Black July, Mullivaikkaaal And The Mahavamsa Mindset Of The Sinhala Nation

By Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran -August 1, 2013

PM - TGTE - Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran

Brothers and sisters, Thirty long years have passed since our hearts were burdened by the nightmares of Black July.

July 23, 1983 – the day the world came to know the horrors of Black July. It was during those days……
..when over 50 Tamil political prisoners were mercilessly tortured and beaten to death by Sinhala inmates of the infamous Welkade maximum security prison under the watchful eyes the prison authorities themselves.

..when Kuttimani, the detained Tamil freedom fighter, had his eyes gouged out and crushed on the ground in punishment for his pledge that he shall donate his eyes in order to see the dawn of a free Tamil Eelam even after his death.
It was during those days…..

..when, over 3,000 innocent Tamil civilians, including women, children and the elderly, were massacred in an orgy of blood-letting directed by the Sri Lankan State solely on account of their Tamil nationality.
It was during those days…..

..when Sinhala mobs set upon and burnt down Tamil homes, businesses and places of worship.They were the days that revealed to the world the ugly and diabolical grip of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism on the long suffering Tamil People in Sri Lanka.

The ongoing of pogroms since those days in Black July continue to reinforce in us the fact that the Tamil Nation could not live together with the Sinhala Nation in peace and security. The imprinting of these painful experiences in the collective memory of the Tamil people continue to affirm their resolve that the creation of an independent and sovereign state of Tamil Eelam was the only way to guarantee them a life in peace, security and dignity.

Black July marked the first significant moment in the history of the armed struggle undertaken by the Tamil nation in its search for freedom. The heinous crimes committed by the Sinhala nation on those dark days did not crush the aspirations of the Tamil nation. Instead, Black July served to embolden the Tamil people to extend the scope of their struggle to every nook and corner of the Tamil Nation, and to the distant lands in which the Tamils lived.                                                              Read More