Lest We Forget

Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 ­2002
One day in the first week of September 1984 a passenger bus which was going to
Jaffna from Colombo was stopped at Mathawachchi junction by the Sri Lankan
military and the bus with the passengers were taken to Mannar road and there 15
civilians in the bus were killed including the driver and 31 civilians were wounded.
13. Point Pedro – Thikkam massacre ­ 16.09.1984
On 16.09.1984, four Sri Lankan soldiers were
killed in a land mine explosion. In a revenge
attack, the Sri Lankan Police attacked and
killed 16 civilians. Heartly College Library and
its laboratory were burnt down.
14. Othiyamalai massacre ­ 01.12.1984
This is a remote village on the border of Mullaithivu district. More or less the entire
population worked in their own paddy fields and they had ample farming produce to
live by. However, Sinhalese settlers were settling in Ken Farm and Dollar Farm and
displacing the Upcountry
Tamils in these places who
had already been displaced
from the Upcountry as a
result of ethnic violence.
From 29 th November 1984
until 2 nd December 1984
the SLAFs declared a
curfew. A SLAFs regiment
moved from Pathaviya to Othiyamalai on 1 st December 1984. The SLAFs rounded
up the people of Othiyamalai village. When the villagers opened their door at 5.00
am on that day, they saw the Sri Lankan soldiers standing in green attire. The
soldiers spoke fluent Tamil and asked for all the men in the village to come to the
Development Society building managed by the LTTE, and demanded that they
assist the struggle waged by the LTTE. Deceived by the pretension of the Sri
Lankan army soldiers 32 men went.
Sithambarapillai Sagunthararasa
otherwise known as Rasa lost his
father and five uncles in the
Othiyamalai Nedunkerni Massacre.
His account is as follows:
“On 2nd December 1984, 32 people
were massacred here. My father and
five of my uncles were killed. Around
5:00 or 5:30 in the morning, the SLA came to our village. We were small children
then. We only know what people told us, we don't remember much. My father was
Report by NESOHR,
Information Collected by SNE
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