TESO WARNS BUT ..... TAMIL GENOCIDE UNABATED......
33. Kanthalai massacre 09.11.1985
Kantalai is situated in the Trincomalee district. On 09.11.1985, Sri
Lankan military went to the home of Mayilvakanam near Kanthalai Pillayar temple
and abducted all six people from the house. Their bodies were later
found in 4thMilepost area in Allai road. Among the six were two daughters of
Mayilvakanam. Postmortem revealed that the two girls were raped before being
killed.
34. Muthur Kadatkaraichenai 08, 09, 10.11.1985
All three divisions of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces attacked Mutur
andKadatkaraichenai areas by land, air and sea on 08.11.1986, 09.11.1985
and10.11.1985. Civilians were shot and killed and burnt with their houses. More
than 70civilians who sought refuge in temples were arrested and disappeared.
More than 100houses were set fire. More than 30 civilians were killed in this
attack.
35. Periyapullumalai massacre in 1986
Pullumalai village had faced many atrocities by the Sri Lankan
military. On 20.05.1980 the SriLankan military and its home guards burnt down
more than 100homes in Pullumalai. 25 young men from Pullumalai was arrested by Col
Veeratunge of the Sri Lankan military and taken to Koduvamadhu and killed.
On 08.05.1986, the military arrived from Mahaoya and began
attacking the village.18 civilians were stood on a line and shot and killed by
the military. 51 civilians disappeared. Many families were killed en masse. The
mother four children and an eight month old baby from the family Nagalingam
Rajaratname were killed that day. Children died when the military stepped on
them with their boots. Kanthasamy his Sinhala wife and their child were killed.
The military let two civilians known to them to escape. They ran and arrived at
Senkalady.On 10.11.1986, more people were killed including a three month old
baby. Six of the women who were killed were raped before being murdered. 24
people arrested on this day disappeared. A planned identification parade to
identify the military men who carried out these massacres was stopped from
proceeding.
36. Kilinochchi Railway Station
massacre 25.01.1986
Kilinochchi town is a hustling business centre for the Kilinochchi
district. It has a big market, a railway station and a hospital that draws the
people to the town from all around the district. Farmers, business people,
government employees and self employed people contribute to its economic
activity.
The Sri Lankan military was stationed in the Kilinochchi
Irrigation Department hostel in 1986. The military was harassing people through
arrests and threats. On 25.01.1986, five Sri Lankan military personnel were
hiding behind the trees south of the Kilinochchi Railway station. The train
from Jaffna carrying passengers to Colombo stopped at the
Kilinochchi railway station to pick up passengers.
As the passengers were boarding the train, one of the military soldiers
opened fire at the passengers. Frightened people started to run in all
directions. People hid inside the railway station and inside the train. At the
end of the shooting, 12 people were dead including four women and two children.
The government of Sri Lanka
made the following statement after this massacre, “A soldier suffering from
mental illness opened fire at the passengers and killed some of them. We
apologize for the incident”. There were no other steps taken by the government
regarding the incident.
Sinnaiyah Nallaiyah
“We lived near the Church at 8th milepost. My wife was a teacher. She had received a
letter inviting her to Anuradhapura Education Department. So we were preparing
to go there. We were not able to catch the bus. We planned to go by train. When
we were at the station we heard the gunshots and we hid ourselves. Nine SLA soldiers came there. They began to shoot randomly
from the platform. Nine people were killed immediately. My wife and son and
many others were injured. I shouted “water! Water!” My 5 year old son fetched
me water from the pot. I found my 9 year old son and wife dead. After I drank
water, I fainted. I was taken from Kilinochchi hospital to Jaffna hospital. Then we heard that the SLA had told that only one soldier was involved in this
attack and he had a mental disorder. Is it usual for SLApersonnel to have a
mental disturbance?”
