Lest We Forget

Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 ­2002
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 8 th 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
Report by NESOHR,
Information Collected by SNE
30