ISN’T JULY 1983 RIOTS A BLESSING IN DISGUISE FOR HALF A MILLION TAMILS LIVING IN THE WESTERN WORLD?
The LTTE rump of the Tamil Diaspora is supposed to be getting ready to commemorate the “So called Black July 1983” during the coming weekend (21 and 22nd July) in all big cities in Canada, UK, USA, Switzerland, Norway, EU Countries and Australia in their continuation of humiliating Sri Lanka and specially the Sinhalese community. Of course, they may even bring the message of War Crimes against Sri Lanka though it is irrelevant with 1983 riots.
There will be big dramas created with their demos, arrogant speeches, moaning, weeping crying and doing every possible thing to attract the western gullible politicians who rely on Tamil votes for their survival and the well oiled western media by LTTE funds , and Humanitarian organizations like Amnesty International (who received $50,000 from a Canadian Tamil Front) and INGOs who cough for a fistful of dollars.
This has become a ritual every year for the LTTE, LTTE supporters among the Tamil Diaspora to raise funds for their Eelam project albeit the war is ended. The LTTE rump still needs funds to buy the politicians, media, so called humanitarian organizations in the western world for their propaganda for Eelam project. The NGOs, Peace vultures and INGOs make this a ritual to annihilate Sinhala Buddhists for their financial survival. Instead of healing the wound, this annual ritual is digging deep into the wounds to humiliate the tolerant Sinhala Buddhists by the above mentioned groups. Sinhala majority have manifested more than once that such an event will never happen again ( and never happened) by tolerating the LTTE atrocities in silence. When Buddhists most sacred temple “Sri Dalada Maligawa” was bombed, when Buddhist worshippers including young and old women and men , children observing Sil were gunned down by LTTE at “Sri Maha Bodhiya”, when LTTE killed 39 young Buddhists priests on a pilgrimage to Arantalawa, did the Sinhala majority take law into their hands and repeated 1983 ? DEFINTELY.NO. They never got provoked and retaliated but restrained from taking law into their own hands and tolerated the LTTE barbaric acts silently. But that doesn’t mean that Sinhalese are timid but tolerant people.
Sri Lankans without any reservations condemned this unfortunate event in July 1983 and all Presidents have made public apologies for what happened. But yet it continues to be commemorated by the media supporting the Tamils, Tamil Diaspora in countries where they have spread their tentacles in an attempt to humiliate Sinhalese. Very little is spoken about how the Sinhala people risked their lives and helped the Tamil families at the riots.
It‘s an accepted fact that the Black July incident was not a riot by Sinhalese against Tamils but committed by politically motivated thugs. Thugs are paid mercenaries and may belong to any ethnic group. However, the fact remains that this incident was a blessing in disguise to many Tamils who were not affected also to seek political asylum and refugee status in affluent countries. According to official figures 471 Tamils were killed, 8077 of their houses burnt 3385 cases of looting and 53 Tamil prisoners were murdered during the period July 22- July 30 1983. But, however one cannot fathom in proportionate to the numbers killed and houses burnt, how come over half a million Tamils found refugee in affluent countries like Canada, UK, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Australia , USA to name a few. Isn’t this a blessing in disguise for those who sought refugee in the western world? In fact commemorating the July 1983 riots appears as a show of gratitude for giving them a better life in the western world than moaning for the dead.? Because LTTE killed more Tamils including Tamil political leaders than the number of Tamils died in the riots. The Tamil Diaspora should moan for them.
Let me remind those who harp on the 1983 July Riots, the atrocities committed by LTTE terrorists over the years against innocent civilians. Starting with Pettah Bomb in 1987 killing over hundred and maiming almost 300; massacre of 127 Sinhala men and women, children in Kitulwatte and murder of about 200 Sinhalese and Muslim civilians in the Eastern province within a week; massacre of Kent & Dollar farmers; Suicide bomb attack on Central Bank killing over hundred and maiming 1500 ; massacre of bus load of Buddhist monks in Arantalawe; massacre of over hundred Muslims prayers in a mosque, are only a few of an exhaustive list of atrocities committed by LTTE. Unfortunately, no print or electronic media both within and outside Sri Lanka talk about these killings but continue to commemorate so-called 1983 July riots every year. When you think of the innocent people killed in July riots, please focus your attention also to the thousands of innocent civilians killed by LTTE.
If Sinhalese have to commemorate killings of innocent civilians by the Tamil terrorist outfit LTTE over the years, 365 days of the year is insufficient as it runs into thousands of incidents and not just one like July 24. Yet no media, NGOs, writers speak about these killings.
I reiterate the fact the July riots was a blessing in disguise for the completely unaffected Tamils who sought refugee status in the most affluent countries taking advantage of the then situation. Sadly, they constituted the hard core of the Tamil Diaspora, financing and raising funds to procure arms, providing war logistics and propaganda for LTTE before LTTE was militarily defeated.. The Tamil Diaspora has been using this incident to raise funds for LTTE for the last 25 years and continue to do so now to finance LTTE’s Eelam project. It is high time that the Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka and the Tamil Diaspora stopped this annual ritual and bury the incident once and for all just as much Sinhala Buddhists (not of timidity) have buried the acts of barbarism by LTTE in bombing ‘Dalada Maligawa’, Sri Maha Bodhiya and massacre of 39 monks etc and now moving towards reconciliation. Let us bury the hatchet once and for all.
By Malin Abeyatunge