37. Udumbankulam massacre 19.02.1985
Udumpankulan and Thankavelayuthapuram are situated near the
Thirukovil area in the Amparai district. On 19.02.1985, early in the morning,
85 Sri Lankan military personnel from the Amparai military camp arrived in six military
vehicles in Thankavelayuthapuram and Udumpankulam villages. Some of the military were in camouflage uniform and others in blue
uniform. They went into the paddy fields where hundreds of poor farmers were
busy with harvesting work. They were carrying weapons. They rounded up 103
people in the fields and took them to the forest nearby. There they raped and
cut the breasts off from the women and killed them. Others were lined up and
shot dead. In total 103 people were killed including many children. The
military spread the harvested hay over the bodies and set fire to it. Ms. TK,
who was a victim of rape and eye witness to the massacres that took place in
the paddy fields of Udumpankulam, related her story:
“On the night, the Army which came from Kondavedduvan camp
rounded up all the people working in the paddy field. Then they started
shooting the men. They raped five of us. We pleaded with the soldiers not to do
anything to us. But they all raped us, in line in the paddy field itself. As we
couldn't bear-up the pain, gradually we lost consciousness. After an hour or so we
recovered and ran into a cave of a mountain. From there we saw the soldiers
covering all the bodies with paddy sacks and dried grass and setting fire to
those bodies.
After two days Akaraipattu Citizen Committee President Mr. Ahamad
Lebbai,General Secretary, S. T. Moorthy, Deputy President, Rev. Fr. Philip, and
Batticaloa Citizen committee President,
Rev. Chandra Fernando, accompanied by press reporters came to the paddy field.
The air in that area was laden with repulsive smell of decomposing bodies and
they saw bodies half burnt. They found that there were 66 people massacred.
They took photographs of all the bodies. They recorded our statements as well.
Even Kalawana Member of Parliament, Sarath Muthugama, spoke about this massacre
in the parliament. All those efforts were of no avail.
There is no justice here. No compensation was paid either to members of the
family of the victims or to us who were raped by the soldiers.”\
38. Vayaloor massacre 24.08.1985
Vayaloor is situated in the Amparai district. Valayoor, Sagamam
was a colony of the landless poor who were settled in1972 under the
government’s plan to give “the highest priority to the development of land for the
production of food and other crops”. To
reach Vayaloor, one has to travel eight miles on foot as there is only a jungle
path leading to the village. There were 200 families living in the village and
they had no access to clean drinking water, no shops and the nearest government
dispensary was 10miles away. Yet they continued to stay and cultivate crops
like maize, kurakkan, manioc, yams and other vegetables, depending on
rainwater. Traders from distant places went there in bullock carts to collect
agricultural produce from the chenas.The people built their homes with poles
and mud, thatched them with either coconut cadjan, or grass. After the attack,
which occurred during a ceasefire period, the settlement was deserted and now
the land has been taken over by the jungle. When people left Valayoor, they did
not carry any of their belongings. They fled with what they were wearing. They
had lost all their possessions including animals, crops and savings.
The attack on the people at Vayaloor started in the early hours on
the 24th August 1985. S.Vijeya widowed by the Vayaloor attack, is a mother of
five. She says,” It was about 6 o’clock in the early house of the day: I was
at the hearth trying to light the fire to prepare the tea. All of a sudden I
noticed that there were a number of men in army fatigues carrying guns standing
around our hut. I was terrified –much afraid of the visitors. I began to tremble.
The soldiers found that I had seen them and observing my nervousness, approached
me with a volley of questions, (in Sinhala), which I did not understand. Just
then my husband walked in and the soldiers spoke to him and through friendly
gestures and show of hands asked him to join them with the bucket we use for
drawing water from the well. My husband was asked to follow them and I joined
them too. The soldiers rounded all the males above 18 years from the huts but
allowed the aged, the sick and the weak to remain. They took all the able
bodied youths with them. Even woman were taken along. We walked through the
jungle path towards the East.
The soldiers wanted the men to
fetch some water for them to wash before breakfast. It was around 8 o’clock.
