Forbidden history: Black July
Chapter 1: The time of the monarchs
Long before the times of Christ, it is said that people from various parts of India migrated to the tiny island of srilanka. One such group travelled from Bengal with a prince who was exiled by his father and another left the southern parts of India to a new home, which they would have hope held a future of peace. It is believed that the men from Bengal were the first to reach the island around 500 B.C. The other group made there not longer after - sometime around 350 B.C. There are other scholars who claim that it was people from Southern India (all of whom then spoke various dialects of Tamil, which has now become Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam) who reached the island first. There is no way to ascertain who were the first immigrants, not with a mere hundred years of separation, but there are clues.
Srilankan literature: Mahavamsa, a buddhist pali work - one of the oldest historical chronicles of srilanka and buddhism, mentions the presence of demons, Nagas and Yakkas, when the Bengali prince arrived in the island. It also mentions the name of the kingdom reigned over by the Bengali prince as the Kingdom of Thambipanni. Almost at the southern edge of present day Tamil Nadu, there is river by the name Thamiraparani (do they sound similar?).
Indian Literature: Ramayana, which is believed to have been penned around 400 B.C., mentions that the island was ruled by a Shaivite demon called Raavanan. Both Mahabharatha and Ramanaya mention Thamiraparani and the existence of a civilization around the river.
General belief: Though Shaivism became organised some time later than 500 B.C., Tamils of that time practiced a religion that closely resembled present-day Shaivism.
Put these together and you can make up your mind on who reached the island first, but trouble seems to have to started not too long after, both the groups arrived. Prince Vijaya and his house ruled the island till about 240 B.C., but most of them were in a eternal conflict with the Cholas and other Tamil immigrants. In 237 B.C., Sena and Guttika from South India defeated the srilankan king and assumed throne. They were power till 215 B.C. until they were overthrown. In 205 B.C. Ellala Cholan invaded the island and reigned over it for close to forty-five years before the throne went back to the house of Vijaya. In 103 B.C., Pandyas invaded the island and assumed control for a few years. After a long dormancy, they invaded the island once again in 436 A.D. Since then, a handful of Chola kings and a dozen Pandya kings have reigned over Srilanka until the British arrived on the Island in 1796. It must also be noted that Pandyas, from time to time, aligned with the srilankans to fight the mighty Cholas.
Chapter 2: Under the British
Within a span of twenty years between 1796 and 1815, the white men gained control of large parts of the island through two bloody wars and as usual, once they set shop, began marketing their religion. The Tamil Hindus quickly organised themselves to fight the policies and conversion activities of the protestant "missionaries".
In 1833, the white men made their next move. They instituted a committee of three members, one sinhalese, one Tamil and a burgher, to serve as an advisory body to the governor of Ceylon. The sinhalese questioned the disproportionate representation (at that time, at least 70% of the population was sinhalese). M Furthermore, William Manning - governor of Ceylon between 1918 and 1925 - called out for more communal representation over universal franchise. Mahavamsa, which had been translated by the Portuguese, gained prominence during the 1920's and caused an insurgence in sinhalese nationalism.
In the initial years of the surging sinhalese nationalism, acts of violence were sporadic and small scale, but over the years, they gradually escalated till it was nothing less than ethnic cleansing.
Chapter 3: A decade of suppression
In 1948, when srilanka attained independence from the British, the srilankan parliament passed the "Ceylon citizenship act", which deliberately made it impossible for Tamils to secure citizenship. It was not until 2003 all the Tamils were granted citizenship. In the 55 years in between, lakhs and lakhs(the real numbers vary between 7Lakh to 10Lakh) of Tamils were deported to India who still live here in utter poverty. All their properties in srilanka were confiscated.
In 1956, the srilankan parliament passed another brutal act called the "sinhala only act" which replaced English with sinhala as the only official language. When English was the country's official language, Tamils held a large percentage of the government jobs. The 1956 act disabled them to hold those offices anymore. Government employees who wer unable to speak sinhalese were forced to resign and obviously, the Tamil-speaking minority saw this as discrimination against thm. In protest, Tamil Federal party(FP) formed a SATHYAGRAHA campaign. The sinhalese nationalists were agitated by this and formed gangs to attack Tamil minorities. This culminated in Gal Oya riots (1956) in which Tamil speaking government employees were beaten up and killed. Over 150 Tamils lost their lives and scores were injured. To reconcile with the Tamils, the srilankan government signed Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact in 1957. This pact agreed on a certain level of autonomy for Tamil speaking region. Sinhalese nationalists and Buddhist monks opposed the pact and the pact was torn up in 1958. This led to another bout of riots. This one was widespread and saw the killing of thousands of Tamils. The 1958 riots broke any trust that existed between the two communities. After the riots, the Tamil Federation Party was banned.
