The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung is visiting Jaffna at a time when the Sri Lankan government has increased its crackdown on Mullivaikkal commemorations across the Tamil homeland.

“This week I’m back in Jaffna to listen to diverse perspectives from civil society, youth, local officials and religious leaders to explore avenues for continued U.S. collaboration and support for Sri Lankans in the Northern Province,” she tweeted. 

This week I’m back in Jaffna to listen to diverse perspectives from civil society, youth, local officials and religious leaders to explore avenues for continued U.S. collaboration and support for Sri Lankans in the Northern Province. pic.twitter.com/3aG10wUvtm

— Ambassador Julie Chung (@USAmbSL) May 15, 2024

In Jaffna, Chung met with Tamil civil society representatives to discuss their efforts to advocate for good governance, respect for human rights, and accountability. "We also discussed the importance of freedom of assembly and peaceful gatherings in memory of loved ones. I reiterated the United States’ support for an inclusive Sri Lanka that fosters trust among diverse communities and encourages open spaces for dialogue that allows all voices to be heard."

I met with Tamil civil society representatives to discuss their efforts to advocate for good governance, respect for human rights, and accountability. We also discussed the importance of freedom of assembly and peaceful gatherings in memory of loved ones. I reiterated the United… pic.twitter.com/hITc9ddz4M

— Ambassador Julie Chung (@USAmbSL) May 15, 2024

A day prior to her visit to Jaffna, she and Assistant Secretary Donald Lu met with representatives from Samagi Jana Balawegaya and National People’s Power. She noted that the purpose of their meeting was to “learn about upcoming elections, their perspectives on Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, and their vision for the nation’s path forward.”

Chung’s visit to the Tamil homeland comes during times of intense crackdown by the Sri Lankan government. Four individuals including three Tamil women were arrested on Monday in Trincomalee for preparing and distributing Mullivaikkal kanji, a tradition practised in the North-East and the diaspora in recent years, in memory of the thousands of Tamils who were massacred at Mullivaikkal.

The 39th anniversary of the Kumuthini boat massacre was solemnly observed on Delft island today, as people gathered to remember the 36 Tamils who were killed by Sri Lankan naval officers.

On May 15 1985, six plain-clothed Navy officers boarded the boat and pointed a gun at passengers before ordering them to come up to the main deck one by one and shout their name and destination. Each passenger was then hacked to death.

 The commemoration took place at a monument on Delft island that is dedicated to the victims.

Religious observances were held at the St. Xavier Church and Veerapathra Pillaiyar Kovil, offering prayers and seeking solace for the souls of the departed. Relatives of the victims, along with religious leaders and members of the general public, laid flowers at a memorial dedicated to the victims who were murdered.  

Events were held in Thirunavakulam, Vavuniya and Karaithivu, Batticaloa, to mark the fourth day of Tamil Genocide Remembrance week as Tamils around the world commemorate 15 years since the Tamil genocide.

Across the North-East, kanji is being 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. During the final phase of the conflict, kanji 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.

Vavuniya 

Batticaloa

Tamils gathered in the main township of Karaithivu to commemorate Mullivaikkal by distributing the Mullivaikkal kanji. The event was organized under the leadership of the former Karaithivu divisional secretariat member and it was held in front of the main market building. Representatives from fisherfolk associations, civil society, and activists were present during the preparation and distribution. 

Sri Lanka police blocked Tamil families of the disappeared in Batticaloa from distributing Mullivaikkal kanji to mark the third day of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week. 

The organisers which included family members, relatives, and members of the Christian church were threatened by police yesterday for trying to commemorare the tens of thousands of Tamils massacred at the hands of the Sri Lankan state.  The Sri Lankan police sent away individuals who came to drink the kanji. 

Dozens of officers surrounded the activists as they attempted to prepare and distribute Mullivaikkal Kanji, a tradition that Eelam Tamils have practised to honour victims of the genocide committed by Sri Lankan security forces.

Earlier this week, four Tamils including three women were arrested for preparing the Mullivaikkal kanji and distributing it. In the Periyaneelavanai area, police officers and Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) stopped another commemorative event and threatened to arrest the Tamils if they disobeyed orders. 

Defence Secretary  Kamal Gunaratne attending the Russian Victory Day ceremony at the Russian Cultural Centre in Colombo this week

Accused war criminal and acting defence secretary Kamal Gunarate was the chief guest at the Victory Day ceremony held at the Russian embassy in Colombo last week. 

