| Burning of Jaffna Public Library | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of1981 anti-Tamil pogrom | |||
 The Jaffna Public Library after burning | |||
| Date | 31 May 1981 | ||
| Location | Jaffna,Northern Province, Sri Lanka 9°39′44″N80°00′42″E / 9.6621°N 80.0118°E /9.6621; 80.0118 | ||
| Caused by | Ethnic tensions betweenTamils andSinhalese | ||
| Goals | Destruction of Tamil cultural symbols | ||
| Methods | Arson,looting,book burning | ||
| Status | Concluded (Library was destroyed) | ||
| Parties | |||
| |||
| Lead figures | |||
Senior members of Sri Lankan government and military Tamil political and cultural leaders | |||
| Casualties and losses | |||
| |||
| Casualties (unclear if specific to the event) | |||
| Buildings destroyed | 1 (Jaffna Public Library) | ||
| The destruction of the library remains a symbol of ethnic tensions and the Sri Lankan Civil War's impact on Tamil cultural heritage. | |||
| Part ofa series on |
| Sri Lankan Tamils |
|---|
Theburning of the Jaffna Public Library (Tamil:யாழ் பொது நூலகம் எரிப்பு,romanized: Yāḻ potu nūlakam erippu;Sinhala:යාපනය මහජන පුස්තකාලය ගිනිබත් කිරීම,romanized: Yāpanaya mahajana pustakālaya ginibat kirīma) by an organized mob ofSinhalese individuals took place on the night of 31 May 1981.[1] Thelibrary's burning was one of the most violent examples of ethnically motivatedbiblioclasm of the 20th century.[Term][2] At the time of its destruction, the library was one of the biggest in Asia, containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts.[3][4] TheSri Lankan Government rebuilt the burnt library and restarted its collection.
The library was built in many stages starting from 1933, from a modest beginning as a private collection of philanthropist and linguist scholarK. M. Chellappah. Soon, with the help of primarily local citizens, it became a full-fledged library. The library also became a repository of archival material written inpalm leaf manuscripts, original copies of regionally important historic documents in the contested political history of Sri Lanka and newspapers that were published hundreds of years ago in theJaffnapeninsula. It thus became a place of historic and symbolic importance to all Sri Lankans.[5][6]
Eventually, the first major wing of the library was opened in 1959 by then Jaffna mayorAlfred Duraiappah. The architect of theIndo-Saracenic style building was S. Narasimhan fromMadras,India. Prominent IndianlibrarianS.R. Ranganathan served as an advisor to ensure that the library was built to international standards. The library became the pride of the local people as even researchers from India and other countries began to use it for their research purposes.[5][6]
On Sunday 31 May 1981, theTamil United Liberation Front (TULF), a regionally popular democratic party, held a rally in which two policemen Sergeant Punchi Banda and constable Kanagasuntharam were shot and killed byPLOTE gunmen.[7]
That nightpolice and paramilitaries began apogrom that lasted for three days. The head office ofTULF party was destroyed. The Jaffna MPV. Yogeswaran's residence was also destroyed.[8]
Four people were pulled from their homes and killed at random. Many business establishments and a localHindu temple were also deliberately destroyed.[8]
On the night of 1 June, according to many eyewitnesses, police and government-sponsored paramilitias set fire to the Jaffna public library and destroyed it completely.[2][8] Over 97,000 volumes of books along with numerous culturally important and irreplaceable manuscripts were destroyed.[6] Among the destroyed items were scrolls of historical value and the works and manuscripts of philosopher, artist and authorAnanda Coomaraswamy and prominent intellectual Prof. Dr.Isaac Thambiah. The destroyed articles included memoirs and works of writers and dramatists who made a significant contribution toward the sustenance of the Tamil culture, and those of locally reputed physicians and politicians.[6]
The office of theEelanaadu, a local newspaper, was also destroyed. Statues ofTamil cultural and religious figures were destroyed or defaced.[8]
The Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) who sent an investigative team to Jaffna after the riot concluded:
"After careful inquiries there is no doubt that the attacks and the arson were the work of some 100-175 police personnel."[9]
Nancy Murray wrote in a journal article in 1984 that several high-ranking security officers and twocabinet ministersGamini Dissanayake andCyril Mathew were present in the town ofJaffna, when uniformedsecurity men andplainclothes[10][11][12] mob carried out organized acts of destruction.[13] After 20 years the government-ownedDaily News newspaper, in aneditorial in 2001, termed the 1981 event an act by "goon squads let loose by the then government".[14]
Two cabinet ministers, who saw the destruction of government and private properties from theverandah of the Jaffna Rest House (a government-owned hotel), claimed that the incident was
an unfortunate event, where [a] few policemen got drunk and went on a looting spree all on their own
The national newspapers did not report the incident. In subsequent parliamentary debates some majority Sinhalese members told minority Tamil politicians that if Tamils were unhappy in Sri Lanka,they should leave for their 'homeland' in India.[2] A direct quote from aUnited National Party member is
If there is discrimination in this land which is not their (Tamil) homeland, then why try to stay here. Why not go back home (India) where there would be no discrimination. There are yourkovils andGods. There you have your culture, education, universities, etc. There you are masters of your own fate