In the early 1960s, the demand for a separate Tamil country began to be raised.
Through the 60's, state sponsored colonization schemes that had the effect of changing the demographic balance was a major cause for the conflict between the communities. The srilankan government began relocating large populations of sinhalese to the eastern province, which the Tamils considered their homeland. This led to communal violence.
In the 1970s, srilanka banned import on Tamil-language films, books, magazines, journals, etc. from Tamil Nadu. They also banned local groups affiliated with organisations such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Tamil Youth League. Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to Tamil Nadu for university education was stopped. Examinations for external degrees from the University of London were abolished. This had the effect of culturally cutting off the links between Tamils from srilanka and Tamils from India.
In 1971-1972, the policy of standardisation was implemented by the srilankan government to what they believed was to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in srilanka under British rule. It was in essence a scheme to assist geographically disadvantaged students to gain education. The resultant benefits enjoyed by sinhalese students also meant a significant fall in the number of Tamil students.
During this turbulent period, as sinhalese nationalism spread, a lot of political parties came together to form a Tamil United Front (TUF) which later became Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) when Tamil federal party joined them. Between 1948 and 1972, all these various parties staged many non-violent protests to demand their rights and all of these protests were crushed brutally with the help of military. Such hard policies of military repression by successive srilankan governments led Anton Balasingham and TULF
to demand a separate country for Tamils, the Tamil-Eelam. When srilanka refused to heed, many organisations including the Tamil New Tigers were formed and 25 years of peaceful protest by Tamils came to an end.
Chapter 5: The Tamil Tigers
Sometime in 1972-1973, a student named Sathyaseelan formed the Tamil Manavar peravai (Tamil Students League) to counter the policy of standardisation. The league comprised of about forty men including Velupillai Prabhakaran. A few months later, Prabhakaran teamed up with Dhanasingam and formed the Tamil New Tigers (TNT). Along with several other small organisations, TNT began hit-and-run attacks on pro-sinhalese/pro-government Tamil politicians, sriilankan police and military, and srilankan administrators.
In 1974, a Tamil conference was held in Jaffna. Srilankan police arrived at the scene and without warning attacked the crowd that had gathered. In the attack and the stampede that ensued, nine Tamils were killed and about fifty were injured. To add insult to injury, the srilankan government promoted these police officers. This angered the Tamil even more and Prabhakaran himself assassinated Alfred Duriyappah, the mayor of Jaffna, who had ordered the police to the site and took it upon himself to promote them too.
The LTTE was founded in 1976. It was the successor of Tamil New Tigers. Upon its inception, Uma Maheshwaran became its leader and Prabhakaran, its military commander. Over the next few years, the small group of soldiers carried out attacks against police and local politician. In 1977, TULF sided with LTTE and both the organisations helped each other in the fight for Tamil-Eelam.
After many low-key attacks, in 1983, LTTE carried out its first major attack in the town of Thirunelveli, Jaffna. On 23 July 1983, a group of LTTE soldiers ambushed an army patrol and killed thirteen (according to some reports, fifteen) srilankan soldiers. This incident was the immediate cause of Black July.
Chapter 6: Black July
Fearing violence, the srilankan prime minister Premadasa, wanted to hold the funeral of the soldiers in secret at a military cemetery in Colombo. He had the backing of the commander of the armies Weeratunga. However, president Jayawardene overruled them and decided to hand bodies of the soldiers to their families.
July 24: At 1 o’clock in the morning of July 24, the army rounded up hundreds of Tamils in Trincomalee, Mannar, and Vavuniya in the Northeast who had fled the anti-Tamil riots of 1977 and 1981. These Tamils were forcibly taken and left without possessions in the central hills. The army in Jaffna went on rampage killing 51 innocent Tamil civilians. In Trincomalee, similar violence broke out as members of the Navy randomly shot at civilians and burnt down Tamil property.
