... and the radio played on

Press, 2 August 1983, Page 10

... and the radio played on

This jeweller’s shop in the centre of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, was one of the casualties of racial violence which broke out in the island State last week.

The photograph was taken from a bus by a Christchurch panel-beater, Ddvid Robin, who returned from an Asian tour yesterday.

Mr Robin said that when he and some fellow tourists out for a walk had asked armed soldiers if they could take photographs the soldiers had indicated firmly that they could not.

He said that he had taken this photograph quickly on Tuesday, some hours after the well-stocked, Tamilowned shop had been gutted. Mr Robin said that he had arrived at Colombo from Burma on July 18. That was a week before the latest round of racial strife broke out between the native Sinhalese, and the Tamils,

descendants of people who were imported from India, mainly to work in the tea plantations. He was at Anuradhapura on July 25 when the violence broke out at 9 a.m. last Monday in Jaffna.

Mr Robin said that he was given two, second-hand versions of the cause of the trouble. The Tamils alleged that some Sri Lankan soldiers had raped a Tamil girl, and that the Tamils had retaliated by attacking a military convoy, killing 13 soldiers.

The Sinhalese alleged that the Tamils had attacked the convoy for no reason. Mr Robin said that when he arrived at Colombo on Monday he found that the Government had imposed a curfew on the capital.

“That meant we were locked up in the hotel at night, with zero to do, except listen to the radio. There was very little news,

apart from Government bulletins that looters had been shot, curfew-breakers had been shot at, the schools had been closed for the week, and the mid-year school exams had been cancelled.

“The radio played as usual — mostly 1948 music.”

He sain inar wnen ne nau tried to telephone New Zealand the operator told him there was a five-hour delay, and that when he had tried again the operator told him no calls would be allowed out of the country until the next day. Mr Robin said that his tour party had driven to Colombo from Puttalam by the west coast route only because the tour escort, Ross Skinner, of Wellington, had insisted that the bus driver should not take the planned route inland through Tamil areas. The police at Puttalam, a fishing village, gave them the permit. Mr Robin said that as they approached Colombo last week they began to run into signs of the strife. ; “The first sign was a burnt-out truck at Waikkal. As we got closer we could

see burning buildings and ;more burnt-out vehicles.” He said that he did not see any acts of violence being committed. “The Government military had it 100 per cent under control from what I saw, although the soldiers were getting a bit nervous. Nobody was allowed to hang around sightseeing.” Mr Robin said that he and the other tourists were nevertheless treated courteously by the Armed Forces. Mr Robin said that on Thursday he flew out of Sri Lanka for Singapore, where the aircraft was greeted by reporters. A photograph that he took was used on the front page of the “Straits Times” on Friday, for which the newspaper paid him $2OO, local currency.

He said that Sri Lankan tour firms had stopped all tours for the next three months.