1974 Tamil conference incident

Last updated

1974 Tamil conference attack
Tamil conference memorial.JPG
Memorial for those who died in the 1974 Tamil conference incident
Sri Lanka relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Coordinates 9°40′N80°00′E / 9.667°N 80.000°E / 9.667; 80.000
Date10 January 1974 (+6 GMT)
Target Sri Lankan Tamils
Attack type
Electrocution
WeaponsGuns
Deaths9 or 11
Injured50
Perpetrators Sri Lankan Police

The 1974 Tamil conference attack occurred during the fourth World Tamil Research Conference, which was held in the city of Jaffna between 3 and 9 January 1974. Sri Lankan Police disrupted the meeting with force, killing nine [1] or eleven [2] people, and resulting in substantial civilian property damage and more than 50 civilians sustaining severe injuries. [1] [2]

Contents

Early conflict

The SLFP-dominated government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike had requested that the conference be held in the capital Colombo but the conference organizers held it in the Tamil-dominant city of Jaffna. [1]

On 10 January the organisers decided to hold a public meeting to distribute awards to those who had participated in the cultural program. The audience, more than 10,000 in number, spanned the road and overflowed into open expanses. [1]

The incident

Assistant Superintendent of Police Chandrasekera, led a truckload of anti-riot police of more than 40 to the scene. Their unheralded arrival ended in the chaotic disruption of the ceremony. [1]

The police had been advancing slowly through the crowd in jeep and truck wearing steel helmets, ordering the crowd to move. At the time Professor Naina Mohamed, a distinguished Tamil scholar from India, was speaking and the crowd was heavily packed, such that the police could proceed no further. Then the policemen who were armed with rifles, tear-gas bombs, batons and wicker shields started attacking those who stood in their way. The result was a stampede to escape the police attack, as policemen fanned out in all directions assaulting all and sundry. Some even jumped into the moat beside the Fort to escape the attack. [3]

The overhead electric wires were brought down by gunshots. A policeman was seen throwing a tear-gas bomb which did not explode, and then firing at the electric wire, resulting in a burning coil falling on him. The foreign delegates who attended the conference had also confirmed that the police had fired into the air. [3]

Seven civilians died of electrocution. Several others sustained severe injuries due to the police charging at them. [1]

The government response

The police officers involved were subsequently promoted instead of being reprimanded by the government. [1]

The report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Tragedy of January Tenth 1974 published on 18 February 1974 said,

"The irresistible conclusion we come to is that the police on this night (10 January 1974) was guilty of a violent and quite an unnecessary attack on unarmed citizens. "We are gravely concerned that they lacked the judgment which we expected of policemen in a civilian police force whose duties call for tactful handling even in the most difficult situation.”

[4]

Legacy

Appapillai Amirthalingam stated [3]

"the refusal of the government to appoint a Presidential Commission to inquire into the seven deaths and the conduct of the Police which led to those deaths, was a prime cause of the demand for a separate state."

This incident was the precursor to the revenge killing of the SLFP mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah by the LTTE which began the era of Tamil militancy amongst the youth leading up to the Sri Lankan Civil War. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam</span> Tamil organisation in Sri Lanka (1976–2009)

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Peace Keeping Force</span> Military unit in the Sri Lankan Civil War

Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan military.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black July</span> 1983 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka

Black July was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated, and was finally triggered by a deadly ambush on a Sri Lankan Army patrol by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 23 July 1983, which killed 13 soldiers. Although initially orchestrated by members of the ruling UNP, the pogrom soon escalated into mass violence with significant public participation.

Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan is a Sri Lankan politician and former militant. Formerly a fighter for the Tamil separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), for over 20 years, Muralitharan later rose to prominence after defecting from the LTTE and forming the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), a breakaway faction of the LTTE.

