Tamil residents and members of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) began cleaning Koppay Thuyilum Illam today as the Tamil nation prepares to mark Maaveerar Naal which falls on November 27.
Maaveerar Naal - or Great Heores Day - is observed annually by Tamils in the homeland and across the diaspora to remember the LTTE cadres who gave their lives in the struggle for liberation.
November 27 marks the death anniversary of Lt. Shankar, the first LTTE cadre to die in combat in 1982.
The LTTE built Thuyilum Illams across the North-East but these were destroyed by the Sri Lankan army following the end of the armed conflict. In July 2010, the Sri Lankan army bulldozed the graves at Koppay Thuyilum Illam where the bodies of over 2,000 fighters were buried and built an army base on top of it.
Tamils in the North-East gather at the destroyed cemetries on November 27 to honour the fallen fighters. Every year as Tamils in the homeland make preparations for the day, Sri Lanka's security forces attempt to repress any memorialisation activities by enforcing court orders to ban events and ramping up their surveillance.
