The Jaffna Teachers Association and student union denounced the move by the Sri Lankan government to stop remembrance commemorations ahead of  May 18, also known as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.

“These heavy-handed acts of the state also underline the ongoing ethnic hostility towards the Tamils and reconfirm the community’s long-standing conviction that the legal and judicial system of the Sri Lanka state will never deliver justice for the decades of ethnic oppression and ethnic violence the community has suffered,” the Jaffna University Teachers Association said.

The teachers union asserts that even though it has been 15 years since the end of the armed conflict Tamils are still seeking truth and justice for the human, physical, and material loss they had faced during the armed conflict. 

They added that while they stood in solidarity with the Tamils they were increasingly concerned over attempts by the Sri Lankan state and law enforcement to regulate, suppress, and block memorialization events that are underway this week. 

The Jaffna Students Union in their statement has also condemned the move by the Sri Lankan government to clampdown on commemorations by arresting the organizers and individuals who help with these events.  The student collective emphasized that the events during Remembrance Week leading up to the Mullivaikkal commemoration have become a “substitute for psychological comfort” for Tamils as they share their sorrows, and the horrors and relive the stories that emanate from the final phases of the armed conflict. 

“Justice for those who have been tortured and enforced disappeared by Sri Lanka's armed forces has become elusive while the Tamil people have lost faith in the Sri Lankan judicial system,” they said. “In recent times, the prevention of events related to commemoration and the threats to the organizers have continued to cause further distress to the people affected by the war.”

They also said that such actions have proven that there’s no space for reconciliation, even for the sake of it and that all actions of the Sri Lankan state violates the conventions and declarations accepted by the Tamil and International community, proving that any internal truth-seeking mechanism will be untenable. 

Jaffna - Kantharmadam

An event was organized in Kantharmadam in Jaffna today to mark the sixth day of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week as Tamils around the world commemorate 15 years since the Tamil genocide. Parents brought their children and explained to them the struggles of Tamils and how they were massacred during the final stages of the armed conflict. At the event, Mullivaikkal Kanji was prepared and served as a reminder of the genocide and atrocities committed by the Sri Lanka Security Forces. 

Mullaitivu

Events were also held in Vallipunam in Mullaitivu where residents laid floral tributes, offered prayers and listened to speeches retelling the stories from Mullivaikkal. 

Over the last few days, Tamils across the North-East, distributed Mullivaikkal kanji in the run-up to May 18, also known as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. The sharing of kanji is an attempt by Tamils in the homeland and abroad to chronicle their struggles, understand their plight, and honour them in their deaths. During the final phase of the conflict, kanji, rice gruel, was the only source of sustenance for Tamils as they fled the firing by Sri Lankan security forces. Humanitarian aid particularly food and medicines were severely curtailed, causing many deaths by starvation.

Tamils continue to courageously hold commemorations even though Tamils in several areas have been threatened or arrested for preparing and distributing kanji. 

Jaffna - Nallur

An open-air exhibition was held in Nallur depicting the final phases of the armed conflict through narrations, stories and imagery taken at the time. The exhibits were hosted near the memorial statue to remind and recall the plight of Tamils, the massacres and the horrors of the genocide committed by the Sri Lankan Security Forces. 

Vavuniya - Thavasikulam

An event was also held at Thavasikulam in Vavuniya today in memory of tens of thousands of Tamils killed, with the distribution of Mullivaikkal Kanji among Tamil residents. Several Tamils gathered to help prepare and share the kanji. 

Trincomalee - Pathirakaliammam 

Members of Batticaloa civil society organizations and activists organized an event at Pathirakaliammam hosted an event to commemorate Mullivaikkal through the distribution of Kanji.

US House Representative Don Davis told Congress “we must stand with the Eelam Tamil community,” as he spoke to commemorate the 15^th anniversary of the Tamil genocide.

“I rise to commemorate the 15^th anniversary of the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka,” the Democratic Representative told Congress.

