J.R. Jayawardene, 28 July 1983:
“..the government has now decided that the time has come to accede to the clamour and the request, the natural request, of the Sinhala people that we do not allow the movement for division to grow any more”

Mahinda Rajapakse, 15 June 2011: ”If I make any devolutionary concessions to the Tamils, it will be curtains for me”

Parts of the speech:

http://tamilnation.co/indictment/genocide83/gen13.htm

Yes. Why? Its parts resemble what comes out of the Rajapakse brothers. It goes on non-stop for decades. If that is published it will shock the public into thinking seriously. That may change the course of things for the better for Sri Lanka. Let us not leave a single stone unturned to bring peace and prosperity to Sri Lanka.

Garbled versions and cover-ups hardly meet the need of the hour. What was so shamefully and painfully apparent was that the 1983 pogrom, as distinct from a riot, was that it was unleashed by none other those at the helm of the state! A riot is a public disturbance which it certainly was not but when some 3000 innocent Tamil civilians are massacred or burnt in their own homes by howling mobs led by monks, thugs, looters, and even elements of the police and even the army who led the marauders then it is something far far worse than even a pogrom. It was an incredible performance. Some 800 cars belonging to Tamils were also hunted down and burnt in the streets of Colombo alone, not to forget many houses belonging to Tamils which were set on fire with inmates inside! It was surely a day of national shame which will not go away as easily as made out in one of the statements in this article about numbers of Tamils being disproportionate to the population ratios! If this was to have been the case it makes out the case for a federal state or for a separate state! One cannot have the cake and eat it whole at the same time!

There are several unfortunate omissions difficult as it is for many who find it very difficult to face some dark home truths. One of these pertains to the hidden fact that the 1983 Dark July pogrom was spearheaded by the State spearheaded by the President and some of his powerful Ministers! It would be indeed very meaningful if Groundviews very kindly reproduces that quite infamous ethnic hate speech delivered over State TV Rupavahini on 28th July 1983 or thereabouts by the country’s President. What has been hidden from the public is the possible cause of his infamous speech by the killings of 13 Sinhala soldiers in the north by then small group of LTTE in a village in the north a few days prior to 25 July 1983. Therein lies a hidden tale which can well repeat itself over and over again. After all, July 1983 was a culmination of several serious periodic riots starting with the infamous one of Sept. 1958 about which a candid book Emergency ’58 ( Deutsche Publishers, London) was written by noted well known author Tarzie Vittachi. For telling the truth he was even banished from the island! Also revealing will be to publish the infamous speech by the country’s President in July 1983 even if it is very inconvenient to face the honest truth. By hiding the truth the island falls invariably into a vortex of still more troubled times.

On top of the Black July 1983 that country’s President on 4th August 1983 declared war against the Tamil youths and ordered his nephew, military Commander of the north, to decimate them! The first mass graves in Chammani in the north were followed by several others in the north and east. The rest of the results in the 30 year dirty war against Tamils, yet awaiting UN action 4 years after its end in Mulliyawaikkal, is yet fresh in many minds!

The LTTE is gone but the same type of State lives on! What is happening to the Muslims now is worth serious thought. If building carpeted trunk roads to the north is “reconciliation” it is mind blowing indeed. You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time! When will the State get serious? Will it or can it ever?