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Today marks the 62nd anniversary of the 1958 Anti-Tamil Pogroms. Lasting from May 22nd-27th, Sinhalese mobs murdered an estimated 300 Tamils, injured another 1000, and raped at least 200 Tamil women.

Read ‘Emergency ‘58’ by Tarzie Vitachi: tinyurl.com/emergency-58 ImageImage
The pogroms were sparked by the then-govt’s proposition to settle Tamil laborers in Sinhalese districts. Sinhalese mobs attacked Tamil politicians of the Federal Party travelling by train to Vavvuniya and committed widespread violence across farms in the North-Central province.
An estimated 70 people were killed the night of May 25th alone. The next day, instead of trying to ensure the cessation of violence, PM Banadaranaike spread false rumors about Tamils perpetrating crimes in order to incite Sinhalese people to commit further violence.
The violence of 1958 marked a distinctive shift in Tamil nationalist politics and played a large role in shaping the Tamil armed struggle for self-determination.

#Tamil #lka #SriLanka #WeRemember #JusticeForGenocide
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PEARL Action
@PEARL_Action
The establishment of a military task force to “protect archaeological sites” in the eastern province is a formalization of what has been occurring for decades, in what Tamils call the traditional Tamil homeland, in the North-East of the island tamilguardian.com/content/sri-la…
The Tamil homeland’s northern and eastern regions are linked through a narrow strip of land on the Mullaithivu-Trincomalee border. While the North was largely inhabitated by Tamils, the East was mainly Tamil and Muslim, until Sinhala colonization started in earnest. Image
Much of the colonization has been targeted at border regions between the North and East and most of the districts bordering Sinhala districts, including Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaithivu, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai, particularly through the Mahaweli Development Authority Image
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PEARL Action
@PEARL_Action
We're launching the 3rd installment of “Sinhalization of the North-East” series, this time focusing on Seruwila-Verugal. Our series examines the scope + impact of the state-sponsored Sinhalization and militarization of the traditional Tamil homeland.

Read:bit.ly/2QbIzNY
The Trincomalee District is a historically majority Tamil-speaking region, with a significant presence of the indigenous Veddah. The southern part of the Trincomalee district, Kottiyarpattu, has been subjected to state-sponsored colonization for decades.
The 1951 Allai irrigation scheme saw the establishment of Sinhala colonies in what’s now mostly in the Seruwila division. The scheme eventually altered the demographics of the region significantly. Existing Tamil and Muslim villages also saw their names changed to Sinhala names.
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PEARL Action
@PEARLAlert
THREAD ahead of the #BlackJuly commemorations over the following days. An often repeated myth is that the 1983 Black July pogroms, in which thousands of Tamils were killed, were a response to the killing of 13 soldiers by the LTTE on July 23, 1983. This is false. #Tamil #lka
Violence from state actors had been increasing in the months ahead of #BlackJuly. Tamils were being killed at will. Human rights activists, political activists and militants were being detained and tortured. Local newspapers, including the Saturday Review, documented the violence
In April, SA David and Dr Rajasundaram of the Gandhiyam Movement were arrested and held. They were severely tortured throughout. The Gandhiyam Movement was a non-violent movement, which assisted refugees, by setting up farms and distributing food.
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