“We must stand with the Eelam Tamil community. Their struggle for justice and accountability continues, with survivors and their families enduring ongoing oppression and seeking recognition for their suffering from the Sri Lankan government.”

“We must recognize the plight of the Tamil people and advocate for a peaceful resolution that respects the rights and dignity of all,” he continued. “The Tamil community’s resilience in the face of adversity is a testament of the unwavering spirit for justice and self-determination.”

His remarks came as a resolution was introduced to Congress advocating for “an independence referendum for a lasting peaceful resolution” to the island’s conflict.

“It was a pleasure to meet with so many who travelled to our nation’s capital and from across the United States and five countries, to ensure that such atrocities never happen again,” said Davis.

This week marks the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, when over 700,000 Palestinians were made refugees after they were expelled from their land by armed Israeli settlers. Fifteen years ago, Sri Lanka’s genocide led to the total military occupation of the North-East and an expanding programme of Sinhala settlements.

Week after week, I join millions in demanding a ceasefire in Gaza because I come from a long tradition of Eelam Tamils who oppose the occupation of Palestine. We see direct parallels with the Tamil liberation struggle in the Palestinian liberation struggle. Both are rooted in a history that resists settler colonialism, occupation, and genocide.

And, we remember the Tamil genocide as we bear witness to the genocide unfolding in Gaza.

Israel and Sri Lanka have established a decades-long relationship. In the 1970s, Israeli generals advised Sri Lanka to establish settlements for the Sinhala community to disrupt the territorial contiguity of the Tamil homeland in the North-East. Later, during the 1980s, Israel offered advice on counter-insurgency policies while supplying arms, naval gunboats, and fighter jets.

Today, in turn, the genocide we endured in Vanni paves the way for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

After the 2009 genocide, Thailand, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Israel approached the Sri Lankan armed forces for military training.

Of course, Sri Lanka’s military strategy is unexceptional. It remains consistent with the tactics deployed during the American War on Vietnam to quell the Viet Cong and the British War on Kenya to suppress the Mau Mau rebellion. But, in the 21^st century, Sri Lanka established a precedent where the entire arsenal of state violence could be unleashed on civilians—unimpeded by political negotiations or the safeguards of International Law.

On May 19, 2009, Mahinda Rajapaksa asserted, “Today we have been able to liberate the country from the clutches of the LTTE…..We have set a fine example for the entire world.”

As mass graves are unearthed after the Israeli withdrawal from al-Shifa Hospital, I remember Sri Lanka’s repeated attacks on hospitals.  In 2009, Red Cross staff would send the coordinates of hospitals in the war zone to the Sri Lankan government. The hospitals would be obliterated, sometimes within a day after the armed forces learned the location.  

The killing of Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim journalists by Sri Lanka was designed to repress any coverage of the military’s conduct in the North-East, just as the deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel is intended to repress coverage of the occupation’s crimes in Gaza. 

As the Sri Lankan military confined Tamil civilians to smaller areas of land, the government warned media like BBC and al-Jazeera, that they would be expelled from the country if their reporting was deemed sympathetic to the Tamil resistance.

Israel borrows the strategy of declaring “safe zones” from Sri Lanka, too. Just as Israeli occupation forces displaced Gazans several times—from Gaza City to Khan Younis and now Rafah—Sri Lanka forced Tamils into smaller areas of land only to bomb those same areas where the government promised refuge.

Bodies lined the roads like tombstones as Sri Lanka pushed Tamil civilians from one supposed safe zone into another.

From late January to May 2009, three separate safe zones were declared. All three were carpet-bombed. By May 2009, tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were trapped in less than a square mile of land as Sri Lanka attacked the beaches of Mullivaikkal from the ground and sky.

After Israel ordered 1.3 million civilians—already displaced multiple times over the last seven months—to seek refuge inside a safe zone in Rafah, Palestinians are now ordered to move from the eastern parts of Rafah to the al-Mawasi coastal areas. I fear for their safety as I remember the atrocities committed in Mullivaikkal.