The men obliged and the soldiers ate their food and we starved – did not even
have a cup of plain tea. When their breakfast was over, they asked the people
to accompany them on their journey but never told us as to where they were
taking us to. We complied with their orders and proceeded along the jungle path
when we met another group of soldiers, and the officer commanding that group
found fault with the soldiers who had taken women together with men. The second
group leader came up to the women and spoke in Tamil and said, “Do not proceed
further with the men. The soldiers are in an unfamiliar area. We need men. Wait
there under the tree until noon and get back to your places and your men will
return to you after showing us the way.” We remained at that place waiting for
our men who went in the direction of Kumarankulam, but they did not return. The
sun came vertically over our heads and there were no signs of the men returning. Since we had to
prepare food for our children and for the men who had gone with the soldiers,
we returned to our huts and busied ourselves cooking food that we did not eat.
As we were waiting for the men
to return, a message came of killing. The messenger, who himself had escaped
death, said the remains of those killed were scattered in the Kumarankulam
area. I could not believe the message but when the other women started going to
the homes of relatives at Kolavil, Panankadu and Akkaraipattu in search of
safety, I too left Vayaloor. I left everything behind as they were and went to
my people. The elderly persons whom the army left in their chenas proceeded to
the place where the men were slaughtered. Grief-stricken relatives went to
Kumarankulam in tractor-driven trailers and brought the dead to our ancestral
villages who were buried according to customary rituals. We lost all that we
owned at Vayaloor."A trader who went to Vayaloor frequently on business,
Vyramuthu Kanagasabai, said,"I went to Vayaloor - Periyatalawe on the 23rd
evening with the hired double bullock cart to bring goods for the Sunday fair
at TirukkoviI. I spent the night and helped to uproot the mature manioc. As I
was preparing to leave the area on the24th, I found the entire settlement
rounded up. I remained in a hut with the farmers. I was taken into custody, but
released. I don't know what happened to the cart, the bulls and the carter I
took to Vayaloor. I lost all the money I carried and the bicycle used for my
journey. When the soldiers asked me to run away, I went, but remained hiding a
little away from Kumarankulam. A little after I left the farmers, I heard the
gunshots. When the soldiers left in their vehicles, I went to the place and saw
the men shot dead. However, there were two who were injured. One was shot
through the mouth. He did not die and the other was named Nadarasa. I returned
to Vayaloor and conveyed the fate of the men. Kanagasabai confirmed that as
many as 40 were killed.”
39. Eeddimurinchan massacre 19, 20.03.1986
Eeddimurnchan village is situated in the Vavuniyadistrict. Most
people in the village are farmers. In the 1970’s upcountry Tamils displaced
from their homes due to violence by the Sinhala mobs were settled in the settlements
of Dollar farm, Ken farm, Ceylon Theater and others like it in Vavuniya. In the
1980’s the Sri Lankan military chased these upcountry Tamils from their homes
in these settlements and settled Sinhala prisoners in their homeland armed them
as well. These Sinhalese prisoners tormented the long term residents of the
area with thefts of their livestock, farm products and homes. The prisoners
also started to attack the people.On 19.03.1986; the Sri Lankan military and
the settled Sinhala prisoners came through the jungle in many military vehicles
and arrived at Eeddimurinchan village at 4.30 pm. They started shooting the
people and burning their homes. They also took away all valuable things from
the homes.
On the next day the military and Sinhala groups rounded up the
Nedunkerni village early in the morning. They started shooting everyone
including old people and children. 20 people were killed in the two days of
violence. Property worth hundreds of thousands of rupees was also damaged. The
Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter provided cover for the military on land to
carry out the massacre. The strafing by the helicopter damaged houses in Periyakulam,
3 Kms away as well. Frightened people took refuge in the jungles. Fearing the
military, relatives took the bodies of their family members and buried them in
the jungle.
40. Anandapuram shelling 04.06.1986
Anandapuram is a small village situated in the Kilinochchi district.