The Nager Kovil school bombing refers to an airstrike that took place on September 22, 1995, when the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed the Nagar Kovil Maha Vidyalayam school in Jaffna, resulting in the death of, by varying accounts, 34-71 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians, primarily schoolchildren and the injury of many more. Sri Lankan Defense Spokesman admitted the incident but claimed that it was a LTTE facility and most of the dead were LTTE cadres. Journalists and human rights organizations reported the imposition of censorship and the airstrike took place about 12 hours after the Government imposed press censorship on reporting military events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1977 anti-Tamil pogrom</span> Second islandwide Sinhalese-Tamil clash in Sri Lanka

The 1977 anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka followed the 1977 general elections in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalistic Tamil United Liberation Front won a plurality of minority Sri Lankan Tamil votes. In the elections, the party stood for secession. An official government estimate put the death toll at 125, whereas other sources estimate that around 300 Tamils were killed by Sinhalese mobs. Human rights groups, such as the UTHR-J, accused the newly elected UNP-led government of orchestrating the violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chencholai bombing</span> 2006 Sri Lankan air attack during the Sri Lankan Civil War

The Chencholai bombing took place on August 14, 2006 when the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed what it said was a rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) training camp, killing 61 girls aged 16 to 18. The LTTE, UNICEF, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and UTHR all said those in the compound were not LTTE cadres.

The Kent and Dollar Farm massacres were the first massacres of Sinhalese civilians carried out by the LTTE during the Sri Lankan Civil War. The massacres took place on 30 November 1984, in two tiny farming villages in the Mullaitivu district in north-eastern Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government labeled this as an attack on civilians by the LTTE.

The Kalmunai massacre refers to a series of mass killings that occurred in June 1990 in Kalmunai, a municipality within the Ampara District of Sri Lanka's Eastern Province. The massacre of Tamil civilians was allegedly carried out by the Sri Lankan Army in retaliation for an earlier massacre of Sri Lankan police officers. The University Teachers for Human Rights, a human rights organization, put the number of dead in the second massacre at 250, while a local Member of Parliament claimed that at least 160 people were killed.

Eelam War I is the name given to the initial phase of the armed conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eelam War II</span> Armed conflict between Sri Lankan military and LTTE

Eelam War II is the name given to the second phase of armed conflict between Sri Lankan military and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The war started after the failure of peace talks between the Premadasa government and the LTTE. This phase of the war was initiated by the LTTE who massacred almost 600 Sinhalese and Muslim police personnel after they were ordered by the Premadasa government to surrender to the LTTE. The truce was broken on June 10, 1990, when the LTTE in October expelled all the 28,000 Muslims residing in Jaffna.

A mass murder of police officers took place on 11 June 1990. Members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organization, are alleged to have killed over 600 unarmed Sri Lanka Police officers in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Some accounts have estimated the number killed as high as 774.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1987 Eastern Province massacres</span> Massacres of Sinhalese in the Eastern Province by Tamil militant groups

The 1987 Eastern Province massacres were a series of massacres of the Sinhalese population in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka by Tamil mobs and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Though they began spontaneously, they became more organized, with the LTTE leading the violence. Over 200 Sinhalese were killed by mob and militant violence, and over 20,000 fled the Eastern Province. The violence has been described as having had the appearance of a pogrom, with the objective of removing Sinhalese from the Eastern Province.

The Murunkan massacre of Inspector Bastianpillai and his team of police officers was the mass murder of a team of CID officers of the Sri Lanka Police on 7 April 1978 in the jungles of Murunkan in the Vavuniya District. Four police officers including Inspector Bastianpillai were killed by LTTE members led by Uma Maheswaran.

Sexual violence against Tamils in Sri Lanka has occurred repeatedly during the island's long ethnic conflict. The first instances of rape of Tamil women by Sinhalese mobs were documented during the 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom. This continued in the 1960s with the deployment of the Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna, who were reported to have molested and occasionally raped Tamil women.

The Veeramunai massacres refers to the mass killing and disappearances of over 250 Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan security forces and Muslim home guards in 1990.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rajasingham, K. T. "SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY Chapter 24: Tamil militancy - a manifestation". Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 tamilguardian. "1974 massacre of Tamils at World Tamil Research Conference remembered". Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "Welcome to UTHR, Sri Lanka". www.uthr.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  4. ↑ TamilNet. "TamilNet". www.tamilnet.com. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.