Fifteen years have passed since the genocide, but the pain is still raw for our community. Many in Eelam still search for their lost sons and daughters, just as the people of Gaza search for their children under the rubble. As we march the streets worldwide, protesting apartheid, occupation, and genocide, we see not only our suffering but our resistance, too, reflected in the struggle of our Palestinian siblings.  

Krisna Saravanamuttu is a writer and community organiser. He is a criminal defence lawyer at Rudnicki and Company in Toronto, Canada.

Four Tamils have been released on bail after they arrested earlier this week for distrubuting kanji as part of commemorations to mark 15 years since the Tamil genocide.

Kamaleswaran Themila, Kamaleswaran Vijitha, Kalirajah Sujani and Hariharakumar, were arrested by Sri Lankan police on Sunday night. Video footage shows Sri Lankan police officers dragging two of the women away during the arrest. 

Although the initial arrest and court order cited public health, the four were detained under section 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act. Section 3 of the act states "no person shall propagate war or advocate national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence". 

Yesterday, Muttur Magistrate Court rescinded a ban on the distrbution of kanji after Tamil and Muslim lawyers successfully called for the court order to be overturned. 

Tamils across the North-East have been marking Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week with various events across the homeland. Many events have included sharing kanji to remember the victims of the Tamil genocide and remember the plight the Tamil people faced as they were trapped in the No Fire Zones in 2009. 

#SriLanka must take meaningful action to determine fates & whereabouts of tens of thousands of people who have been subjected to enforced disappearance over the decades.

Accountability must be addressed - @volker_turk on @UNHumanRights report

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) May 17, 2024

In a new report, the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) states that the risk of future enforced disappearances remains today as Sri Lanka has failed to “tackle structural weaknesses and to undertake necessary reform.”  

Sri Lanka is known to have the second largest number of enforced disappearances in the world. The report highlights that from the 1970s to 2009, there were “several waves of enforced disappearances.”

Tamil families of the disappeared have been campaigning for years to know the fate of their forcibly disappeared relatives, many of whom surrendered to Sri Lanka’s military in May 2009 during its genocidal offensive on the No Fire Zones. 

The Tamil families of the disappeared have been routinely subjected to  harassment, intimidation, surveillance and violence by the state’s security forces during their search for justice. Despite this, they have been engaging in continuous roadside protests across the North-East. 

As part of their work on accountability in Sri Lanka, the OHCHR conducted a series of interviews with 39 victims. From the interviews, the OHCHR found that for the families of the disappeared, knowing the truth of the fate and whereabouts of their relatives was the “utmost priority”. The families have continuously demanded that Sri Lanka release a list of all of the people they have taken into government custody or held in camps at the end of the armed conflict. 

The interviewees also expressed a “strong desire” for the perpetrators to be held criminally liable and expressed support for the international community to use universal jurisdiction and refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to achieve justice and accountability. 

Tamil families of the disappeared have always expressed their distrust and lack of confidence in domestic accountability mechanisms as none have provided any meaningful answers or accountability. In 2016, Sri Lanka established the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) to 'investigate' enforced disappearances. Although seven years have passed, the OMP has not thoroughly investigated a single case.  Speaking to the Tamil Guardian in 2022, Tamil families of the disappeared said that the Office of Missing Persons is an "inactive mechanism" .  

The OHCHR's report states that the OMP has taken an "administrative 'case management approach', with preliminary inquiries focused on the eligibility of victim families to financial assistance, rather than carrying out thorough investigations to clarify the fate and whereabouts of individuals."

The families also told the OHCHR that financial compensation offered as reparations by the state, needed to be accompanied with acknowledgement of responsibility.  The OHCHR stated that many of the families said that reparation payments “were a tool to divert attention away from justice and to buy people’s silence.”