A few hours before the arrival of the bodies at Colombo, crowd began to gather around the family homes and the cemetery. By the time the bodies arrived, the crowd had grown to a staggering ten thousand people. A section of this crowd began attacking, looting and setting fire to any building in the area that had a Tamil connection. Tamil dwellings were targeted. Tamil owned shops were razed to ground. Tamils were brutally massacred. The police dispersed the mob, but they went on with their murderous spree in other parts on town. Members of the underworld criminal gangs joined in.
July 25: Mobs began attacking and killing Tamils all across the island. Entire Tamil villages were set on fire. Tamils in Colombo were brutally attacked with knives, crowbars and clubs. They were set on fire in their houses and shops. The mob became more organised and used voter lists to target Tamils. Tamils were killed, maimed or burnt alive. Flats in which Tamils lived were destroyed. Factories belonging to Tamils were pulled down. At a prison in Colombo, with the help of prison officers, thirty-five Tamil prisoners were brutally tortured and murdered. Violence began to spread in the western province too. Police who were deployed watched the violence in silence and were unwilling to put it down.
The violence spread rapidly throughout the country, engulfing towns like Gampaha, Kalutara, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya and Trincomalee. The Indian Tamil town of Kandapola, near Nuwara Eliya, was completely wiped out
July 26: Violence spread to Kandy on the third day. Tamil residences and properties were set on fire. Tamil motorists were dragged out of their vehicles and hacked to pieces while others were drenched with petrol and set alight in full view of the security forces. A curfew was imposed in Kandy District. The army was deployed, but by then it was too late. Sailors based at Trincomalee Naval Base went on a rampage and started many fires before returning to their base. Hindu temples were attacked too.
The curfew was extended nationwide and by evening, the mob violence began to slacken off. The soldiers killed in the Thirunelveli ambush were quietly buried during the curfew.
July 27: Violence spread to Nawalapitiya and Hatton. A train was attacked in Jaffna and twenty-odd Tamil passengers were killed. The welikade prison was attached once more and seventeen prisoners were hacked to death.
July 28: Country's major towns returned to peace, but there was still violence in small towns and villages. President Jayawardene appeared on Television and blamed the Tamil militants for the riots. Furthermore, he said that the country will remain unified no matter what means are to be used. Vigilantes set up make-shift roadblocks in villages across the island, searched cars and buses for Tamil passengers. In one incident, a Sinhalese mob burnt to death about 20 Tamils on a minibus as European tourists look on in horror.
July 29: Tamils in Colombo began evacuating by cargo ship to the Northern city of Jaffna. Hundreds more internally displaced persons waited anxiously for the next cargo ship to transport them to Jaffna.
July 30: Violence began to dissipate. There was an extreme food shortage in Colombo and across the island as a result of the week long violence.
Post-riots: Fearing persecution at the hands of the sinhalese, Tamils fled their homeland for Western countries. For those who stayed behind, LTTE became more appealing a large number of angered men and women started joining the organisation. Also, Tamils in India became more sympathetic towards the organisation only after this incident and pressed the central Government to help the innocent civilians who were suffering at the hands of the Sinhalese.
A newspaper quoted President Jayawardene as saying, "I am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people. We cannot think of them now, not about their lives or their opinions. The more you put pressure on the North, the happier the Sinhalese people will be here. Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhalese people will be happy." That summaries the attitude of the srilankan government post the riots.
Chapter 7: Time to make history
The LTTE were involved in a civil war with the srilankan army for another twenty-six years. During this time, thousands of innocent Tamils including countless children and helpless women were raped, tortured, and killed mercilessly by the srilankan government and the army. India, for its part, sent IPKF which gangraped and killed more Tamil women. And all for what? Fighting for their rights in their own country. They were slaughtered like animals so that they can be slaves for ever. They were killed, so that their ideas of freedom and equality could be killed too. Men can fail. They can be caught, they can be killed and forgotten, but an idea can still change the world.
Tamil is no mere language to us, but our identity itself . Our brothers and sisters have been slayed for over a century. We should make sure they did not die for nothing. Hold onto the idea and pass the dream. We might not live to see it happen, but our children may and they would really proud of us. And so would the men who laid down their lives.
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