Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
looted and burned. Several Tamil-majority areas, including Colombo's Pettah district, were
levelled, and violence spread to other parts of the country.
The government, the police and the army were either unable or unwilling to stop the vi-
olence; some of them assisted. Hundreds of thousands of Tamils left the country or fled to
Tamil-majority areas in the North or East - and many joined the resistance. (Many Sin-
halese, meanwhile, moved south from the North and East.) The horror of Black July
prompted a groundswell of international sympathy for Tamil armed resistance groups, and
brought funding from fellow Tamils in southern India, as well as from the government of
Indira Gandhi.
Revenge and counter-revenge attacks continued, and grew into atrocities and massacres
- on both sides. The government was widely condemned for acts of torture and disappear-
ances, but it pointed to the intimidation and violence against civilians, including Tamils
and Muslims, by the Tamil fighters. Implementation of a 1987 accord, offering limited
Tamil autonomy and officialising Tamil as a national language, never happened, and the
conflict escalated into a 25-year civil war that eventually claimed upwards of 100,000
lives.
William McGowan's
Only Man is Vile
is an incisive, unrelenting account of ethnic violence
in Sri Lanka, penetrating deeply into its complexities.
War & Attempts at Peace
Indian Peacekeeping
In 1987 government forces pushed the LTTE back into Jaffna as part of a major offensive.
India pressed the Sri Lankan government to withdraw, and the two heads of state, JR Jay-
awardene and Rajiv Gandhi, negotiated an accord: the Sri Lankan government would call
off the offensive, Tamil rebels would disarm, and an Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)
would protect the truce. Tamil regions would also have substantial autonomy, as Colombo
devolved power to the provinces.
It soon became clear the deal suited no one. The LTTE complied initially but ended up
in battle with the IPKF when it refused to disarm. Opposition to the Indians also came
from the Sinhalese, a revived JVP and sections of the sangha (community of Buddhist
monks and nuns), leading to violent demonstrations.