The main occupation of the people is farming. In 1986, the Sri Lankan military
began expanding their military camps in civilian areas and also was shelling
the civilian areas. On 04.06.1984, at
5.00 am, the shelling began from the military camp in Kilinochchi town towards
Anandapuram. One of the shells fell on the house of Ramaih Periyanpillai
located on Elva road and completely destroyed his house. Five young children
were sleeping in one room with their mother. Four of the children were killed,
their bodies broken to smithereens. The fifth child was taken to hospital with serious injuries to the
head and the body. He died in the hospital. Mother also sustained serious injuries.
All the people displaced from Anandapuram due to the heavy shelling. When the
people returned to their village they had to bury the bodies of the four dead children
in their won yard.
A memorial stone was installed at the place where the children
were buried. A clock tower was also built in memory of the five children. Both
of these memorials were destroyed by the Sri Lankan military in its later
attacks. Four of the five children killed were students of the Kilinochchi central
college.
41.
Kanthalai massacre 04,
05.06. 1986
Kantalai is situated in theTrincomalee district. On 04, 05.06 1986,
near the 4th Milepost, Sri Lankan Air Force and home guards armed by them,
stopped the buses and identified the Tamils and attacked them. Many were
killed, disappeared and injured. On 05.06.1986, a bus with 25 passengers going
from Trincomalee to Vavuniya was stopped and attacked. The bus was burnt. From
the ashes 10 bodies were recovered including that of a child and a baby. Over
the two days, more than 50 civilians were killed and the fate of more than
35civilians is not known.
42.
Mandaithivu sea massacre 10.06.1986
Kurunagar, Pasaiyur and Mandaithivu are situated off the southern
coast of the Jaffna
peninsula. Surrounded on three sides by the sea and on one side by land, Mandaithivu
village had 1200 families living in it. All the people in the village depended
on fishing for their livelihood.
On 10.06.1986, Sri Lankan Navy men wearing black clothes
approached the fishermen who were in the sea. The fishermen raised their hands
to show that they are civilians. However, the Navy men attacked and tortured
the fishermen before murdering them. The
eyes of some of the fishermen were dug out. Stomachs of some fishermen were cut
open. 32 fishermen from Kurunagar and one fisherman from andaithivu were killed
in the incident. Boats and nets belonging to the fishermen were destroyed.
43.
Seruvila massacre 12.06.1986
Seruvila is situated in the Trincomalee district. On 12.06.1986,
two village
Headmen, three state employees, and 20 laborers who were
transporting relief food for the refugees were attacked by the home-guards in
Mahindapuram. 21 civilians were killed and 2 injured in this attack. The
victims were taking relief for the refugees who have displaced as a result of
the violence against Tamils in Eechilampatru.
44.
Thambalakamam massacres 1985, 1986
Thampalakamam is a famous village in the Trincomalee district. The
main economic base of this village is agriculture. On 12.11.1985, Sri Lankan military
rounded up Thampalakamam and 9 people were shot dead.
On 26.11.1985, three farmers were shot dead and their bodies were
burnt by the military. In another incident near the temple five people were
shut in shop and burnt. Two, Kubenthiran and Navaratnam died. The other three
were rescued with severe burns.
On 25.05.1986, three refugees, a mother and two sons, who went to
check on their homes, were shot dead. On 30.05.1986, military in black uniform
entered the home in Thampalakamam and killed the father, mother and two
children. A 13 year old girl and another woman escaped with injuries.
On 17.06.1986, 8 farmers disappeared from their fields in
Puthukkudiyiruppu in Thampalakamam.
On 20.06.86, the Sri Lankan Air Force and the Sri Lankan Army,
stationed at the Thampalakamam junction, made a joint attack on the Thampalakamam
village. People were forced to displace. More than 25 of the displaced
villagers took refuge in the Potkerni rice mill in the village. The military
that arrived at the rice mill arrested all the people in the rice mill and took
them. The owner was spared. The bodies of those taken were recovered in the
forest nearby. 34 people died in thisincident.On the same day in Sampalthivu
five civilians were shot dead. One Thankarasa was set alight inside his car.
45.
