Comments on: Memories of a Black Moon – the 1983 riots in Sri Lanka

By: Ekcol

Ekcol — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:23:34 +0000

Prasanna,
Thank you for sharing your traumatic trip. I have listened to many stories from Tamil children in the North whose siblings, parents, friends or relatives were killed by artillery and bombs. My sister in law died with four other women when artillery shell from Palaly shot at random towards homes. Her daughter took her to hospital which was crowded with the wounded. She bled to death in the lap of her daughter.

As Velu said Sinhala children dying in a blast or they seeing relatives die is equally traumatic. You can appreciate the pain they feel. As we write Tamil children are dying or displaced and we are 25 years from your experience. I see no end to it. Can you and those who have written about July 1983 make a difference!

By: JP

JP — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:45:34 +0000

After more than two decades, as an affected teenager, who studied and lived in Colombo with my sibling and parents who lived their life in the south, I still feel the pain of what happened then. The pain is, not what happened, but largely the taruma, that seperated our family and our destiny. I still feel the pain that I was not able to be there for my parents last moments to take care of them. As a teen ager I had just two choices, when the sinhala govt packed us up and sent to Jaffna. Either I join the tigers or send me far away from SL (not even India) to study, so that I can foget. Though I was sent far away from my birth place and my beloved parents, my thoughts were always around SL and my people. Even when I write this, I can feel a few drops of tears and that burning sensation in my eyes, with a heavy heart.
Now it is for the readers to decide, why we tamils have come to the conclusion to fight the successive opressing sinhala regimes, in the name of what ever thay may want to call it for their political survival and to fill their pockets.
Like the writer, my life changed for ever, from being a moderate to become a ardent supporter of LTTE and the thought of “hate coming back to SL even as a tourist”, in the current climate, where my rights will be misused becuase I’m a tamil. I did experience this in my previous visits, where an army officers who comes at night to check “only” the tamil houses, said that “even you are a foreign citizen, you are a Sri Lankan Tamil”, no respect at all for what you are. No dignity to the fellow human being but treat the tamils as second class citizens; that’s what it means.
I sincerely hope that some day we tamils will be able breath freedom in our own country, and live along side with our sinhala friends peacefully.

By: Velu

Velu — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:58:15 +0000

I think the same can be applied to a child that witnesses a suicide explosion. So we can justify anything then? What of a child subject to militant abduction ?

By: Sarwan

Sarwan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:37:59 +0000

The writer makes it clear as to how the mind of a 10 year old Sinhalese, from a Military, political and elite background felt, when he saw murder, mayhem, burning, destruction, violence and intimidation.

Of course, he was not on the affected side. He witnessed the cruelty to some others of a different kind. It changed his behaviour, attitude and perspective in life.

Can any one fathom as to what disastrous extent, a Tamil child aged 10 years would have been traumatised, terrirfied and felt his security and freedom violated. Such a child would never be expected to lead a normal life.

This is the reason for the armed resistance movements in the North East. Anti Tamil violence of 1983, and miltary violence against Tamils in subsequent years is the justification for its existence.

The demand for Tamil Eelam also arose from such disastrous events.