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Black July is the commonly used name for the pogroms starting in Sri Lanka on July 23 1983. It is estimated that 1,000 Tamil people were killed, tens of thousands of houses were destroyed, and a wave of Sri Lankan Tamils left for other countries. The riots occurred following a deadly ambush by the organization known as Tamil militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which killed 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers.

Black July is generally seen as the start of full-scale armed conflict between Tamil separatists and the Sinhalese-dominated government of Sri Lanka.

Background

The impetus for violent conflict between the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority began when the British Colonialists favored the Tamils for administrative, educational, and economic control of Sri Lanka due to their policy of divide and conquer. With the 1956 Sinhala Only Act which restricted the fair use of Tamil and English languages. Protests against this policy by the Tamils was militarily suppressed that eventually snowballed into the 1958 riots killing 100s of innocent Tamil by armed sinhala mobs.

Throughout the 1960s protests and state repression against protests created further animosity. In 1971 the Standardisation policy and other restrictive measures towards Tamil students regarding affirmative action for Muslim and Sinhalese students motivated many Tamil students into Tamil militant groups. Police action against these rebel groups in the Jaffna and Batticalo regions created further distrust between Tamil civilians and the sinhala state.

There was also a series of notable ethnic riots known as the 1977 riots following the United National Party coming to power in 1977 which further suppressed native Tamils. In 1981 the renowned public library in Jaffna was burnt down by a violent mob. Until 1983 there were similar incidents of 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.

Events of July 1983

The events dubbed Black July began after members of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the Tamil Tigers or the LTTE) organization ambushed a military convoy in the North of Sri Lanka on the evening of July 23, 1983 outside the town of Jaffna in the North of Sri Lanka. Initially, a remote controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detonated beneath the jeep that was leading the convoy injuring at least two soldiers on board. As soldiers traveling in a truck which was following the jeep dismounted to help their colleagues, they were ambushed by a group of Tamil Tiger fighters, who fired at them with automatic weapons and hurled grenades at them. In the insuring clashes, one officer and 12 soldiers were killed, while two more were fatally wounded, bringing the total death toll to 15. Kittu, a regional commander of the LTTE later admitted to planning and carrying out the ambush.

In order to avoid a violent backlash from the population due to the ambush, the government decided to quietly bury the 15 soldiers at the Kanatte cemetery in Colombo. They would therefore be going against standard procedure where the fallen members of the armed forces were buried in their home villages. On the 24th of July, the day the 15 servicemen were to be buried, some Sinhalese civilians who had gathered at the cemetery, angered by news of the ambush, which was magnified by wild rumor, formed mobs and started killing Tamils and looting and burning their properties in retribution for what happened. While a number of Tamils fled the city, the majority of Sinhalese tried to save the lives and properties of Tamils despite the activities of the gangs. Many Tamils were sheltered in Sinhalese houses during following days.

The government declared an emergency curfew in Colombo on the evening of the 24th, however the Police were unwilling, or unable to enforce the curfew due to the extremely violent nature of the rioting. The Army was then called in to help the Police.

The violence continued the next day however, and began to spread all across the country engulfing areas with sizeable Tamil populations, including Kandy (where curfew was declared at 6 p.m), Matale, Nawalapitiya, Badulla and Nuwara Eliya. Vehicles on the streets were burnt, and Tamil people were dragged from cars and beaten or hacked to death with knives and axes. Fire-engines were also driven away by the mobs.

One of the most notorious single massacres of the riots took place at the Welikada high security prison on July 25. 37 Tamil prisoners, most of them detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, were killed by Sinhlase prisoners using knives and clubs. Survivors claimed that the prison officers allowed the keys to fall into the hand of the Sinhalese prisoners, while at the subsequent inquest, the prison officers claimed the keys were stolen from them. A second massacre at the prison took place on July 28, in which a further 15 prisoners were killed.

The curfew was extended nationwide on July 26 as a precautionary measure, as there were more outbreaks of violence against Tamils in areas where various ethnic groups lived together. By the evening of the 26th, the mob violence began to slack off, as the police and army patrolled the street in large numbers and began to take action against the rioters. The soldiers killed in the Jaffna ambush were quietly buried during the night curfew. The daytime curfew was lifted in Colombo the next day, although sporadic violence continued in other parts of the country over the next few days, mainly in response to rumors that "kotiyas" (i.e. Tamil Tiger) were coming to attack the city.

Brief rioting broke out on the 29th, after which police shot dead 15 rioters. A 24-hour curfew was imposed on the capital, and the security forces were able to regain control of the city.

Government's actions

There was a growing tension between the Sinhala and Tamil communities of Sri Lanka, even before the actual riots, and with the formation of militant Tamil groups, there was a rising anti-Tamil sentiment among the Sinhalese majority.

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.

Also, during the early stages of riots, the local police officers and military stood by doing nothing.

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, the 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.

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 hangar. These shelters, better known as Welfare Centers 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.

Eyewitness 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.

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.

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.

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 and 3000 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

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. Many Tamil youths also joined the various Tamil militant groups including the LTTE.

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.

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.

References

1. ^ "President Kumaratunga's speech on the 21st Anniversary of 'Black July'". South Asia Terrorism Portal. 2004-07-23.
2. Senewiratne, Brian (2006-07-28). "Sri Lanka's Week of Shame: The July 1983 massacre of Tamils – Long-term consequences". Retrieved 2006-08-01. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publication= ignored (help)
3. Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (1989). The Break up of Sri Lanka: the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1211-5.
4. Tambiah, Stanley (1984). Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-78952-7.
5. Rajasingham-Senanayake, Darini (May 2001). "Dysfunctional democracy and dirty war in Sri Lanka" (PDF). AsiaPacific Issues, No. 52. East-West Center. Retrieved 2006-08-01. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
6. O'Ballance, Edgar (1989). The cyanide war : Tamil insurrection in Sri Lanka, 1973-88. London: Brassey's (UK). ISBN 9780080366951. p.21
7. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.21
8. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.21
9. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.21
10. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.22
11. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.23
12. Piyadasa, L. (1986). Sri Lanka: The Holocaust and After. Zed Books. ISBN 0-906334-03-9.
13. "Anti-Tamil Riots and the Political Crisis in Sri Lanka". Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. Vol. 16. Questia: 27. 1984. Retrieved 2006-08-01. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
14. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.23
15. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.23
16. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.23
17. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.23
18. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.25
19. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.24
20. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.24
21. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.24
22. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.25
23. ^ 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). April 1990. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 90 - 61314. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
24. Swamy, M.R. Narayan (2003). Inside an Elusive Mind: Prabhakaran. Literate World. ISBN 1-59121-003-8.
25. O'Ballance, The cyanide war, p.24
26. "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.
27. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3090111.stm
28. "Thousands Of Tamil Canadians Say Thank You To Canada As They Remember "Black July"" (PDF) (Press release). Canadian Tamil Congress. 2006-07-19. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka
• July still black after twenty years - from the official website of the Sri Lankan government
• The former President of Sri Lanka about Black July
• Remembering 1983 black July riots in Sri Lanka
• Photos of mob violence against Tamil civilians

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from December 2007
• 1983 riots
• Black months
• History of Sri Lanka
• Ethnic riots
• Sri Lankan Tamil politics
• Riots and civil unrest in Sri Lanka