Meanwhile, in Colombo, the goondas (or ‘thugs’) assembled, armed with electoral rolls. The lists they brought to the cemetery contained the names and addresses of all the city’s Tamils. As the writer Shiva Naipaul recalled in Unfinished Journey, ‘Before the axes could be wielded, before the petrol bombs could be thrown, before the pillaging could begin, a little paperwork had to be done.’
Same as the Nazis.