The OHCHR has highlighted “gaping deficits” in domestic accountability mechanisms in Sri Lanka. The report further notes that despite a series of domestic commissions, successive Sri Lankan governments have failed to implement the recommendations from previous initiatives. This has led to deep scepticism from Tamil victim-survivors and civil society organisations. 

Given the failure of domestic mechanisms, the latest report makes a range of recommendations to Sri Lanka and the international community to address the “continuing accountability deficit for enforced disappearances.” 

In their recommendations, the OHCHR has explained that individual states can exercise the principle of universal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. 

The OHCHR has also called for “targeted sanctions” including asset freezes and travel bans on Sri Lankan officials credibly accused of war crimes. 

The USA and Canada have already placed travel bans on some officials. In 2020,the former  head of the army Shavendra Silva was barred from entering the US has been barred from entering the country “due to credible information of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights”.

Last year, Canada placed sanctions on former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa for “ gross and systematic violations of human rights.”

The OHCHR also recommends “more rigorous application of screening procedures” for Sri Lankan personnel who are deployed on UN peacekeeping missions. 

Sri Lanka’s forces continue to be deployed although they have committed human rights abuses both at home and abroad.. In 2007, over 100 Sri Lankan peacekeepers were implicated in a child sex ring in Haiti. Sri Lankan troops were accused of exchanging food and money for sex with girls and boys as young as 12. While most of the accused were repatriated, none have been criminally prosecuted.

The report also recommends individual states to to use their powers to refuse accreditation or recognition of ambassadors or other senior diplomatic staff if they have been implicated in human rights abuses.

Read the full report here. 

A committee appointed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe will coordinate the allocation of public land to members of the Sri Lankan military.  

The Land Commissioner had mentioned in meetings with government officials that the lands allocated for former members of Sri Lanka’s military needed to be more adequate.

Acting on this Wickremesinghe proposed a cabinet paper to revise the methodology for granting lands to former members of Sri Lanka’s military. This includes the appointment of a committee comprising President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, the land commissioner, the Chairman of the Ranaviru Seva Authority, and the attorney general. 

The mandate of the committee is to provide land to tri-forces, police, and civil defense personnel who are still on active duty, retired, disabled. The move comes at a time when large swathes of land are occupied by the military in the North-East. There have been instances of increased militarization with the government and military trying to occupy more lands since the start of this year. 

Land grabs by the security forces for the expansion of  military bases are common despite the armed conflict ending 15 years ago.

Read more here

Preparations are underway at Mullivaikkal memorial yard ahead of May 18, also known as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, despite surveillance by Sri Lankan navy. 

Sri Lankan naval officers were seen in a van circling the memorial yard as Tamils put up red and yellow flags as part of the final preparation for tomorrow's commemoration event. May 18 will mark 15 years since the Tamil genocide where as many as 169,796 Tamils were slaughtered by Sri Lanka. 

Each year, the Tamil nation marks the day despite intimidation and surveillance by Sri Lanka. Earlier this week, Tamils in Trincomalee were arrested for preparing and distributing kanji as part of the commemorations. 

^{File photo: Hakeem with accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa.}

Tamil lawmaker M A Sumanthiran called out the hypocrisy of  Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem in parliament this week, as the former Sri Lankan justice minister who lobbied against international accountability for the Tamil genocide, demanded his government cut ties with Israel over the “genocide in Gaza”.

“We know what is like to have suffered this way, so we stand in solidarity,” the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) MP told the house, adding that members of parliament were being hypocritical when it comes to Tamil people and Palestinians.

“Today he is moving, that Netanyahu will be tried before the [International Criminal Court],” said Sumanthiran, speaking on SLMC leader Hakeem. “Why not Gotabaya Rajapaksa? Why not all those who are in the chain of command who perpetrated this violence? These genocidal acts on our people? You want Heads of State of other countries tried before the ICC. ICC is good for you when it is for the other person. But not in this instance.”

“A UN intervention you call for, for the others but not for yourself.”

