Tamil political activists have taken steps in Jaffna to commemorate nine people who were shot dead by police fifty-one years ago during an international conference in the north.
Local reporters say that Tamil people’s representatives and civil society activists took steps to pay floral tributes and light candles at the memorial erected in front of the Jaffna Weerasinghe Hall to remember nine people who lost their lives in a police attack in 1974 on the closing day of the Fourth International Tamil Research Conference.
Following the memorial service held on Monday morning, January 10 by political activists including former MP M.K. Sivajilingam and plot leader Dharmalingam Siddharth, a memorial service was also held under the leadership of Ilangai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) acting leader C.V.K. Sivagnanam.
More than 50 injured
On the last day of the Fourth International Tamil Research Conference, which began on 3 January 1974 and lasted for a week with the participation of local and foreign scholars, a police team led by Jaffna Assistant Superintendent of Police S.K. Chandrasekara entered the conference premises without warning and opened fire while Professor Naina Mohammed, a renowned Tamil Nadu scholar, was delivering her lecture.
The organizers managed to hold the conference in Jaffna despite the obstacles of Sirima Bandaranaike’s government forcing it to be held in Colombo.
Survivors of the attack on the conference later said that police troops in jeeps and vans attacked thousands of people gathered in front of the stage erected in front of the Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna with batons and rifle butts, opening fire.
The power lines that fell due to police firing also fell on people fleeing to escape the attack.
Nine people were killed in the police attack, property around the city was destroyed and more than 50 others were seriously injured.
Police is a service, not a force
The three-member commission appointed to investigate the incident, headed by former Supreme Court Justice Oswald Leslie de Crestor, had ruled that the attack, which was launched by the police without properly understanding their duties, could not be justified in any way.
“Police officers should understand that their duty is to serve the police and not to be a police force,” says the ‘January 10th Tragedy’ Commission report.
The Commission, which included Supreme Court Justice V. Manikkavasagar and former Archbishop of Jaffna, Sabapathy Kulendran, published its report on February 18, 1974.
“It is our conclusion that the police are guilty of a violent and unnecessary attack on unarmed citizens on this night (January 10, 1974). It is our grave concern that they lacked the capacity to exercise the sound judgment expected of a civilian police force, which is obliged to act with prudence even in the most difficult circumstances. Innocent people became victims of a chain of events that was triggered by a completely wrong and reckless decision taken by a police officer, whether bodily harm, property damage, or loss of life occurred. “The police attack unleashed on defenseless and innocent citizens cannot be justified in any way.”