Three months after ISIS-inspired terrorists blew up several hotels and churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa with the loss of nearly 250 innocent lives, extremist elements are hard at work to inflame communal passions and drag Sri Lanka into another “Black July”, which took place exactly 36 years ago. This week in July 1983, mobs possibly controlled by an unseen hand took to the streets to attack members of the Tamil community in the wake of the killing of 13 soldiers in the North by the LTTE. The country would take more than three decades to recover from those sordid events, though many victims have still not found closure.
The events that occurred from July 23 to 30, 1983 would mark a turning point in the escalation of the conflict in the North and the East. While the deadly ambush of soldiers in the North was undoubtedly an act of terrorism, there was no excuse or justification whatsoever for killing and maiming innocent Tamil civilians in the name of revenge. “Black July” as the pogrom was collectively called, tarnished Sri Lanka’s reputation almost beyond repair and led to international condemnation and isolation.
Black July cannot be viewed in isolation, without examining the root causes of the country’s ethnic divisions. When Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain in 1948, it was one of the most prosperous countries in Asia, with the possible exception of Japan. However, our power hungry politicians in the North and the South worked quickly to lose this advantage through their communal politics. They created mistrust and divisions among Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities, ending centuries of friendship and trust. They built ethnicity-centred schools that kept the children of various communities apart. They derided the “other” community in public in the hope of igniting ethnic passions in the voters’ minds to ensure their election and survival. Power-hungry and opportunistic politicians on all sides sabotaged every attempt that strove to bring all communities on an equal footing. Any kind of compromise and consensus was anathema to these politicians.
In this abhorrent process, they alienated the youth in the North and the South. Although Governments did launch various development projects, they basically neglected the youth. This led to the emergence of the JVP’s insurgent movement in 1971. Although it was crushed, there was a lingering feeling among youth in the North and the South that all Governments were alienating them. Certain politicians added fuel to this fire to meet their own ends. This also gave rise to the youth militant movements in the North in the mid 1970s. Their first victim was eminent lawyer and Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah who was gunned down exactly 44 years ago by the Tamil New Tigers, which later became the LTTE. The rest, as they say, is history but the events of July 1983 took the conflict to an even more dangerous course with disastrous consequences for all Sri Lankans.
Regrettably, we may not have learned the proper lessons from the events of Black July and even the massive conflict that followed. Ten years after the war ended in the North, most of us cannot still get rid of the ethnic mindset. The Easter attack was the result of radicalization of a section of Muslim youth by hate preachers. The Government has taken into custody all the remaining extremist elements connected to this incident and the Muslim community itself has turned the search light inwards to understand how and why such a horrifying act could come from within certain sections of their community. But communal minded politicians have tried their best to turn the Sinhala and Tamil communities against the Muslim community and even instigated arson attacks on a few Muslim-owned shops. To the eternal credit of Sri Lankans, this bait has not been swallowed and the Government must ensure that extremist politics have no place in contemporary Sri Lanka. Yet, these politicians will persist in portraying the other community as the ‘enemy’. The resultant strife is their only salvation. They simply cannot survive without the oxygen of ethnic conflict.
But survive we must – as a great nation that eschews such communal, religious and other man-made divisions. To the credit of the present Government, the country has made great strides in terms of achieving reconciliation and lasting peace. Contrary to the views expressed by certain military-minded individuals allied with the Joint Opposition, ethnic harmony and national security are not incompatible. In fact, national security will be strengthened through ethnic harmony and peace.
The biggest lesson of Black July is that we urgently need to work towards having a truly Sri Lankan identity that has no place for ethnic divisions. Regardless of whether we are Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher we must think and act as Sri Lankans. It is a feeling that has to come from the heart. Unity in diversity will bring us peace and victory. But the Government alone cannot establish ethnic harmony. Each of us – and all of us – must reject the politics of communalism and hatred and restore our faith in the oneness of humanity.
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