Officers from Sri Lanka’s counter terrorism department have been interrogating staff at a Tamil school in Kilinochchi, after students created an art display created during an inter-house sports event six months ago.
Highlighting the distress faced by the staff at Konavil Tamil College in Killinochchi, schoolteacher Innasimuttu Satyaseelan said that the Sri Lankan police interrogations have been suppressing the Tamil people's freedom of expression.
“This situation causes significant psychological stress to the teachers who are responsible for educating the community,” said Satyaseelan. “It also represents a restriction on the Tamil community's freedom of expression, showing that the government treats Tamil people as second-class citizens.”
The decoration, made entirely by the students, resembles an archway that stood in front of LTTE cemeteries, or Thuyilum Ilam in Tamil. These cemeteries housed the bodies of thousands of Tamil fighters and have all been bulldozed or built over by the Sri Lankan state.
After the students' work gained attention on social media, officials from the Northern Province Education Department, acting on a request, visited the school. They conducted discussions with the school’s principal, vice-principal, deputy principal, the teachers in charge, and the student leaders before preparing a report.
According to Satyaseelan, officers from the counter terrorismunit in Killinochchi arrived at the school a week after the event to collect statements from the principal, deputy principal, and several teachers regarding the structure. Subsequently, the principal was questioned for approximately four hours.
Satyaseelan also said that two students were by Sri Lankan police along with their parents for interrogations.
After the school informed the Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) about the ongoing harassment, CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin contacted the Northern Provincial Education Department and the Sri Lankan police in Colombo. This intervention led to a temporary halt in the interrogations.
However, during this time, an unidentified group was seen loitering around the school in vehicles registered in the North-Central and Western Provinces. On August 1, several teachers from the school were again summoned by the Sri Lankan authorities, with orders to appear on August 8. Upon hearing about the renewed police probe, CTU Leader Stalin intervened once more. Satyaseelan explained that in response, the anti-terrorism police informed the teachers that they no longer needed to give statements.
Despite this, on August 13 at around 7:30 a.m., officers arrived at the school and ordered the vice-principal and three teachers to report at their offices that same day to provide a statement. Satyaseelan noted that the school’s sports teacher was also summoned on August 14, but the police have not disclosed what crime the teachers and students are accused of committing.
“House decorations reflect the current situation,” Satyaseelan remarked. “In the south, military vehicles have been displayed. If our depiction of the hardships and crises we face on our land is problematic, it shows how we are being treated.”
He questioned how ethnic reconciliation can be considered under these circumstances. "This is a form of art. If you find it objectionable, consider our mental state—we have lived through these experiences."
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Earlier this year, the Sri Lankan police initiated investigations into a decorative battle tank and a karthigai poo - the Tamil national flower - that were put on display at Thellipalai Union College's sports competition. Sri Lanka's military and police visited the school premises where they took photographs and videos of the displays. The senior management of the school was also instructed to visit the police station where a statement was recorded from the principal.
Whilst the oppressive surveillance by Sri Lanka's security forces in the North-East is not new, they have extended their clampdown in recent years. Earlier this year, a 16-year-old Tamil boy was interrogated by Sri Lankan police over a kite that was adorned with a map of Tamil Eelam at the Mullaitivu kite festival.
Last year, Sri Lankan police prohibited the use of the Karthigai poo at Maaveerar Naal commemorations in Mullaitivu after they claimed that the karthigai poo is an "LTTE symbol". During Maaveerar Naal 2023 commemorations, the Sri Lankan police went as far as banning yellow and red flags as the Tamil nation attempted to remember the tens of thousands of Tamils that sacrificed their lives in the armed conflict.
