The events of Black July in 1983, where thousands of Tamils were killed by Sri Lankan government backed mobs, must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice, said Together Against Genocide (TAG).
In a statement released to mark thirty-three years since the pogrom, TAG drew on comments by the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and reiterated “the need to investigate criminal liability for genocide arising from the Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict in the wake of evidence relating to the use of cluster munitions in the No Fire Zones”.
“TAG calls for any such investigation into genocide to include the events of Black July,” said the statement.
“Despite being decades apart, both episodes possess hallmarks of latent genocidal intent: the victims were Tamil civilians, proximate Tamil groups were attacked and the state propagated the situation. It is advanced that these hallmarks indicate a deliberate targeting and destruction of proximate Tamil communities by the state. Therefore, in light of these similarities, an investigation into May 2009 warrants an investigation into Black July.”
See the full text of the TAG statement here.