Comments on: On the 30th Anniversary of the Pogrom of July 1983 https://groundviews.org/2013/08/02/on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-pogrom-of-july-1983/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-pogrom-of-july-1983 Journalism for Citizens Wed, 14 Aug 2013 13:20:27 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.1 By: hiru https://groundviews.org/2013/08/02/on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-pogrom-of-july-1983/#comment-55129 Fri, 02 Aug 2013 20:03:44 +0000 http://groundviews.org/?p=12477#comment-55129 Thanks to the gentleman Mr. D.Nesiah for taking me to that unpleasent past in 1983 where i was a A/L student. I, a singhalese buddhist, lived in colombo is still shocked with the memories ( while returning from school on that day) of a kind tamil retail businessman who was also a gentleman in every way, being a hindu but a good ‘daayakaya'( caring member of the neighborhood buddhist temple) burnt death in the drain opposite his shop by an unknown set of people( neighbors were too late & unexpected, to protect him).I felt how ungrateful people were to him, with tears. But,I know ,a lot has happened during past 30 years, to both or all ethnicities with war. I wish PEACE for everybody & to this country not by forgetting the past, but remembering it, to get much value to its meaning and achievement.

]]> By: N. Ethirveerasingam https://groundviews.org/2013/08/02/on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-pogrom-of-july-1983/#comment-55125 Fri, 02 Aug 2013 17:14:33 +0000 http://groundviews.org/?p=12477#comment-55125 Thank you Devanesan for your eye witness account. I have heard from other eye witnesses of the pogrom in Jaffna and elsewhere in the North in, 1958, 1977, 1983 and what happened from 2008 and 2009. I have and am witnessing what is happening in the North since 2010. The cycle starts, pause and restarts spiraling up to where oneknows not but one could only guess.

]]> By: Dev https://groundviews.org/2013/08/02/on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-pogrom-of-july-1983/#comment-55117 Fri, 02 Aug 2013 11:08:06 +0000 http://groundviews.org/?p=12477#comment-55117 Thank you for your first hand account, its important that not only the events in colombo but also the rampage in Jaffna after the ambush.

I am reminded of a quote I read recently that I looked up again..by General Eisenhower after world war II

“The things I saw beggar description…The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering…I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations to propaganda.”

Its is first hand account and its important that you have recorded it (and thanks to GV for this) as evidence.

I already see the “changing of the story” behind the pogrom and I am sure despite the efforts of colombo telegraph, GV and other few journals/papers this will happen till one day the story will be that Tamils went on the rampage killing and burning their houses and eventually it might even change that they did it to the Sinhalese.

Another thing that must be noted and preserved is the large number of Sinhalese and Muslims (even monks) who put their lives on the line to save the Tamils (something MP Sumanthiran recently highlighted in parliament). Just like we remember the Nazi atrocities we also remember the good people who saved the Jews taking enormous risk themselves.

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