Lessons not learnt From Black July and aftermath India had stressed that it would not accept a Tamil

1983 is a real story of a community that lived scattered among and besieged by a section of another community

It strengthened the hands of the separatist Tamil armed groups by thousand fold

Majority of Sinhalese did not participate in this national crime. Neither did they put an effort to stop this madness

The 1983 anti-Tamil riot was not an isolated incident. It was an extension of similar incidents 

Sinhala and English media provoked the ethnic feelings of their audiences, while the Tamil media whipped up separatist ideology

So many articles had been published in newspapers this week about the 1983 ethnic riots, commonly known as the Black July.  

Tamil papers reported several commemorative events that had been held in the north, especially at the Jaffna University premises which is fast becoming a hotbed of Tamil nationalism since lately.  

July 24 this year marked the 35th Remembrance of the beginning of a week-long anti-Tamil riot that totally crippled the Government machinery during which, goons torched and looted houses and vehicles belonging to Tamils and killed people at their will.  

Yet, the question remains as to what we, the Sri Lankans, irrespective of race, religion or political party, have learnt from the riot, its backdrop and the subsequent history.

Most of those belong to the present younger generation, even the Tamils, except those entrapped in Mullivaikkal during the last few weeks of the war, would not feel the horror that the Tamils in southern parts of the country experienced during those dreadful dark days.  

For many, it is something like a narration about a movie or a novel. But it was the real story of a community that lived scattered among and besieged by a section of another community.  

Apart from those trapped in Mullivaikkal in 2009, only those Muslims in Aluthgama, Beruwala, Digana, Teldeniya and surrounding areas might be able to realise what  is really meant by being besieged by racists.  

Majority of Sinhalese did not participate in this national crime. Neither did they put an effort to stop this madness.  

A large majority of them were mere spectators of arson attacks, looting and even killing, while a small number risked their lives in protecting Tamils, known and unknown.  

Hence, the Tamils who were yet to be attacked then were perturbed as to whom to trust or whom to fear. Anarchy in its total sense had swallowed up the entire country with goons killing, looting and torching properties and human beings under the very nose of the law enforcement authorities.  

The riot and the rioters were not able to wipe out the Tamils from the surface of Sri Lanka, whether they intended to do so or not.  

But on the contrary, it strengthened the hands of the separatist Tamil armed groups by a thousand fold. And it was this incident that brought in international pressure on the country in respect of the ethnic imbroglio which has now landed the country before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).  

The 1983 anti-Tamil riot was not an isolated incident. It was an extension of similar incidents but with a reduced degree of ferocity that occurred during the very tenure of President J.R. Jayewardene.  

In the wake of the 1977 General Election victory by Jayewardene’s party, the United National Party (UNP) that won 140 out of the 168 seats in the National State Assembly (the then Parliament) revenge attacks against the members of the Constituent Parties of the former United Front Government spread around the country.  
Soon these violent attacks were directed towards Tamils and Tamil-owned houses, shops and vehicles were torched and looted in many areas south of Vavuniya.  
The anti-Tamil hatred that time was not without reason. It was in the previous year that the Tamil United Front (TUF) was renamed as Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) with a resolution to carve out a separate State called Tamil Eelam for Tamils, within the territory of Sri Lanka, at the famous Vaddukkoddai Convention of the TUF.  

Yet, the resolution did not hold much water among Tamils until the Tamil Eelam fever was generated during the 1977 General Election campaign, with the TULF having it as its campaign theme.

This had given a negative message to the south and thus had triggered the anti-Tamil attacks, after the election.  

President Jayewardene aggravated the situation with a provocative public utterance against the Tamil leaders “If you want war let it be war if you want peace to let it be peace.”  

The first and the only elections for the newly formed District Development Councils (DDC) which meant for the resolution of the ethnic problem were held in June 1981.  

It was during this election campaign that the precious Jaffna Public Library was torched by the goons sent by the Southern politicians.  

The tense situation prevailed all over the country after the election soon turned against Tamils, especially those living in the plantation areas. That was the second communal riot during the tenure of J.R. Jayewardene.  

The negative message spread in the south over the separatist trend in the north was not allowed to subside by various Tamil armed groups, who had started to shoot at members of the Police and the Armed forces, who had been posted at various places in the Jaffna town, even in broad daylight.  

The south was aghast to hear when 13 soldiers were killed at Tirunelveli in Jaffna in the night of June 23, 1983, as it was the largest number of soldiers killed at the hands of the Tamil armed groups then. Rest is history. However, later the south was almost unresponsive when the LTTE overran the Elephant Pass Army camp complex that housed about 11,000 soldiers.

If one peruses the media behaviour immediately prior to 1977, 1981 and 1983 riots he or she would observe the role of the media in fermenting communal strife on either side of the ethnic divide.  

Sinhala and English media provoked the ethnic feelings of their audiences, while the Tamil media whipped up separatist ideology.

Even 35 years after the Black July the situation has not changed. The three-decade-long war has taught us nothing.

Now, anything demanded by the Tamils and Muslims- be it even a demand for the transfer of the Chief Secretary of Northern Provincial Council or a separate

Kachcheri for the Tamil speaking eastern coastal area of the Ampara District - are viewed as Separatist demands.  

Every aspect of the proposed new Constitution is branded as an attempt to carve out a separate Tamil State.

Where would the frustration ultimately lead the Tamil youth in the future? History has the answer. The frustration is already being witnessed by facts such as glorifying of former State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran.  

On the other hand, those Tamil leaders who ran away from the north and the east and hid in Colombo during the height of the separatist war are now drumming up separatist slogans and calling for the revival of the slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

One cannot find fault with the commemoration of people killed in the war and even the sacrifices by the LTTE cadres and also with the struggles for the rights of the Tamils, so long as those events would not reinforce separatist ideology among Tamils.  

But some Tamil leaders still get involved in these events in a manner that creates or toughens separatist zeal among the Tamil youth, just for political gains.  

The lesson they have not learnt from history is that the geopolitical situation in the region would never allow the creation of a separate Tamil State within the territory of Sri Lanka and any such attempt would only be another catastrophe.  

India as far back as 1988 had stressed that it would not accept the carving out of a Tamil State near its southernmost State, which houses a homogeneous populace.  
This geopolitical situation has invalidated even the once prominent debate among Leftists whether Tamils have the right to secede.  

Ignoring this geopolitical reality by the LTTE resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people from all three communities. Today’s Tamil leaders are yet to learn it.