Black July
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Black July is the commonly used name of the pogroms starting in Sri Lanka on July 23, 1983. It is estimated that nearly 1,000[1]Tamils were killed, tens of thousands of houses were destroyed, and a wave of Sri Lankan Tamils sought refuge in other countries. Black July is generally seen as the start of full-scale armed struggle between Tamil militants and the Sinhalese-dominated government of Sri Lanka.[2][3][4]
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[edit] Events of July 1983
The events dubbed Black July began after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ambushed and killed thirteen government soldiers on the 23rd of July, 1983, in the town of Jaffna in the North of Sri Lanka. On the 25th of July, the day the 13 soldiers were to be buried in Colombo, some Sinhalese civilians who had gathered at the cemetery formed mobs and started killing Tamils and looting and burning their properties in retribution for what happened.[5][6][7]
It took the Sri Lankan government 24 hours to enforce a curfew in Colombo, despite which the violence continued, albeit at lower levels, for the next three days. At the same time, the violence began to spread all across the country engulfing areas with sizeable Tamil populations, including Kandy (where curfew was eventually declared at 6 p.m), Matale, Nawalapitiya, Badulla and Nuwara Eliya.
Finally, following the move by Indira Gandhi, the then Indian Prime Minister of India to send her External Minister, Narasimha Rao on a fact finding mission to Sri Lanka on 28th of July, the violence was brought to an end by the Sri Lankan Government.[8]
[edit] Government's role
Although it started as a spontaneous reaction by Sinhalese mobs gathered at the Colombo Cemetery where the bodies of the soldiers were to be buried, elements associated with the ruling United National Party (UNP) may have been involved in the organization of the riots.[9]
Also, during the early stages of riots, the local police officers and military stood by doing nothing.[10]
By July 26, however, police and the army were out in the streets taking actions against the mobs and most of the violence died out. The government extended the curfew to prevent violence from spreading to other parts of the country. A brief span of rioting broke out on July 29 when police shot dead 15 Sinhalese looters.
Even though some Tamil politicians accused the ruling UNP for not taking appropriate actions to prevent the riots, Government in fact took vital counter measures from the very early stages to combat rioters and safeguard the tamil community.Curfew was enforced immediately after the riots broke out. The attacks, according the government, were carefully organized and government properties such as trains, buildings and buses were the initial targets.
Then, Prime Minister Ranasingha Premadasa formed a committee to organize shelter and feeding for an estimated 20,000 homeless Tamils in Colombo. These temporary shelters were situated at five school buildings and an aircraft hanger. These shelters, better known as welfare centres to the public, were protected by the army soldiers and not a single act of violence nor any discrimination towards Tamils were reported inside them. It should be also noted that the number of refugees increased to around 50,000 and the Government even took measures to send Tamils to north by ships.[11]
[edit] Eye witness accounts
The rioters initially targeted Government properties. As it had happened many times before and after, most of the people who gathered at the Borella Kanatta, where the Dead army soldiers were supposed to be buried, directed their anger towards the Government. Later it developed into a full scale violence, targeting tamil citizens and their properties.[citation needed]
The murder, looting and general destruction of property was well organized. Mobs armed with petrol were seen stopping passing motorists at critical street junctions and, after ascertaining the ethnic identity of the driver and passengers, setting alight the vehicle with the driver and passengers trapped within it.