“As we condemn what is happening in Palestine right now, as we condemn the state of Israel in committing acts of genocide on the people of Palestine, we do so with the consciousness that identical matters happened in our own country in this month, this week,15 years ago. No one has been taken to the ICC. No international prosecution has happened. Members from both sides keep shouting saying this is an internal matter while expressing concern about Palestine. How blind can you be to your own hypocrisy? Wake up!”

“If you are true to what you are saying here today in this House: Sign the Rome statute. If Netanyahu's prosecution before the ICC is good for you, sign the Rome statute. Don't fear! If your hands are clean go before the international criminal court and show yourself.”

Earlier in the day, Hakeem told parliament that Israel is looking to “eliminate the entire civilian population from the Gaza strip”.

“This is an unfolding genocide,” he continued, adding that Sri Lanka must sever diplomatic relations with Israel.

“This is a full genocide and this has to be called into question,” he said. “Threaten Israel and inform it that Sri Lanka will withdraw diplomatic ties if the offensive is not stopped in Gaza. Do this as a last resort.”

Hakeem served as Sri Lanka’s minister of justice under Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2010, shortly after the Tamil genocide in Mullivaikkal. He held that position until the end of 2014.

At the time Hakeem lobbied against international accountability at the UN Human Rights Council and dismissed reports of war crimes or genocide. He particularly spoke out against the United States and European Union for introducing resolutions on accountability at the UN Human Rights Council.

When asked whether he believed the Sri Lankan security forces committed war crimes or human rights abuses, he replied “certainly not”. He instead labelled any deaths “collateral damage”.

A landmark resolution was introduced to the US Congress calling on the United States to work towards an independence referendum for Eelam Tamils and recognise the genocide committed against them by the Sri Lankan state.

The resolution, introduced by Representative Wiley Nickel, is the first of its kind to be brought to the US Congress. It comes as Tamils marked 15 years since the Mullivaikkal genocide this week, with May 18 commemorated as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day worldwide.

The resolution calls for the “nonrecurrence of past violence, including the Tamil Genocide, by supporting the right to self-determination of Eelam Tamil people and their call for an independence referendum for a lasting peaceful resolution”.

It goes on to detail historic Tamil support for independence and how “similar conflicts have successfully been democratically, peacefully, and legally resolved by exercising the right to self-determination by the people in countries such as South Sudan, Montenegro, East Timor, Bosnia, Eritrea, and Kosovo via independence referendums with support from the United States and other countries”.

It resolves that the House of Representatives:

(1) urges the United States to strengthen diplomatic channels with the Eelam Tamils and collaborate toward peace and stability in the South Asian region of the Indo-Pacific;

(2) urges the United States and the international community to advocate for and protect the political rights of the Eelam Tamil people and work toward a permanent political solution based on their right to self-determination that is democratically and peacefully approved by them through a universally accepted process of independence referendum; and

(3) recognizes the genocide against the Eelam Tamil people by Sri Lanka.

The resolution has bipartisan support and is co-sponsored by Susan Wild, Danny K. Davis, Nicole Malliotakis, Mike Carey, Donald G. Davis, Summer L. Lee, and Jeff Jackson.

Read the full text of the resolution here.

“This conflict shattered families and communities, leaving deep scars that are still felt to this day,” said Nickel as he addressed the United States Congress today.

“My resolution recognizes the genocide in Sri Lanka and affirms the right of Tamils to self-determination through a democratic process.” Nickel stated that the resolution “emphasises the need for a peaceful and democratic solution to ongoing tensions in Sri Lanka”.

“It advocates an independence referendum, a process that has been used successfully to resolve similar conflicts in other parts of the world. This echoes our commitment to democratic principles and underscores our support for human rights globally.”

“The resolution is a significant step forward in our struggle for self-determination,” said an Eelam Tamil activist who worked closely with US representatives, from Washington DC this morning. They were present alongside dozens of others, as Nickel spoke this morning.

