| by Izeth Hussain
( March 12, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I am in total accord with Anne Abayasekara’s splendid rebuttal (Island of March 4) of P.S.Mahawatte’s argument that July ’83 was not a pre-planned attack but a spontaneous outburst caused by the emotions unleashed at the funeral of the soldiers at Kanatte. AA has mentioned only a few details – very telling details indeed – in support of her rebuttal, but they suffice because over the years many very telling details have been brought out pointing inexorably to the fact that July ’83 was a pogrom carefully orchestrated at the level of the State.
In addition, AA has now brought out significant new details about the role of the press at that time. It reacted to the horrors of ’83 with a thunderous silence. Why? She states that she had a weekly column then in the Sunday Times, the Editor of which (Rita Sebastian) warned her that she should make no reference to the horrors that had been taking place. It is easy to make plausible guesses about the reasons. There could have been a dictat from the State enjoining silence, or common sense told media personnel that speaking out would transform them also into human bonfires. Surely the plight of the press is not quite so parlous today.
I have long held that July’83 was the apogee of the State terrorism unleashed by the 1977 Government. But who in the State were responsible? It appears from a detail brought out by AA – of which I have been hitherto unaware – that Premadasa has to be exonerated. According to AA he had said in August 1983 that the country had suffered “a crisis of civilization” in July that year. That prompted AA to write an article on the subject, which was published in the Sun together with what she calls “a worthy and courageous indictment” by Professor Palihawardana. So, not all were guilty, and some of the people stood out admirably. The details about them are worth reiterating, as I am doing here, because they provide hope for the future. One tends to forget newspaper material very quickly.
There are two particular reasons why I am writing this letter. One is that I believe that there will never be full ethnic reconciliation until there is a proper reckoning over July ’83. Unless those responsible are identified the notion of collective Sinhalese guilt will always linger in the Tamil psyche, and that will stand in the way of full ethnic reconciliation. The Sharvananda Commission did an excellent job but it was not provided – I must say inexcusably not provided – the means and the time to do its job fully and properly.
The second particular reason is the obvious relevance July ’83 has to the situation prevailing today in our ethnic relations. It is clear that the Government does not want a recurrence of July ’83. But the anti-Muslim hate campaign and incidents continue. The police play the role of passive spectators, and the Government does nothing about that. Therefore, unlike in July ’83, the responsibility of the Government for the present situation is quite clear. However, as I pointed out in a recent article on the Muslim Factor in our politics, all our Governments since 1975 have refused to effectively counter anti-Muslim action. That is a horrible fact pointing to a horrible reality: the Sri Lankan State itself is racist.
 I am in total accord with Anne Abayasekara’s splendid rebuttal (...){kind=link}