Paranthan farmers massacre 28.06.1986
Paranthan is situated in the Kandavalai Assistant Government Agent
Division in the Kilinochchi district. Paranthan is a key town in the Kilinochchi
district. The main economic activity of the people is farming. Some also fish for additional income and some work as laborers.Paranthan was
subjected to many military attacks have been badly affected as a result during
the war. In particular, this area faced the persistent attacks from the Elephant Pass military camp of the Sri Lankan
military.
On 28.06.1986 at 5.15am, there was shelling from the Elephant Pass camp. The military moved forward
into the Paranthan main road. Seven farmers who were irrigating their plots
along the main road were arrested by the military for no apparent reason. They
were tied together by a rope and tortured. Their bodies were later discovered
in the nearby by waste water canal. Those who arrived to work in the paddy
fields that afternoon at 3.30 pm saw the bodies and informed the families. Many
people in Paranthan displaced in the 1980’sfrom their homes due to such
persistent atrocities.
46.
Peruveli refugee camp massacre 15.07.1986
Peruveli is a Tamil village situated in Batticaloa, 1 Km to the
right from the Mallikaithivu junction. The Peruveli Government
Mixed School
was converted into a refugee camp in 1985. The Mallikaithivu Grama Sevakar (GS)
division is made up mostly of Tamil villages. However, there were also a few
Sinhala villages in this GS division. Large number home guards armed by the Sri
Lankan military were stationed in the Sinhala villages of Dehiwatte and
Nilapola. Many locals in these two villages belonged to these home guards.
Since the Sinhalese villagers and Tamils in adjacent Villages socialized well these home guards acted as informants to
the military, which had a program of killing Tamil civilians.
On 15.07.1986, the home guards and the Sri Lankan military
surrounded the Peruveli refugee camp at night and were lying in waiting. Since
the adjacent Tamil villages to the refugee camp had already been destroyed by
the military, and since the refugees did not move out at night due to fear, no
one knew about the military and home guards lying in waiting. As early morning
light started to appear the military and home guards entered the refugee camps
and started to shoot at random.
Some of the refugees who have gone to their homes to check were
also attacked. In total, 48 people were shot dead and more 20 were injured.
Many women were raped during this mayhem. The attack on the refugees lasted
till mid-day.
One survivor recounts the experience,” People from allikaithivu and some other villages were living
in Peruveli refugee camp in fear of the army. That day, all people in the village
were rounded up right throughout the night. At dawn, they shot, killed and tortured
everyone they saw.They went into the refugee camp and set fire to the cottages.
Whilst the cottages were burning, people were grabbed by their heads and legs
and thrown into the fire. They also threw people who were alive into the fire.
People were scared and were all hiding in families of four and five in some houses.
They took all the men out of the houses. They shot, cut them and threw them in the
wells.
They shot and took away about
twenty five bodies on a vehicle. The bodies were returned three days later.
They had poured acid on their face - we could not recognize them. All the wells
and pits had bodies dumped in them. We could not count the bodies that day
because there were bodies everywhere.
Usually when the army comes, we
hear fighting noises continuously. So we thought the same was happening. But it
was only when the army left and we went into the village, we realized that
nearly every well and pit had a body. People who had come to the village for
work had also died there.
Those in the refugee camps were
the most tortured. They were building separate huts to live. The huts were
burnt and the people were all shot. People were also taken away. When these
people returned they were in such a tragic state. Their arms and legs were broken and
they could not walk. We were too scared to stay in the village. If the army
returned we too would be shot. We could not bury people in individual holes. We
could not even touch the bodies - that's how badly disfigured they were. We dug
a big hole with a machine, dumped the bodies and then closed up the hole. The
brutality that was done at the refugee camp was unimaginable. Some people are
mentally affected by it.”
47. Thanduvan bus massacre 17.07.1986
Thanduvan is situated on the Mullaithivu-Vavuniya main road, 4 Kms from Nedunkerni, driving towards Mullaithivu. Thanduvan village
is part of the Oddusuddan Assistant Government Agent division in the
Mullaithivu district. The main occupation and income of the village is
agriculture. People of the village had to travel to Nedunkerni to buy their
regular necessities.
