''Estimates
of the number of persons killed in the week of violence vary. Official
estimates are just under 400 killed. These estimates are conservative.
Unofficial estimates are as high as 1500 to 2000. It is probable that
many bodies were not at first discovered because they were burned in
houses. Also some bodies were hidden and buried privately by people who
were frightened by the prospect of further
reprisals should the bodies be discovered, or scared to attract
attention to themselves by reporting the deaths. At the date of our
departure from Sri Lanka, September 1st, there were many people still
missing or not accounted for.'' (Patricia Hyndman, Senior Lecturer in
Law, University of New South Wales and Secretary, Lawasia Human Rights
Standing Committee Report -Democracy in Peril, June 1985)
Smoke
from hundreds of shops, offices, warehouses and homes blew idly over
Colombo yesterday. Any business, any house belonging to or occupied by a
Tamil has been attacked by gangs of goondas and the resulting
destruction looks like London after a heavy night's attention from the
Luftwaffe. The sharp smell of destruction fills the nostrils and the
roads beneath the feet crunch with broken glass. Cars
and lorries lie at ungainly angles across the footways. In Pettah, the
old commercial heart of the city, row after row of sari boutiques,
electronic dealers, rice sellers, car parts stores, lie shattered and
scarred... government officials yesterday estimated that 20,000
businesses had been attacked in the city." (The Guardian, 28 July 1983)