Services were held to mark 16 years since the assassination of Father Xavier Karunaratnam who was killed in a claymore attack by Sri Lanka's Deep Penetration Unit.
On April 20, 2008, Father Karunaratnam's vehicle was attacked by a command-detonated landmine while it was being towed after breaking down on Father Karunaratnam's journey home following Sunday Mass. Father Karunaratnam, was seated in the driver seat steering the vehicle when shrapnel hit his head, causing brain injuries. He died on the spot.
The prayer services were held at the Annai Velankanni Church. Several devotees gathered for the service and also went to Father Karunaratnam's gravesite.
Father Karunaratnam, also fondly referred to as 'Kili Father' was the founder and Head of the North East Secretariat of Human Rights (NESOHR ), a local human rights organisation which was created in 2004 as part of the Norwegian facilitated peace talks. The organisation was vocal about the Sri Lankan government's aerial attacks, killings and abductions in the North-East.
In his last human rights report published on April 8 2008, Father Karunaratnam said:
"The [Sri Lankan] local mechanism to ensure good governance with respect for human rights has miserably failed and there is widespread call for the establishment of a UN body to monitor human rights violations. Sri Lanka’s claim that establishing such a body is an infringement on the sovereignty and integrity of the state does not hold water as long as series of mass murders and disappearances of Tamil people during communal pogroms and military offensives are not investigated by neutral agencies and perpetrators brought to book in a transparent manner. Diplomatic manipulations and unquestioned rhetoric by Sri Lanka in the world body should not be allowed to white wash the grim ground reality."
No justice has ever been pursued for the assassination.
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