On the fatal day of 17.07.1988, many people were in the bus
connecting Mullaithivu to Nedunkerni. The bus belonged to the state operated
bus service. On that day the Nedunkerni area was cordoned off and searched by
the Sri Lankan military under the command of Gen Kobbekaduwa. Supporting and
protecting the cordon and search was a military helicopter belonging to the Sri
Lankan Air Force.
In this situation, the Thanduvan people in the bus were unable to
proceed to Nedunkerni. The bus driver turned back the bus and started to drive
back to Mullaithivu. The military helicopter followed the bus and started to
fire at the bus.
One Km from the Thanduvan school in the direction of Mullaithivu,
a rocket was fired at the bus. 17 people in the bus, including the bus driver
were killed. A further 13 people in the bus were injured.
48.
Mutur Manalchenai massacre 18.07.1986
On 18.07.1986, Sri Lankan military conducted a cordon and search operation
in villages of Manalchenai and Peruveli in Muthur. 44 civilians were arrested
and taken away and shot dead. Most of those killed were displaced people from the villages
of Menkamam, Kankuveli and Mallikaitivu.
49.
Adampan massacre 12.10.1986
Adampan village is situated in the Manthai West Assistant Government Agent Division in Mannar district. This is a farming village.
The villagers have suffered endless atrocities at the hands of the nearby
Thalladi Sri Lankan military camp for more than 20 years.
On 12.10.1986 at 4.00 am in the morning, the Sri Lankan military moved
out from the camp through the Malikai village and rounded up the Adampan village.
They shot and killed the sleeping villagers and burnt down several shops. The
military that entered the village at 5.00am continued the attack until
11.00am.The military threw the bodies into the rice fields and on the road and
left. More than 20 civilian lost their lives and many shops were brunt down.
Suvannah Sabastianpillai’s
account of the event is as follows,
“I was sleeping at home and heard blasting noises around 4am.
We woke up to see what had happened. There was a helicopter in the air. We
started running and were surrounded by bomb blasts. We ran to a nearby Muslim village.
We returned around 12 pm. We hid in a tree and saw that the army were
everywhere along with blasting sounds. The army had rounded up the whole place.
Things were broken, people were crying. Everything was a mess. There were jeeps
everywhere. Close behind a jeep were the Special Task Force. We heard rapid
fire near where they had stopped. 22 vehicles had come to Thamarakulam. I
counted them. Police and the SLA joined in on
this. Two of my relations – Pasumai and Cheenan – were on their way back from a
funeral. They were shot and left on the road.
The army left around 3pm and we
came back to find wounded bodies and blood everywhere. I can’t describe the
situation. 11 people had died. I saw all of this with my own eyes. They took
boys from this village away to where the land mines were and hurt them. We were
tortured like this in ’94, ’95 and ’96. When they came to shell, we would just
leave everything and run. They would come at any time of the day - morning, evening
and night.”
50.
Periyapandivrichchan massacre 15.10.1986
Periyapandivirichchan village is in the Madhu Assistant Government
Agent division in Mannar district. The village has rice fields adjoining large forests.
On 15.10.1986, one of the villagers, Rasanayagam was working in
his vegetable plot. His two daughters returned home from school. After having
lunch the two girls took lunch for their father working in the farm. The person
who guards the next farm, Joseph Francis aged 72, the father and two daughters
were sitting in the small hut in the farm.
The Sri Lankan military that came through the forest fired towards
the farm. A little later they arrived at the farm and started attacking
Rasanayagam. His daughter was tortured and her breasts and vagina were cut.
Joseph Francis was also cut intopieces.The military left the place after this attack.
Rasanayagam and the other daughter escaped with injuries.
51.
Kokkadichcholai massacre 28.01.1987
Kokkadichcholai is situated in the Batticaloa district. Farming,
fishing and prawn farming were the main occupations of the people.
On 29.01.1987, Sri Lankan military began its attack on the village
and continued it for three days. The military entered the village from Kondavedduvan,
Kaluvanchikudi, Vellaveli, and Kallady camps in military trucks and
helicopters. They took people aged from 14 to 40 and killed more than 200 of them.
