Lest We Forget

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Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 2002 99. Mallavi bombing 24.07.1996 Mallavi is situated in the Mullaithivu district 15 Kms from the Mankulam junction. In 1996 a large number of people from Jaffna and Kilinochchi were displaced to Mallavi and were living around the Mallavi junction area. On 24.07.1996, Sri Lankan Air Force Kfir dropped bombs in this area and 9 civilians were killed and 15 more were injured. 100. Pannankandy massacre 05.07.1997 Pannankandy is a village of about 300 families. It is situated near the town of Kilinochchi. The main economic activity in the village is agriculture. The villagers had displaced from their homes due to Sri Lankan military shelling as it conducted an operation from their Elephant Pass military camp. Most of the displaced from Pannankandy were living in the Vaddakachchi village. They were very poor and due to poverty they return to their own land in Pannankandy to collect the produce from their land. The military that has setup a camp near Pannankandy would capture the poor villagers and kill them. Hundreds of people died in this fashion in the Kilinochchi district during this time. This is recorded in another section titled, “Kilinochchi town massacres”. The following is the story of what happened to the Pannankandy villagers. The village headman, Sithamparapillai Rajendram, recited the following as he was told by Karuppaih Nanthakumar aged 23, “On 5 th July 1997, Nanthakumar and Sukumar went on bicycles to their home in Pannangkandy at 3 rd Vaikal which was a ‘no man’ region and from which they were displaced at that time. They went to check their homes and also collect coconuts and other produce from their land. The SLA caught both of them. The army tied Nanthakumar to a post and took Sukumar to the village well. Sukumar’s shirt was removed and his hands were tied to the back with his shirt. He was then forced to bend over the short barrier wall of the well so that the front half of his body was hanging into the well and the back half was outside. His body was then cut and then pushed into the well. Report by NESOHR, Information Collected by SNE 81
Lest we forget – Massacres of Tamils 1956 2002 Stones were thrown into the well to stop the body floating up. Nanthakumar, who was watching this, managed to untie himself and ran away. When Nanthakumar arrived at Tharmapuram where we met him, he told everyone the story. No one went to check it at that time out of fear. On the same day the four other men went missing. No one knew about their fate at that time. In March 2000 following the Sri Lankan army withdrawal from our village we went back to Pannangkandy to resettle. First only about 10 families went. We cleaned the well mentioned above because we needed to use it for drinking water and also because we knew about what has happened to Sukumar. When we started cleaning the well 6 bodies were recovered. Everyone whose family member had gone missing came to check whether their relative’s body is among them. Relatives were able to identify the clothing with which the hands of the skeletons were tied once the clothing was washed.” Mrs Pannichelvam Seethalaxmi’s husband skeleton was one of those found in the well. “On 5 th July 1997, there was a military operation named ‘Sath Jaya’ carried out by the SLA. Our village was bombed and shelled. We left our place and lived in Union Tank, Akarayan, Skanthapuram as refugees. There were no employment facilities there. We were very poor. One day my husband together with Kanthasamy Muthulingam and Perumar Sugumaran went to Pannakandi on 5 th July 1997 at 7:30pm to get some things and pluck some coconut fruit. They did not return back that day. I was surprised. I went and met another family member and the Rural Development Society president and also informed the International Red Cross Society in Mallavi. But I did not get any information from 1997 to 2000. One day, a Father came to my house and told me that he had some news about some skeletons that were taken by somebody in the lavatory pit at Pannankandi. Immediately I ran there with the help of the Tamil Eelam Police. I saw the skeleton. I proved that the skeleton was that of my husband.” The sixth body belonged to a young boy wearing blue school shorts. His identity has not been settled yet. Later we heard that he could be from Udaiyarkaddu, Kaddaikadu. No one came inquiring about this boy. The remains from the well are with the Tamil Eelam police. Note: Appathurai Selvakumar (35) also from Pannangkandy disappeared and his fate is unknown. His family lives in Pannangkandy Report by NESOHR, Information Collected by SNE 82
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