Lest We Forget

Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 ­2002
We didn’t know what was happening, but the Navy men ordered us to shout our
names and our villages. We shouted in vain hope. Then people were called one by
one by the Navy men. First all the men went, then the women started going. I was
the last one to go and Nirmala was with me till then. Nirmala told me that they
won’t do anything and to just go. She said they would just look at our ID card. I
looked behind me and there was no one. I didn’t want to go, but I was forced to.
One Navy man was up there, where I went. He pushed me, and another one
stabbed me in my neck, chest and head. After that I don’t remember well, but I was
pulled and thrown on top of others who were lying on the ground. These are my
wounds on my head and neck.”
(b) Annaladchmi Sivalingam, survivor whose baby was killed, recounts her
experience,
“I sat with my baby and showed the
Navy man my ID card. He told me not
to sit and took me upstairs. One Navy
man took me by the hand, and stabbed
me. I
don’t
remembe
r what
happened
after that.
The next thing I realized, I was in a hospital and was
tied down with chains. I kept asking for my baby.
They told me my baby was at home and feeding on cow’s milk. I was unable to open
my mouth from my injuries and was on a liquid diet for one year. I only found out
that my baby was killed six weeks after the incident”
Kanapathypillai Anandakumar was on the boat at that time. His account is as
follows,
“When we were stopped, we were on the boat and were told to go inside. As we
went inside, we were shut in a room. They asked us if anyone inside knew Sinhala.
A few said yes and went forward. We don’t know what happened to them. Outside
our room there were two Navy members standing as sentry with AKs [guns].
Outside there were two more people with grenades.
They asked all the people inside to say their names loudly. So we all did. They did
this so that the sound would hide what was happening in the room. They started
asking people to move towards the back. As I walked towards the back, they hit my
forehead with a stick. I don’t know what happened after this. Inside this room, there
were very small children there under the age of one. They stabbed a 6 month old
baby and ripped open her chest. Girls were also raped along with other acts of
violation. People were killed. 72 people were in the boat, 36 were killed and 36
survived. But the survivors were all tortured.
I was taken to the hospital and regained conscious after 4 days. I was unable to go
to work. I became very sick and was unable to find work after this.”
Report by NESOHR,
Information Collected by SNE
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