A prawn farm was operated with aid from United States of America in Mahiladiththivu.
It was employing a large number of laborers. 135 laborers in this prawn farm
were among those killed on 28.01.1987. The military shot dead 24 people who
took refuge in the Kokkadichcholai rice mill.
Seven of those killed were aged 12 years old.Sellathurai
Ravinathan was a watchman at the Prawn Farm. On the day of the massacre,
Ravinathan was on the day shift. His account of the incident is as follows:”
I left for work early in the morning. Unlike normal, that morning there were 2
or 3 Helicopters circling in the
air. I knew something was going to happen. I ran to the Prawn Farm, together
with many other men. We all believed that because the Prawn Farm was owned by
Westerners, we would be safe there. We had been caught and questioned twice
before by the Army but we were allowed to go. We therefore ran there hoping it
would give some protection.
At the junction, there was a
large military vehicle. Army started jumping off and running onto the road.
This was the first time we knew what the STF looked like. All the SLA that were on the road, were pointing their guns
towards the Prawn Farm. One man stood up, pointed his gun and came towards us.
The two or three people that were with us saw this and bent down and slowly
went the other way through the water. Ambikaipatham said, "Don’t run. If
you do they will shoot everyone”. We softly whispered and told them to come
back. They came back. People from Muthalaikuda, Munaikadu, Mahiladitheevu, and
Ambalanthurai were all caught up in here. Narayanapillai was returning from the
fields and ran into the Prawn Farm. The first bullet was aimed at him and it
hit him. Three army personnel came to the place where we were. They shouted and
told us all to gather in one place. Whilst everyone was trembling with fear,
they fired their gun once.
Everyone ran away from that
spot. I took cover behind the little huts that were in the Prawn Farm. A young
boy called Theivanayagam ran before us. We heard sudden gun fire. We don’t know
what happened to him. I immediately took protection in the small river. A young
boy called Nesathurai did the same in front of me. In the meantime, the Army
turned the vehicle towards the direction people had run and started fire. They
shot the little children who were in the Prawn Farm looking after the little
birds. These poor children would come very early in the morning to make sure
that no birds attacked the prawns that were being farmed. They hoped that they
would get something - however little - in return for this. How could they shoot
such poor little children?
I removed the clothes that I
was wearing and ran through the small Kanna Forest.
As I was running, I heard gun fire. After a little while, I heard no noise from
the direction of the Prawn Farm. I thought that I should return and have a look
at what had happened. As I was about to
do this, an old man stopped me and said,” Brother, please don’t go back they
have shot every one”. My elder brother, who witnessed this massacre, lost his
mind for three or four days.”
52.
Paddithidal massacre 26.04.1987
Paddithidal is a Tamil village and it is situated 10 Kms from
Mutur in Trincomalee. The village is in the Mallikaithivu Assistant Government Agent
division. From the beginning of 1987 there were military
attacks in the area.
On 26.04.1987, there were clashes between the Sri Lankan military
and the LTTE near the Mallikaithivu junction. Three Sri Lankan military
personnel were killed in this clash. Among these killed were Kanifa, a Muslim
home guard. To take revenge for this the military entered the Paddithidal
village and searched. People had already left the village suspecting that the
military will attack the civilians if they face defeat at the hands of the LTTE.
One Christian family of 16 members was praying as they continued to stay in the
village.
The military opened fire at those praying. They burnt the people
still struggling after the shooting. All 16 members of the family were killed.
Three babies and several children were among those killed. One family member,
Konan Ulaganatan escaped death.
“My name is Ulaganathan. I was
born and I grew up in Paddiththidal. On Sunday 24th of April 1987, I went to church
on my own. My family did not accompany me. On the way back I saw that the
families in the village were running and hiding. I tried to see if my family was
amongst them. Thinking that perhaps my family had gone in another direction to
hide, I decided that I would go home and check anyway. I heard bomb blasts. I was
very scared of what might have happened.
