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Lest We Forget

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<strong>Lest</strong> we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 ­2002<br />

On 30.05.1986, military in black uniform entered the home in Thampalakamam and<br />

killed the father, mother and two children. A 13 year old girl and another woman<br />

escaped with injuries.<br />

On 17.06.1986, 8 farmers disappeared from their fields in Puthukkudiyiruppu in<br />

Thampalakamam.<br />

On 20.06.86, the Sri Lankan Air Force and the Sri Lankan Army, stationed at the<br />

Thampalakamam junction, made a joint attack on the Thampalakamam village.<br />

People were forced to displace. More than 25 of the displaced villagers took refuge<br />

in the Potkerni rice mill in the village. The military that arrived at the rice mill<br />

arrested all the people in the rice mill and took them. The owner was spared. The<br />

bodies of those taken were recovered in the forest nearby. 34 people died in this<br />

incident.<br />

On the same day in Sampalthivu five civilians were shot dead. One Thankarasa was<br />

set alight inside his car.<br />

45. Paranthan farmers massacre ­ 28.06.1986<br />

Paranthan is situated in the<br />

Kandavalai Assistant<br />

Government Agent Division in<br />

the Kilinochchi district.<br />

Paranthan is a key town in the<br />

Kilinochchi district. The main<br />

economic activity of the people<br />

is farming. Some also fish for<br />

additional income and some<br />

work as laborers.<br />

Paranthan was subjected to<br />

many military attacks has been badly affected as a result during the war. In<br />

particular, this area faced the persistent attacks from the Elephant Pass military<br />

camp of the Sri Lankan military.<br />

On 28.06.1986 at 5.15am, there was shelling from the Elephant Pass camp. The<br />

military moved forward into the Paranthan main road. Seven farmers who were<br />

irrigating their plots along the main road were arrested by the military for no<br />

apparent reason. They were tied together by a rope and tortured. Their bodies were<br />

later discovered in the nearby by waste water canal.<br />

Those who arrived to work in the paddy fields that afternoon at 3.30 pm saw the<br />

bodies and informed the families. Many people in Paranthan displaced in the 1980’s<br />

from their homes due to such persistent atrocities.<br />

Report by NESOHR,<br />

Information Collected by SNE<br />

37

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