Lest We Forget

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Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 2002 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 into pieces. The military left the place after this attack. Rasanayagam and the other daughter escaped with injuries. 51. Kokkadichcholai87 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 Report by NESOHR, Information Collected by SNE 41
Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 2002 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 workers. 135 workers 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, 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.” Report by NESOHR, Information Collected by SNE 42
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