I ran back to my house. I saw
that my house was burning. As I was wondering where my family could have gone,
I reached the front door step and saw that every single person in my family was
dead. My wife, 2 daughters, big brother, his wife, His 5 kids, my wife's big
sister and 3 kids, my mother and my younger sister were all in there. In
desperation, I tried to kill myself in the fire - but the two people with me –grabbed
me before I could. They took me away to the place in which they were hiding and
kept me there. I returned the next day and tried to make sense of how they had
died. My youngest daughter looked like she had been eating rice at the time.
She was leaning against the door with a bullet through her head. I was just
able to work out that it was my youngest daughter because it was a very small
face.
There was no one left in the
village, they had all run away. I put all the bodies in a cart, and took them to
a forest. I dug a big pit. I tipped over the cart and all the bodies fell into
the pit. I covered them all up with sand. My elder aunty, who had come to the
village as a refugee, told me that she was with my family at the time. This is
her account of what happened. She ran to warn them to hide and then ran away
and hid in the banana trees in our house. Before the army got there, they (my
family) all took out their identity cards. The army did not even look at their
identity cards. The army took their guns and shot everyone. She could hear
people pleading to not be killed and then there was silence. The army set the
house alight and left. When she went back to house to see if anyone was even remotely alive, so that she
could try and save any of them – they were all dead. Everyone had been shot
or cut. As the house was burning, she did not stay there any longer than she
had to”.
53. Thonithiddamadu massacre 27.05.1987
Thonithiddamadu village is situated in the Vaharai Assistant
Government Agent Division in the Batticaloa district. This is a Tamil majority village.
The main economic activities of the villagers are farming and fishing. This village had nurtured
and safeguarded its own ancient art forms and culture. This village is one of those
villages in Batticaloa that is bounded by Sinhala villages. People went to the
neighbouring Sinhala villages to purchase their daily needs.
On 25.05.1987, the Sri Lankan military opened fire in the
Thonithiddamadu village.Frightened people kept to their homes. On 27.05.1987 at
2.00am at night, the military entered the village and shot and killed people
who were asleep. Thirteen people were killed in this massacre.
54.
Alvai temple shelling 29.05.1987
Alvai village is situated in Jaffna
district. The Muthtumariamman temple in Alvai is one of the famous temples in Jaffna.
On 29.05.1987, the Sri Lankan military launched its operation
liberation attack on Jaffna.
Attacks were carried out from the Palaly military camp, and from air and sea.
Through pamphlets dropped from air and through the announcement in the military
radio service from Palaly, people were asked to take refuge in temples. Some
people had taken refuge in the Muthimariamman temple. The temple was filled
with around 10,000 people from the villages of Alvai, Inparuddi,
Thikkam,Vathiri, Nelliadi, Thampasiddi, Puloly and Karaveddi. Since the temple
was big with broad corridors it was able to accommodate all the people. On that
fatal day the temple was overflowing with people. At 11.00pm a shell fired by
the military fell on a tree in front of the temple. Some people sitting under the
tree were injured. The next shell fell inside the temple many were killed
including women and children. The following shells fell in another part of the
temple killing two young men seated there. The three shells falling inside the
temple causing deaths created panic among the people. 40 people died inside the
temple and many were injured.
55.
Eastern University massacre 23.05.1990
The Eastern
University is in the Vantharumulai
village in Batticolao. This is one of the 13 universities in the island. At any
given year about 3000 students will be enrolled in this University. In 1990,
following Sri Lankan military attacks on people, people from many regions of Batticaloa
have taken refuge in the Eastern
University.
On 23.05.1990, large number of Sri Lankan military arrived from
the Saththurukondan military camp at the Eastern University.
They arrested 58 young men tied their hands and legs and took them to the
neighbouring villages. There they were all killed. The military came again on
24.05.1990 and arrested another 168 people who had taken refuge at the Eastern University. They were also killed in a
similar manner to the earlier massacre.226 people were killed in these days by
the Sri Lankan military.
