Grief was mixed with anger last Wednesday as hundreds of residents, religious leaders and civil representatives attended the mass funeral of several people, including children killed when Sri Lankan Air Force bombers destroyed a village in Mannar, in the island’s Northwest.
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| Hundreds of residents attended the mass funeral for the civilians , including several children. Photo TamilNet |
The village of Illupaikadavai in Manthai West, an area of Mannar District controlled by the Liberation Tigers, is where more than 4,000 displaced Sri Lankans have sought shelter from the conflict since early 2006.
Four Kfir jets dropped twelve bombs on the hamlet on Tuesday January 2, killing sixteen people and wounding 35 more.
Sri Lankan security forces also refused to allow urgently requested ambulances to enter the LTTE-controlled area to rush the badly wounded to hospital.
“One may wonder whether this indiscriminate killings of innocent people is the will of God,” said Rev. Fr. James Pathinathar in his address at the funeral Wednesday
“Denying freedom to anyone cannot be the will of God. To survive in this world one has to be strong. We must learn to strengthen ourselves in unity and face any hardships to gain our freedom.”
“Let us pledge ourselves to fight for our freedom and happiness as we pay our deepest love and respect for the innocent lives robbed so cruelly.”
The Deputy Head of the LTTE’s Political Wing also addressed the funeral.
The Padahuthurai killings of innocent civilians is another action that exposes the agenda of the present government and its armed forces to ethnic cleanse Tamils from strategic areas in northeast, he said.
On Tuesday the Sri Lankan airstrike was bitterly condemned by the Bishop of Mannar, Rt. Rev Rayappu Joseph, who visited Padahuthurai hamlet to speak to survivors the same day.
There was no military installation of the LTTE in the Padahuthurai area, the Bishop told media, afterwards.
Calling the attack "a crime against humanity," he urged the international community to send independent observers to Northeast.
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Looking at the headless bodies of women and children the Bishop said the only term he could only characterize the attack as an act of "state-terror."
"Innocent civilians are being killed on a daily basis in the East. A big scale war is thrust upon the people of the East. Many civilians are dying there. Also here in Mannar district, we have witnessed the inhumane act of violence," Bishop Rayappu said.
"It is high time that the international community realizes the state of affairs here and send a team of observers who can tell the truth to the world."
The international community should censure the Sri Lankan Government for the indiscriminate and terrible violence, he said.
"One should realize the objective of an attack of this magnitude in a purely civilian area where there is no Tiger camp or hostile activity," he repeated.
The Bishop also condemned the Sri Lankan military for telling a "barefaced lie," for saying that the airstrike had hit a LTTE military installation.
"There is no hostile military presence [of the Tigers] in this area. These are innocent civilians who have been living here since 1995. … I have known these people for years."
"There is no hostile military presence [of the Tigers] in this area. Such an open lie hurts us even further than the gruesome attack itself," he said.
Meanwhile the United Nations said the airstrike “was of the deepest concern” and called for a ceasefire between the government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Tamil Tigers.
“Sri Lankans continue to suffer deeply due to this conflict, and today’s loss of life is a source of deepest concern,” said Margareta Wahlström, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator.
“It is imperative that both sides to the conflict take all measures to fulfil their obligations under international law to protect civilians in this conflict; we have too often seen them fall short in this duty.”
