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The
lesson Tamils were forcibly taught
Tamil media in Sri Lanka and in 25 other countries are frantically
collecting material, to observe the Silver Jubilee of the
1983 calamity. They say that was the event, that needed to
be remembered, as that gave the Sri Lankan Tamils, their ethnic
consciousness.
“We were beaten and taught the lesson that, we are Tamils,”
a friend who is organising a ‘remembrance conference’
in a European country told me, over the telephone.
Please note the phrase ‘taught the lesson’, he used.
It reminded me of David Selbourne expulsion 25 years ago.
Selbourne came to Colombo in June 1983, to do a series of
reports for the Manchester Guardian. He was in the Oxford
University, with Trade and Shipping Minister Lalith Athulathmudali.
President J.R. Jayewardene took Selbourne with him, for one
of his public meetings outside Colombo. Lalith Athulathmudali
and Gamini Dissanayake were also with them.
They talked about the Tamil militancy. Athulathmudali was
quoted by Selbourne in his report, as having said, “We
have to teach the Tamils, a lesson,” and “Some heads
have to be broken.” Athulathmudali denied it and Selbourne
came back later that month, to do a further series, but he
was deported.
The Sri Lankan Tamil people were taught a few lessons and
several heads were also broken. Sri Lankan Tamils, here and
abroad, want to remember it. They want to tell the younger
generation about it.
“We are what we are, because of the horrors of the week,
beginning July 25,” my friend said. “We are now
conscious that, we are Sri Lankan Tamils,” he added.
That was the primary lesson, the Tamils were taught on July
25, 1983.
I was not beaten. I realised that, I am a Tamil before anyone
could beat me into that realisation. I bolted with my two
sons from my Dehiwala home, to a safe place. They could only
burn my house.
I visited the Saraswathy Hall refugee camp the next day. K.C.
Nithiyananthan, the well known trade unionist, who fought
many battles for the government clerical servants, Sinhalese
and Tamils, and also won them, welcomed me. He was shattered.
He was trying to get food and toilet facilities for the thousands
of Tamils, who had crowded the hall and outside.
He took me to an Indian Tamil labourer with four children.
She said her husband was badly assaulted and hospitalised.
“Why did they beat him?” she wailed. Nithiyananthan
did not reply. On our way back to his table he said, “They
beat him to remind that, he is a Tamil.’
It was not only the poor Indian labourer who was reminded
of his nationality. President Jayewardene too remembered that,
his daughter-in-law through the first marriage of his son
Ravi, was a Tamil. He sent a jeep with armed escort to bring
Charmaine Vanderkoon to the safety of his house.
Chelliah Kumarasuriyar, a minister in the Sirimavo Bandaranaike
government too was reminded that, he was a Tamil. A mob tied
him with a rope and dragged him to the road, tormenting him
with insults. He would have been clubbed to death, if President
Jayewardene who had heard about the incident, had not rushed
an army unit.
Tamils, wherever they are, do not want to forget the lesson,
they were forcibly taught.
Last week’s bus bombings at Katubedde and Polgolla have
created a sense of uneasiness, among the Tamils. “Will
there be a repeat of the Black July?” is the topic Tamils
discuss, wherever they meet. They think that, they have become
vulnerable, because they are Tamils.
The arrests that followed the Katubedde blast, had an unnerving
effect on the Tamils. About 50 Tamil youths, males and females,
were rounded up for questioning. The Tamils do understand
that. What they fail to comprehend was the manner, in which
they are treated. Can’t they be given food and water
and treated more humanely?
What disturbed the Tamils more, was the reported speech of
Wimal Weerawansa, the leader of the new political party National
Freedom Front (NFP). He was quoted by Tamil papers, as having
said, “If more blasts occur, it would be difficult to
control the anger of the Sinhala people.” Tamils are
asking, “Is he provoking the Sinhala people?”
Elderly Tamils remember hearing similar ‘sounds’,
before the eruption of July 1983. Then Cyril Mathew was in
the forefront.
Colombo Tamil papers have editorially commented on the sense
of unease gripping the Tamils living in the South. They reported
that similar fear is growing among the Sri Lankan policy makers,
in India.
It looks that the government is conscious of Pirapaharan’s
strategy. A backlash will benefit him. I wish to relate to
the readers, a discussion that took place in the LTTE working
committee, in early 1980s, about the ways and means of recruiting
cadres. The LTTE then had about 30. Uma Maheswaran, the president,
presented his thesis on “Preparing the people for a revolution.”
Pirapaharan cut him short, “What nonsense. That will
take ages. Explode a few landmines and the army will do the
rest.”
That was the time the army ‘punished’ the people,
living in the vicinity of the scene of the blast, for permitting
the militant groups to bury the landmines. Pirapaharan’s
strategy worked. Youths disturbed of their normal life, went
over to the militant groups.
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