Mobs were also seen stopping buses to identify Tamil passengers and subsequently these passengers were knifed, clubbed to death or burned alive. One Norwegian tourist saw a mob set fire to a minibus with 20 people inside, killing them all.[9][12]
Tamil civilians in other cities, including Galle, Matara, Gampola, Nawalapitiya, Pusselawa, Ginigathena, Hatton, Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Badulla, and Anuradapura, were also attacked by Sinhalese mobs.[9]
[edit] Photos of the Violence
[edit] Casualty estimation
The estimates of casualties vary. While the government initially stated just 250 Tamils were killed, various NGOs and international agencies estimate that between 400[13] and 3000[13] people suspected of being Sri Lankan Tamils or Hill Country Tamils were killed in the riots. 53 political prisoners alone were killed in the Welikade prison massacre. Eventually the Sri Lankan government put the death toll at about 1000 dead [1]
More than 18,000 houses and numerous commercial establishments were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of Tamils fled the country to India, Europe, Australia and Canada.[1] Many Tamil youths also joined the various Tamil militant groups including the LTTE
[edit] Prosecutions and compensations
There was a presidential commission appointed during the subsequent People's Alliance government that estimated that nearly 1000 people killed and 18,000 establishments including houses were destroyed and recommended that restitution be paid. Thus far no restitution has been paid or any criminal proceedings against anyone involved begun.[1]
[edit] Context of the violence
Sri Lanka has suffered anti-minority riots and pogroms since 1915. The impetus for violent conflict between the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority via the proxy of the state began with the 1956 Sinhala Only Act which initially restricted the fair use of Tamil and English languages. The non violent protest against this policy was met with mob violence that eventually snowballed in to the 1958 riots.
It has been reported that Vellupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the LTTE, became convinced of the need for armed struggle for Tamil independence from Sri Lanka because of the massacres and rapes in the 1958 riots.[10]
Throughout the 1960s protests and state repression against protests created further animosity. In 1971 the Standardisation policy and other restrictive measures regarding educational opportunities for Tamil students forced many into Tamil militant groups. Police action against these nascent militant groups in the Jaffna and Batticalo regions created further distrust between Tamil civilians and the state.
There was also a series of notable race riots known as the 1977 riots following the United National Party coming to power in 1977.[14] In 1981 the renowned public library in Jaffna was burnt down by government agents. In the process four civilians were also murdered. Until 1983 there was low level violence between the government and the mushrooming Tamil militant groups with a significant number of murders, disappearances and cases of torture attributed to both sides.
[edit] As a remembrance day
July 24, or Black July Day, has become a day of mourning and remembrance amongst the Sri Lankan Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora around the world. The Canadian Tamil Congress sponsored an event in downtown Toronto on July 24, 2006, for Tamil-Canadians to gather and thank Canada for granting them asylum. Similar events were held in Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Great Britain, and Australia.[15]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d President Kumaratunga's speech on the 21st Anniversary of 'Black July'. South Asia Terrorism Portal (2004-07-23).
- ^ Senewiratne, Brian (2006-07-28). Sri Lanka's Week of Shame: The July 1983 massacre of Tamils – Long-term consequences. Retrieved on 2006-08-01.
- ^ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (1989). The Break up of Sri Lanka: the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1211-5.
- ^ Tambiah, Stanley (1984). Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-78952-7.
- ^ Jeyaretnam, Dr J.S.A. "Remembering Black July Of The Failed State", TamilCanadian.com, July 12, 2006.
- ^ Piyadasa, L. (1986). Sri Lanka: The Holocaust and After. Zed Books. ISBN 0-906334-03-9.
- ^ (1984) "Anti-Tamil Riots and the Political Crisis in Sri Lanka". Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars Vol. 16: 27. Retrieved on 2006-08-01.
- ^ Ana, Pararajasingham. State Terror: Black July of 1983 Revisited. Retrieved on 2006-08-01.
- ^ a b c (April 1990) The Broken Palmyra - The Tamil Crisis in Sri Lanka: An Inside Account. Claremont, CA: The Sri Lanka Studies Institute (online: University Teachers for Human Rights). Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 90 - 61314.
- ^ a b Swamy, M.R. Narayan (2003). Inside an Elusive Mind: Prabhakaran. Literate World. ISBN 1-59121-003-8.
- ^ The Cyanide War by Edgar O'Ballance. ISBN 0-08-036695-3
- ^ History of Tamil struggle for freedom in Sri Lanka: A photo album. Quoted from the London Daily Express, 1983-08-29. Ilankai Tamil Sangam: Association of Tamils of Sri Lanka in the USA.
- ^ a b http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3090111.stm
- ^ Rajasingham-Senanayake, Darini (May 2001). "Dysfunctional democracy and dirty war in Sri Lanka" (PDF). AsiaPacific Issues, No. 52. East-West Center. Retrieved on 2006-08-01.
- ^ Canadian Tamil Congress (2006-07-19). Thousands Of Tamil Canadians Say Thank You To Canada As They Remember "Black July". Press release.