Gunaratne, former commander of the notorious 53 Division of Sri Lanka’s army, stands accused of leading campaigns which slaughtered tens of thousands of Tamil civilians. His unit is further accused of engaging in sexual violence, summary executions, and the disappearance of those who surrendered to the military.

In 2019 The International Truth and Justice Project released a 100-page dossier outlining Gunaratne's involvement as a military leader during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009. It further details his role in running the army garrison in Vavuniya, the Security Force Headquarters notoriously known as Joseph Camp. It cites victims who allege they were tortured in the camp when he was the commander. The dossier concludes Gunaratne should be held criminally responsible for the crimes of rape, torture and sexual violence committed by officials at Joseph Camp under his effective command and control. 

His attendance comes as a whistleblower told the local national television that a retired military officer by the name of Major Wijebandara had orchestrated the operation of sending Sri Lankan military personnel to fight for the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Ongoing investigations have revealed that over 200 Sri Lankan mercenaries, a majority of them who are retired military officers are assumed dead while 1000 are engaged in the frontlines on both the Russian and Ukrainian trenches in the ongoing war.

Another Sri Lankan mercenary who escaped the fighting to return home told reporters that over 200 Sri Lankan ex-soldiers are believed to have died and a similar number are being treated in hospitals in regions like Donetsk. He said he had paid LKR 1.6 million to a recruiting team made of retired senior military officers and was told he would be a camp helper when he went there. He also revealed that an Indian national named Ramesh was part of the trafficking ring. 

The Sri Lankan military remains one of the largest in the world per capita, despite the end of any Tamil armed resistance movements almost 15 years ago. The sheer size of the Sri Lankan military is staggering; in 2018, the World Bank estimated there were 317,000 service personnel in the country, twice the size of the UK’s regular forces. In some areas across the Tamil homeland, there are as many as one soldier for every two civilians. The military is actively involved in the harassment and surveillance of the Tamil populace,

File photograph

Today marks 39 years since 36 Tamils were massacred by Sri Lankan Navy officers on board the Kumuthini boat on May 15, 1985. 

Eye witnesses reported seeing six plain clothed Navy officers boarding the Kumuthini boat and pointing a gun at passengers before ordering them to come up to the main deck one by one and shout their name and destination. 

The names of those who lost their lives in the Kumuthini boat massacre

Each passenger was then hacked to death. Witnesses reported seeing hacked body parts and blood across the deck. 

Amnesty International identified 23 of the victims and recorded eye witness accounts of those who survived the massacre. 

The Sri Lankan minister for national security at the time, Lalith Athulathmudali however denied the Sri Lankna navy's involvement. 

39 years have passed since the massacre but the perpetrators have not faced justice. 

Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) leader and MP Sivagnanam Shritharan called the actions of Sri Lankan police who arrested four Tamils earlier this week for preparing Mullivaikkal Kanji ‘despicable’ and ‘inhumane’ adding that their arrests were unwarranted and illegal. 

“The police officers both men and women from the Muttur police station behaved like animals,” he said speaking in Sri Lanka's parliament. “It is shameful that they dragged the women away, while the women screamed helplessly and their families watched in horror. They were taken to the police station in the same clothing they had been wearing and continued to be detained. No law warrants their arrests for the distribution of Kanji.”

Shritharan went on to say that police brutality has been exposed in this instance and this is how Tamils continued to be treated by this government. “The rest of the country makes all kinds of food and meals including Kanji on Vesak, do we tell you not to? Is there a law that prohibits you?” he asked the house. 

Shritharan went on to narrate the last and final stages of the armed conflict leading to Mullivaikkal where tens and thousands of Tamils were massacred. “They were killed while they stood in queues to receive a coconut shell with boiled rice. There wasn't even a pinch of salt, there was no water, there was no rice, yet this meal kept so many Tamils alive,” he said showing the members of parliament a coconut shell. “This event is simply an act to recall those massacres, to relive their plight, to memorialize the experiences. You talk of reconciliation and peace, but you cannot accept these women boiling Kanji and sharing them.”

The MP went on to question the situation the country is in asking if it wants to be known to the international community as a country that punishes people in such a despicable and inhuman manner for the simple act of sharing a meal. “If this act is intolerable, if the act of mourning a death of loved ones is prohibited. I ask of you again, whose mindset needs changing? Whose mentality needs changing? For this country to progress.”

He also mentioned Gotabaya Rajapaksa and warned the house that no Rajapaksa family member would live in peace due to the wrath of the tens and thousands of Tamils who were massacred in broad daylight. “Gotabaya knew that people were coming towards the forces seeking refuge, they were fleeing. There were over 400,000 at one point and that was drastically reduced when they began to mercilessly fire and shell those feeling populations. We all know of the white flag incident. And it is this anger and vengeance which will haunt the Rajapaksas. He was forced to flee and neither will any other member of the Rajapaksa family be in peace.”

