Tamil toll 2000 — claim
NZPA New Delhi The political leader of Sri Lanka’s Tamils claims that at least 2000 people, more than five times the number the Government admits, were killed in the recent massacre of Tamils in the island nation. Appapillai Amirthalingam, the secretary-general of the Tamil United Liberation Front, asserted that the Sinhalese-dominated Armed Forces burned or otherwise disposed of hundreds of uncounted victims during attacks last month by the Sinhalese majority on the Tamil minority.
The week of unrest erupted after a Tamil ambush on July 23 that killed 13 Army soldiers. The Sri Lankan Government said that 382 lives were lost. It estimated damage at SUSI6O million. But Mr Amirthalingham said" that the damage was at least double that amount. In addition to 100 destroyed factories 15 or 20
business establishments “were looted and burned in each little town or hamlet, while in major cities it runs into thousands... in Trincomalee, 250 to 300 establishments were smashed up and destroyed.”
He said that his estimate of 2000 or more dead was based on accounts of mob attacks and burning of bodies brought by Tamil refugees to Jaffna, capital of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-domin-ated northern province. The Tamil leader went to New Delhi for talks with the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, and other Indian leaders. Mrs Gandhi and President J. R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka have announced an agreement for the Indian Government to help promote a Tamil-Sinhalese reconciliation.
But Mr Amirthalingam said that Tamil independence remains the official goal of his party and can be changed only by the Tamil people.
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Press, 19 August 1983, Page 6
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266Tamil toll 2000 — claim Press, 19 August 1983, Page 6
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