“This is the first time that support for an independent Tamil Eelam has been publicly and explicitly advocated for at the United States Congress. 15 years since the end of the Mullivaikkal genocide, our struggle is continuing and support for it has only grown. We are not a defeated people.”

Muttur Magistrate Court has rescinded a ban on the distrbution of kanji after Tamil and Muslim lawyers successfully called for the court order to be overturned. 

On Sunday, Sampur police officers threatened Tamils in Trincomalee with a court order which stated that kanji could do not distributed due to public health concerns. It also said  that certain individuals were prohibited from participating in remembrance related activities but also stated that the order "applies to all people" and that they should not gather at schools or temples and vehicular protests cannot be carried out either. 

Later that day, four Tamils who had prepared and distributed kanji were arrested and dragged from their home by the Sri Lankan police officers.  On Monday, Muttur Magistrate Court ordered those who were arrested to be placed in remand custody until May 27. 

Speaking to the press today, Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) lawyer Sugash Kanagaratnam said: 

"The ban imposed on kanji distribution has been rescinded by the court in Muttur today. We raised several questions in court. If it isn't a crime to serve milk rice in the South, how come it is a crime to serve kanji in the North-East? We also pointed out that if this is left to continue then there is a danger that in future the police could arrest people for making and serving kanji in their own homes. The court accepted our arguments and has rescinded the ban that was in place. 

As defendants in the other case are being held under ICCPR legislation the court has ordered police to submit reports on them without delay. Therefore we are optimistic they too will be released soon. 

I am duty bound in this instance to express my gratitude to Muslim barristers. Ten Muslim barristers appeared alongside me, lending me their full support. They also guided me by explaining some intricacies of law relating to this matter. I didn't expect this level of support and participation. I once again say heartfelt thanks to those Muslim barristers. I believe this case will help strengthen the cohesion between the Tamil and Muslim communities. Our fight for justice will continue."

The Tamil nation is marking 15 years since the genocide at Mullivaikkal which saw the massacre of tens of thousands of Tamils at the hands of Sri Lanka's armed forces. 

Read more on the massacre here: 15 years today - Soldiers throw grenades into bunkers with surrendering families. 

Tamils in the North-East are marking the fifth day of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week by distributing kanji to honour the victims of the massacre at Mullivaikkal. 

Over the last few days, Mullivaikkal kanji has been distributed in the lead-up to May 18, also known as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. The sharing of kanji is an attempt by Tamils in the homeland and abroad to chronicle their struggles, understand their plight, and honour them in their deaths.

Mannar

Events were held in Nanattan and at the main bus stand in Mannar this morning, as Tamils gathered to commemorate Mullivaikkal through the preparation and distribution of the Mullivaikkal Kanji. 

Vanni

A memorial float bearing images of Tamils which was taken during the height of the genocide and a monument was taken through the town of Vanni. Several Tamils laid flowers, lit candles and held prayers before the float. The float was arranged by the Tamil National People's Front will travel throughout the homeland before reaching the Mullivaikkal memorial yard on May 18th. 

Vavuniya

Family members and relatives of Tamils who were forcibly taken away by Sri Lanka's security forces held a commemorative Mullivaikkal Kanji event at Illuppayadi in Vavuniya. Several Tamils in the area support the association in helping to prepare and share the kanji. 

Mullaitivu

Tamil families of the disappeared served kanji to several residents in Mullaitivu. 

Jaffna

Meanwhile, students are the University of Jaffna erected red and yellow flags on campus and by a memorial monument dedicated to the victims, ahead of commemorations on Saturday. In January 2021 Sri Lankan authorities bulldozed the original memorial monument.

Jaffna University students staged a demonstration outside the university entrance that evening as the authorities toppled the monument located on the campus. A replacement memorial monument was unveiled in April 2021.

The Eastern University's student union has condemned the arrest of four Tamils in Trincolmalee and called for their immediate release. 