Of all the destruction in Jaffna city, it was the destruction of the Jaffna Public Library that was the incident which appeared to cause the most distress to the people of Jaffna.[16][17] Twenty years later, the mayor of JaffnaNadarajah Raviraj still grieved at the recollection of the flames he saw as a university student.[2]
For Tamils, the devastated library became a symbol of "physical and imaginative violence". The attack was seen as an assault on their aspirations, the value of learning and traditions of academic achievement. The attack also became the rallying point for Tamil rebels to promote the idea to the Tamil populace that their race was targeted for annihilation.[2][6]
The priest and scholarRev. Fr. (Dr.) H. S. David died of shock the next day after seeing flames engulfing Jaffna Library from his room atSt. Patrick's College, Jaffna the night before.[18][19]
The then PresidentJ. R. Jayewardene admitted that members of his party had encouraged the violence against Tamils in this period:
"I regret that some members of my party have spoken in Parliament and outside, words that encourage violence and the murders, rapes and arson that has been committed."[20]
In 1991 the then president of Sri LankaRanasinghe Premadasa publicly proclaimed that
During the District Development Council elections in 1981, some of our party members took many people from other parts of the country to the North, created havoc and disrupted the conduct of elections in the North. It is this same group of people who are causing trouble now also. If you wish to find out who burnt the priceless collection of books at the Jaffna Library, you have only to look at the faces of those opposing us.
He was accusing his political opponents within hisUNP party,Lalith Athulathmudali andGamini Dissanayake, who had just brought animpeachment motion against him, as directly involved in the burning of the library in 1981.[15]
| Anti-Tamil pogroms in Sri Lanka |
|---|
| Gal Oya (1956) |
| 1958 pogrom |
| 1977 pogrom |
| 1981 pogrom |
| Black July (1983) |
In 2006 the president of Sri LankaMahinda Rajapakse was quoted as saying,
TheUNP is responsible for mass-scale riots andmassacres against the Tamils in 1983, vote-rigging in the Northern Development Council elections and [the] burning of the Jaffna library
He was also further quoted as saying in reference to a prominent localTamil poet, reminding the audience that
Burning the Library sacred to the people of Jaffna was similar to shooting downLord Buddha
He concluded in that speech that as a cumulative effect of all these atrocities, the peaceful voice of the Tamils is now drowned in the echo of the gun; referring to the rebelLTTE'smilitancy.[21]
In 2016, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the leader of the United National Party apologized for the burning of the library which happened during a UNP government. He was interrupted by the shouting ofJoint Opposition MPs for which he claimed[22]
We are giving jobs to people. We are opening industries. By the time President Maithripala Sirisena celebrates his second anniversary of assuming office, we will have completed a massive amount of development work in the North. The Jaffna Library was burnt during the time of our government. We regret it. We apologize for it. Do you also apologize for the wrongs you committed?
According toOrville H. Schell, Chairman of the Americas Watch Committee, and Head ofAmnesty International's 1982 fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka, theUNP government at that time did not institute an independent investigation to establish responsibility for these killings in May and June 1981 and take measures against those responsible.[23][15] No one has been indicted for the crimes.
In 1982, one year after the initial destruction, the community sponsored Jaffna Public Library Week and collected thousands of books. Repairs on parts of the building were in progress when theBlack July pogrom-induced civil conflict began in 1983. By 1984, the library was fully renovated; however, the library was damaged by bullets and bombs. The military forces were stationed in theJaffna Fort and the rebels positioned themselves inside the library creating ano man's land as the fighting intensified. In 1985, after an attack on a nearby police station by Tamil rebels, soldiers entered the partially restored building and set off bombs that shredded thousands of books yet again.[24] The library was abandoned with its shell and bullet-pocked walls, blackened with the smoke of burnt books.[2][25]
As an effort to win back the confidence of the Tamil people[6] and also to mollify international opinion, in 1998 under presidentChandrika Kumaratunga, the government began the process to rebuild it with contributions from all Sri Lankans[26] and foreign governments.[27]Approximately US$1 million was spent and over 25,000 books were collected. By 2001 the replacement building was complete but the 2003 reopening of the rebuilt library was opposed by therebelLTTE (who wanted the burnt remnants of the original building to stand and a replacement library constructed in a different location). This led all 21 members of theJaffnamunicipal council, led by MayorSellan Kandian, to tender their resignation as a protest against the pressure exerted on them to postpone the reopening.[28]Eventually the library was opened to the public.[29]
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