’s Black July: A Family’s Tragedy In Colombo
Rajan Hoole
Sri Lanka’s Black July – Part 10 -
We now give the experience of an ordinary family in Colombo. V was then a 12-year-old girl living in a road off Allen Avenue, Dehiwela. Elder to her were two boys Arunan (24) and Ahilan (21). Her father was a registrar at the Supreme Court. Arunan was working for Suzuki Motorbike agents from where he participated in motor races held at Katukurunda and won prizes. Ahilan, who had studied at Royal College, got interested in a Left-leaning political group against his father’s wishes. But later the father too was sympathetic. On the 24th night, the atmosphere at home had been tense. Two of Ahilan’s friends came home and said that the Government is likely to unleash an attack on the Tamils the following day. They also knew about the incident in Jaffna the previous night and how UNP agents had been preparing themselves with voters’ lists. The father had possessed a shotgun from the time he had worked for the Irrigation Department in Kantalai. That night he took out the shotgun and cleaned it.
The next morning, V went to school in Wellawatte. About 9.30 AM, the Principal came to the Tamil medium classes and announced in a discreet voice that the school was being closed. She also advised the girls to remove their ‘Pottus’ and go home. The buses were still running and the Tamil shops were open for business as usual. V went home. Arunan who left for the work as usual with his father in the morning came rushing home around noon, and the father came about 1.30 PM without the motor bike on which he and Arunan used to travel to work together in the mornings. After about 5 minutes, Ahilan and two of his friends came home.
The father had been at Hulftsdorp when trouble had broken out. His colleagues had warned him not to go, but he had insisted on it. He came on his motorcycle accompanied by a police officer, and then sent the police officer back on his motorcycle. Ahilan’s friends had to return to Bambalapitya. The father asked Ahilan to go with them for a short distance.
About 2.30 PM a mob of about 50-100 arrived, mostly ruffians in shorts with long knives used to cut fish and clubs. V later learnt that they had come from Ratmalana in state- owned CTB buses. She also noticed two boys from the locality, one the nephew of a local tough and the other, the son of a bakery owner who used to sneer at her as a ‘Demali’ whenever he saw her on the road. Read More
Part four - Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Cover Up
Part five - 30th July 1983: The Second Naxalite Plot
Part seven - Black July: Thondaman & Muttetuwegama
Part nine - Tamil Merchants In The Pettah – Post July 1983
*From Chapter 9 of Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To be continued tomorrow ..
