1981 communal pogrom

This pogrom surrounds the events in which the Jaffna library was burnt down with its irreplacable book. It was during a period of election campaign. Miniters of the then UNP government, Gamini Tissanayake and Cyril Mathew were in Jaffna. A large police force was brought to Jafna together with many Sinhala thugs. These thus were accomomadated in the Jaffna Thuriappa Stadium.

At an election campaign meeting on 31.05.1981, in Jaffna, a Sinhala police was killed. Following this the police set fire to the Nachchimar Temple outside of which the campaign meeting was taking place.

Following this the police burnt down the large Jaffna market building with shops and stocks. Many statues representing Tamil culture were destroyed. The memorial built for those killed in the Tamil Research Conference was also destroyed.

The thugs went into the home of Member of Parliament, Yogeswaran, and inquired about the location of his house. Realising what the thugs were after, Yogeswaran, escaped through the back door with his family. His house was burnt by the Sinhala thugs. Yogeswaran in a statement published in India Today of June 1981 said that those who burnt down his house were Sinhalese. The same thugs burnt down the office of the Tamil Alliance party. Several other homes and public buildings were set alight.

The Jaffna library was burnt the day after the above arson. Rev Fr Thaveethu, who watched the Jaffna library burning from the second storey of the Bishop’s House died of heart attack on the spot.