On Sunday, four Tamils - Kamaleswaran Themila, Kamaleswaran Vijitha, Kalirajah Sujani and the Tamil National People's Front Muttur organiser, Hariharakumar - were arrested for distributing kanji as part of commemorations to mark 15 years since the Tamil genocide. Video footage shows Sri Lankan police officers dragging some of the women during the arrest. 

"The rights of the Tamil people are being denied by the Sri Lankan government and there has not been any justice for the Tamils who were killed 15 years ago," the union said in a statement. 

The union called on the international community to condemn Sri Lanka's actions and put pressure on the authorities to secure their immediate release. 

Sri Lankan police officers have been blocking the distribution of kanji, particularly in the East, this week as part of their ongoing crackdown on Tamil memorialisation. 

As part of a series marking 15 years since the atrocities of Mullivaikkal, we share a reflection from the homeland.

The following reflection was transcribed verbatim from an interview conducted by the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research. It was originally published in May 2022.

_____

Three of my children were killed in an artillery attack on the same day at the same place.  If they were alive today, the eldest son would be 20 years old, daughter would be 17 years old, and the youngest son would be 15 years old. With them, nine members of my family, including my mother-in-law, my husband’s 6-year-old sister, his younger brother, brother’s wife, their 6-year-old son and their 9-month-old daughter, were killed in that incident. Six of them were children.

On the second of February of 2009, it had only been three days since we moved closer to the Maathalan beachfront. Our eldest son was 7 years old, our daughter was 4 years old, and our youngest son was 2 years old. Whenever we got displaced to a new place, my husband would dig a bunker. But he could not do so this time as it was a beachfront. You cannot dig a bunker on a beachfront. The sand will keep crumbling as you dig. So, all of us were staying in temporary shelters, which were adjacent to each other. On that day, we did not have cookable rice. But we had a bag of rice, which needed to be milled. So, we took it to a mill. When we returned, we got to know that an artillery had fallen on top of our shelter and killed them all.

My daughter had a head injury. Among the dead, only her body was intact enough for us to look at. The rest of them were found in pieces. We were only able to bury our daughter properly. We collected the body parts of others and buried them together. I still vividly remember all of it.

We moved out of our home in Kaiveli, Puthukkudiyiruppu in December 2008. Since then, we stayed in various places as our displacement continued. This incident happened when we were en route to Maathalan. Our eldest son, Matheepan Kesavan started to attend school when we were in our hometown. Our daughter, Matheepan Priya was getting ready to attend preschool. However, the war started before she could join the preschool and we had to move out of our hometown. Going to school was her biggest dream. I was ready with a new school bag and new clothes for her to join the preschool. She carried them with her as we moved from place to place. ‘I want to go to preschool. When will it start?’ was the question she would ask me often. I would tell her that when the war is over and the army vacates our land, we can return to our home and then she can go to preschool. My children did not know anything about the war and artillery attacks. In the end, she was unable to go to preschool as she desired. That is our unforgettable regret. Even when we were in Maathalan, our son used to make and fly kites. Our youngest son Priyatharshan, who was 2 years old at that time, would never leave me.

On that fateful day, I prepared roti for breakfast and left our children with my mother-in-law to go to the mill. When we returned, our whole family was not alive. Children who were of similar age as my children are all grown up now and studying well. Some are going to work and looking after their families. I would often think that if my children were alive today, they would have been like them too.

From the day we lost our three children, my husband became mentally affected. I lost only my children, but he lost not only his children but also his mother, sister, brother and brother’s family. He became very unstable. He is a lot better now after returning to our hometown and having another son together.

We will never be able to forget this. Now they are saying that the war is over, and peace has returned to the nation. Our hearts are still burning. We will not forgive those who are responsible for this. How can we forgive those who mercilessly shelled and killed my children, who would have had a better future had they been alive today?

Matheepan Anusha (Mother)

_____

See more reflections on our website www.RememberMay2009.com