Lest We Forget

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Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 2002 firing their guns. I was unable bear the pain of watching the army catch and hurt all the people that came their way. They set fire to the houses and pushed people into the fire two by two. Kulasegaram was with me at the time. They pushed me, Kulasegaram and another boy into a burning house. Even though we pleaded with our hands – they showed us no mercy. There were many sacks of rice in the house. Kulasegaram jumped on top of this and jumped over the fence. He said that he would rather jump and break his legs and die than be burned to death. We jumped over the fence and hid. Having decided there was no where else to run, he said he would rather die there. We were surrounded by firing and crying noises. We ran behind the house and hid with our eyes shut tightly under the tin sheet. We could not forget the fear we felt when they pushed us into the burning house.” Muthulingam Vimaladevi speaks of the horror and torture that happened that day: “My elder sister’s baby was 12 days old. My elder sister said we should close the door and all stay inside. I said we should take the little baby and go to the mill as that was the direction everyone else was running in. So we took the baby and ran there. The mill was full. People were sitting in the middle, front and back. To stop the babies from crying, mothers but them to their breasts. Next door, we could hear bomb blasts. Everyone started saying ‘arohara’ and praying to god. The men who came inside started rapidly firing. Heads, stomach and necks were all being shot. I too pretended that I had been shot, smeared blood on myself and lay flat without moving. They shot everyone inside the mill. Along with my elder sister, five of us escaped. Because of the amount of the blood splattered everywhere, it looked as if everyone had died and we were able to escape. A little while after the firing stopped, we heard the sound of one mother crying out for her child. We stood up, took my elder sister’s child and ran to our next door neighbour’s house. There we saw people whose hands had been cut off, head had been cut and eyes had been gorged out. There were dead bodies of mothers who were still feeding their child. There was a baby smeared on the wall. The owner of the Mill, Mr. Kumaranayagam and his wife Puveneswary and their four children were all shot.” 78. Pullumalai massacre 19831990 Pullumalai in Batticaloa is a region immersed in natural beauty where Tamil people have lived for hundreds of years. Today, it lies barren and lifeless. The remains of the destroyed local school, temple and church have been left untouched as a symbol and memorial to the pain of those died and of those who survived. From 1983 to 1990 the SLA, together with Sinhalese mobs, tried over five times to destroy the village. Houses were burnt, wealth was robbed, and massacres were organized. There are unbelievable accounts of the rapes and systematic killings that took place. Over 400 families disappeared. No international or local body has enquired into the fate of these 400 families. Report by NESOHR, Information Collected by SNE 65
Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 2002 In July 1983, the cows in the village were killed and wealth destroyed. In 1984, when the Thiruvemba pooja in December was happening at Pillayar Temple, the SLA shot 9 people dead. That same year 300 houses were burnt. On 4 th of January 1985, the SLA killed the only Engineer along with 7 others. They also destroyed houses and wealth. One week later on the 10 th of January, they shot the temple priest along with 9 others. On 10 th of November 1986, they returned to rape, steal, kill and burn the villagers. 103 Tamils were cut and killed that day. In 1986, after they had shot 7 men in the village they used tires to burn the bodies. In 1987, 14 people that were fishing in the pond were shot. On 9 th of July 1990, once again people left the village unable to bear the atrocities that were committed on them. Babies were ripped open and thrown callously. Over 40 families were shot; girls were raped, stabbed and ripped open. The witnesses of this torture left and have not returned till this day. Soosaimoththu Thambimoothu talks about unbelievable torture on the day his younger brother Sellathamby Perinbarasa and wife died, “In 1983, the SLA and the mobs joined together to set alight our houses. They took all the wealth in our houses away in their vehicles. Around 40 or 45 houses were burnt. Everyone ran with fear in the direction of the vegetable garden. We also ran to our vegetable garden at Mungil Malai. The SLA rounded up and took away all the people that had gathered at Mungil Malai. My younger brother and his pregnant wife were two of these people taken away. They took turns to rape my sister in law in front of my brother. They tied up my younger brother’s hands and legs, cut open his wife's stomach, took out the baby and trampled the baby with their legs. Right at the end, they shot my brother in the ear. They took his wife's naked body, placed both bodies in a position that looked like husband was raping the wife and left. A little way away from them, Yoganathan, his father Arumugam, Jeganatha and Ramayyah were shot dead. One of their chests was ripped open with a knife and his insides were taken out. The people that were captured and taken away – don’t know what happened to this day.” Kathirvelu Rasammah’s children and husband were destroyed by the SLA. In 1983, 1984 and then in 1990 her children were all shot dead, “I ran behind the Army when they took my children. They told me to stop else they would shoot. They said they would have to carry out an investigation and then the children would return home. We went to the camp a little while after this. They told us to go home and return back tomorrow. When we went the next day they did not let us and so we went back again the day after. They told us, that they had taken our children and left them in the forest and that we could go and see them there. We did not go immediately because we were too scared. When we did go a few days later, the forest was sprawled with bodies. There were arms and legs strewn everywhere. We could not identify whose children Report by NESOHR, Information Collected by SNE 66
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