Sri Lanka: Evidence of attacks on Sinhalese by JVP guerrillas in Wattala and Mathara, Sri Lanka, in 1988 and 1989
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 June 1989 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | LKA1270 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Sri Lanka: Evidence of attacks on Sinhalese by JVP guerrillas in Wattala and Mathara, Sri Lanka, in 1988 and 1989, 1 June 1989, LKA1270, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab354.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
From mid-1987 to the end of 1988, more than five hundred political killings, mainly members of the ruling United National Party which is predominantly Sinhalese, and its supporters, had attributed to the JVP and DJV. [ Urgent Action, (London, amnesty International), 15 November 1988, and Keesing's Record of World Events, (London, Longman Publications), June 1988, p. 35936.] The JVP has also been blamed for attempting to assassinate the President of Sri Lanka and other government officials, [ Keesing's, pp. 36286-7.] a majority of which are Sinhalese, [ Asiaweek, 3 March 1989, p. 25.] as well as using violence to obstruct elections and to impose strikes in different regions. [ See various attached documents.]
Please find attached a number of documents which provide information on JVP attacks against civilians, Sinhalese or other, throughout Sri Lanka in late 1988 and early 1989. These include twelve pages of articles which appeared in the Globe and Mail during November and December 1988 covering violent incidents in Sri Lanka, as well as the articles "Now comes the hard part", in Asiaweek (6 January 1989, pp. 24-25) and "A decisive mandate" and Who's to blame?", also in Asiaweek (3 March 1989, pp. 20, 25-26). The town of Matara is mentioned as a site of various violent incidents in the attached documents, although no mention of Wattala is made in these or other sources available at present to the IRBDC.