In a press release, the Sri Lankan police have claimed that the commemorations were organised as "celebration" of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters who were killed in 2009. Therefore, the Sampur police filed a court order to prohibit the "celebration". 

The court order shown to the four individuals when they were preparing the kanji, however, stated that the commemorations could not go ahead due to concerns over the endangerment of public health. 

Tamils across the North-East however continue to defy these threats by holding events marking Remembrance Week leading up to the Mullivaikkal commemoration on May 18.

The US President Joe Biden’s nominee for Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Elizabeth K. Horst, says that if confirmed she will support members of "marginalized populations, accountability, truth and reconciliation, and transparency and justice in Sri Lanka".

Horst made the remarks appearing before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. Her full statement can be found here. 

Speaking further, she said she would focus on "three main pillars of the US - Sri Lanka relationship: broadening economic cooperation,  bolstering security interests, and deepening our ties with Sri Lanka’s diverse and vibrant population". 

She referred to Sri Lanka as a “resilient country,” adding that while the country is “still healing from a civil war that ended in 2009 and from the political and economic crises of 2022, Sri Lanka continues to make steady progress in the face of remarkable internal and external challenges.”

Furthermore, she mentioned Sri Lanka’s strategic significance in the Indian Ocean and its proximity to the global maritime lane. “Our partnership is crucial to addressing new security challenges and competitors, including countering transnational crime, enhancing maritime security, and responding to natural disasters,” said Horst. She added if that if confirmed she will reiterate the US commitment for a "free and open Indo-Pacific region".

If the appointment is confirmed, Horst will succeed the current US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung. 

Day 3 of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week is being marked in Jaffna today, with a blood donation drive at the University of Jaffna while a memorial float travels through the region. 

During May 12th - 18th, also known as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week, Tamils in the North-East and the diaspora hold various memorial events to commemorate the tens of thousands of Tamils who were massacred at the hands of Sri Lanka's armed forces in 2009. 

The Jaffna University Student Union organised a blood donation drive for students and staff today. 

Meanwhile, a memorial float dedicated to the victims of the genocide travelled through Valvettithurai. Kanji was also served outside Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhkaran's home. 

Across the North-East, Tamils are distributing kanji as a form of remembrance. Kanji was the only meal available to Tamils trapped in the No Fire Zones as Sri Lanka had heavily restricted the flow of food and aid into the zones. 

Sri Lankan police deployed the paramilitary Special Task Force in Amparai to threaten Tamil women activists with arrest if they distributed a rice porridge dish today, following a court order to clamp down on Tamil Genocide commemoration events.

Dozens of officers were seen surrounding and threatening the women, as they attempted to prepare and distribute Mullivaikkal Kanji, a tradition that Eelam Tamils have practised to honour victims of the genocide committed by Sri Lankan security forces. 

Police threatened to arrest Pushparaj Dushanandan, the Amparai organizer for the Tamil National People’s Front and Thambirasa Selvarani, President of the Amparai District Missing Persons' Association if they served the Mullivaikkal Kanji.

The Office-in-charge of the Periyaneelavanai Police Station in Amparai JSK Weerasinghe showed an injunction order they had obtained from the Kalmunai Magistrate Court banning the commemoration of genocide. The order states that the memorial event might reinstate "terrorist activities".

The latest clampdown comes after Sri Lankan police arrested four individuals serving Kanji on Monday, with video footage showing them dragging a screaming Tamil woman. 

Read more here. 

As part of the commemorations, Tamils across the North-East prepare and distribute kanji. Kanji - a porridge of rice and water - was the only food available to Tamils trapped in the Sri Lankan government-declared ‘No Fire Zones’ as food and medicines were heavily restricted from entering the Vanni during the final phase of the armed conflict.

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 2020.

_____

I am in grade 10 now. I want to score enough to be able to enter Advance Level soon. I love the subject history. I was four years old when I lost my leg, I am 15 years old now. My studies depend on the income we get from the coconut grove.

When our house was bombed in 2009, my father and my mother’s father were killed in it. I did not know what a bomb was or what it could do at that age. When we heard shelling, we all went to hide in a bunker but the bunker was filled with water, so my father went up to grab a spade. That is when a shell got dropped on to our house and my father and my grandfather got trapped and tragically died. My leg was cut off below my knee in that incident. I lost consciousness because I lost a lot of blood. I only remember waking up in Vavuniya getting treated. That is when I realised I did not have a leg anymore.

