May 31-June 4 1981: Five Days Of State Terror In Jaffna

By Santasilan Kadirgamar -February 3, 2013

Santasilan Kadirgamar

Two years after the end of the war in Lanka*, without a political solution in sight, it may be appropriate to look back at events that occurred 30 years ago. 31 May to 4 June 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of days of violence and arson in Jaffna that aggravated relations between the Tamils and Sinhalese majoritarian state and eventually led to prolonged warfare.

Although mercifully loss of lives was minimal, the extensive damage to houses, shops and institutions was unprecedented sending shock waves within the Tamil community.

This led to a total loss of confidence in the state and its law enforcement agencies.

Jaffna Public Library

The events of May/June 1981 hardened attitudes on both sides and propelled the drift towards extreme Tamil nationalism and the emergence of Tamil youth militancy and a ruthless response by the state and its security forces. In remembering what happened in 1981 one recalls Benedette Croce, the Italian historian’s dictum that, “all history is contemporary
history”.

Little appears to have changed in 30 years. The ultra-nationalist mental make-up that went into these horrendous happenings has changed little since then.

Documenting and reporting these events at that time was the Movement for Inter- Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) which was formed in 1979. It was a coalition of trade unions, secular and religious organisations and people’s movements in the country. The Jaffna branch, of which the author was the founding president, organised meetings, documented the violation of human rights and sent information to key members of the movement in Colombo and Kandy.

The membership of MIRJE was multi-ethnic and multi-religious reflecting the diversity of Lankan society. The leadership came from outstanding professionals, many of them from the majority Sinhalese community.

MIRJE published three major reports: “Emergency” (1979), “What Happened in Jaffna: Days of Terror” (1981) and “Torture and Tension in Vavuniya” (1982). The second report came after Regi Siriwardene, distinguished writer and intellectual with impeccable credentials, had spent several days in Jaffna and did an in- depth study of what happened.

Jaffna is the primary city of the Lankan Tamils and their cultural centre. Both the city and the larger Jaffna peninsula did experience, in the context of deteriorating relations between Tamils and the state, occasional acts of violence in 1961, 1974, 1977 and 1979. Jaffna, known for its quiet ways of life and non-violent forms of dissent and struggle, was never the same again after the days of terror in 1981.

By April 1981, there had been sporadic acts of violence on individual Tamil policeman and politicians who were pro-government. The Neerveli Bank robbery had taken place in April by a group of armed Tamil youth constituting the largest haul at that point in time. The District Development Council (DDC) election had been announced and nominations had been accepted.

The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) had swept the parliamentary polls in 1977 in the Tamil areas on the secessionist Tamil Eelam demand. But its popularity was on the wane. Having made that extremist and adventurist demand, departing from what was a realisable federal or regional councils programme, the TULF had no credible programme. While indulging in the rhetoric of liberation in actual practice the party had made compromises in accepting a diluted devolution package hoping to make step by step progress towards greater autonomy.

In the process, defections took place from the TULF and it lost several of its firebrand platform speakers. The editor of the party’s paper the Suthanthiran and some leading lights of the party had formed the short-lived Tamil Eelam Liberation Front. Meanwhile, the TULF’s hegemony was challenged by a gradually growing and highly secretive underground movement committed to armed struggle. Read More

Who Burnt The Jaffna Library?

By Carlo Fonseka -February 3, 2013

Prof. Carlo Fonseka

Preliminaries

The striking front cover of the Memoirs of Edward Gunawardena proclaims that among the “tidbits” of his memorable, eventful life of some 78 years, is the story of the Jaffna Library Fire. To call the story of the Jaffna Library Fire a “tidbit” is a bit like calling Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II “Liz”, but let that go. TheJaffna Library Fire is surely the major public event documented in this book. EG was our man on the spot and he was an eye-witness to the event. Chapter XI titled: Who burnt the Jaffna library? gives a clear, authoritative and comprehensive account of the Jaffna Library Fire. It riveted my attention. It disabused my mind of an illusion, or rather I should say, a delusion. In psychiatry, a delusion is defined as a false belief persisted in despite evidence to the contrary. I now think that the period in question was one in which “the time was out of joint” in our country and EG was born to set the historical record right. Owing to my delusion that it was Minister Gamini Dissanayake who burnt the Jaffna Library, I became guilty of an act which will remain a permanent source of regret in my life. Allow me to use the privilege of appearing on this platform to try and make amends for the injustice I inflicted on Minister Gamini Dissanayake. But before doing so, let me say a few words about other matters in the Memoirs of EG.

Biographgy

The facts of the life and work of my distinguished, scholarly, policeman friend are engagingly narrated as part of the social history of our country in his extremely readable Memoirs. Edward is, I should say, an out and out Josephian, having entered the “baby class” of St. Joseph’s College in January 1939 and left it in December 1952 to enter the Arts Faculty of the University of Ceylon Peradeniya during the period when Sir Ivor Jenningswas its Vice Chancellor. I joined St. Joseph’s College in 1947 and got to know Edward in secondary school. At University Edward read Geography and excelled in it and graduated with honors in 1957. After a brilliant interview which he recounts modestly, he was chosen to the Police Department and he entered the Police Training School in 1958. After a very fruitful, eventful, and distinguished career he took early retirement from the Police as Senior DIG in 1987. Along the way he went on a Fulbright Scholarship to Michigan State University and earned a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice. As most of us here know, Edward is a very literate man with a straightforward, graphic English style. In 2001 he published a sprawling novel called “Blood & Cyanide” on the theme of life and love and strife in our upper-class, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, multi-cultural society. The novel deserves to be much better known than it is. In my judgment EG is the most literate IGP Sri Lanka never had!

Changing World Read More