It was very difficult to walk with one leg or using an artificial leg. Now, it has became easier but it is very uncomfortable using the artificial leg. You cannot bend your knee with it, you can only sit with your leg fully stretched. I used a metal one before, so it scratched the edges of my flesh, but now I have a better one with sponge on the sides. At school, I am not included in games because everyone is afraid I might fall and hurt myself. However, if I feel pain in my legs, or if I have to walk a lot, my teachers and friends will always help me. Because of that, I do not feel like I am isolated. My teacher has also lost a lot to the war, I consider her a role model. I still do not fully understand who fought this war and for what reasons, but as innocent kids who do not know anything – we were victimised in this war.

I cannot play like others, but I can participate in some sports while standing. Once, I went to Colombo and participated in the Para-Olympics and won a silver medal. This was an opportunity to prove that disabled people are talented too. Transport is still an issue. If I take the bus, I do not always get seats. These days young people do not give up their seats for anyone, usually the older people give me their seats. If I have to travel far, we always have to take a three-wheeler, but it is expensive. I am the only disabled person in my school but the school still built me a western toilet with the help of an NGO. They also built a handle for me to hold on to when I walk upstairs, because the library is upstairs.

My dream is to become a teacher.
_____

See more reflections on our website www.RememberMay2009.com 

Herlev

A special service was held in Herlev Vor Frue Church in Denmark in memory of the tens of thousands of Tamils who were massacred in the genocide in the Tamil homeland. Floral tributes were laid and candles were lit as part of the service. Tamils gathered at the church to offer prayers during this service.

Grindsted

A requiem prayer and service was held at the church in Grindsted Town as well on Sunday which saw several Tamils joining in the service to offer their prayers, light candles, and lay flowers at the obelisk. Rev. Steen F. Søvndalk led the mass, which included the singing of hymns and recitations. Kanji was served at the church to all those who attended the service, as it is done in the homeland.

Naestved

A special pooja was held at the Sri Katpaka Vinayagar Temple in Næstved in memory of the tens of thousands of Tamils who were massacred during Mullivaikkal. Tamils from the area gathered in numbers to pay their respects by attending the pooja and laying oil lamps.

The Mullivaikkal Commemoration Committee invited Tamils from across the homeland to gather at the Mullivaikkal Memorial site on May 18, and commemorate the tens and thousands of Tamils massacred by Sri Lankan security forces. 

Speaking at a media briefing at the Mullaitivu Press Club, the organisers said that this year will be the 15th year since the end of the armed conflict which saw generations of Tamil families being wiped out, thousands dead, and many still missing to date.

They added that despite the intimidation and threats, all plans are afoot to hold the commemoration this year as they have held it the year before. The event is expected to begin at 7am and be held until noon.

“We urge our people not to bring any items for the commemoration," said the organisasers. "We will conduct a special service and invite everyone to come by 7am.”

Last year thousands of Tamils gathered at Mullivaikkal to mark the commemoration. A Tamil woman who had lost 13 of her relatives in Mullivaikkal in May 2009 lit a lamp to begin the commemoration event.

This week Tamil women distributing Mullivaikkal kanji in Sampur were arrested and remanded until May 27. 

Read more here. 

Four Tamils including three women who were violently dragged away from their homes in Sampur by Sri Lankan police for distributing Mullivaikkal Kanji were produced before the Muttur Magistrate Courts today. They were ordered to be placed in remand custody until May 27. 

The individuals arrested include Kamaleswaran Vijitha (40), Kamaleswaran Themila (22), Selvavinothkumar Sujani (40), and Navaretnaraja Hariharakumar (43). Themila, a student at Eastern University, was reportedly arrested for obstructing the arrest of her 40-year-old mother.

Sampur police arrest four Tamils for distributing Mullivaikkal kanji in Trincomalee

?https://t.co/lfSYo2Mdrq pic.twitter.com/hZWQ0AUJ0s

— Tamil Guardian (@TamilGuardian) May 12, 2024

Although the initial arrest and court order cited public health, the four arrested were reportedly charged 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". 

Kanji - a porridge of rice and water - was the only food available to Tamils trapped in the Sri Lankan government-declared 'No Fire Zones' as food, medicines, and other necessities were heavily restricted from entering the Vanni during the final phase of the armed conflict. 

The Sri Lankan government denied the delivery of food into conflict zones, to use starvation as a weapon of war. Even as Tamils stood in long queues to get a bowl of kanji, the Sri Lankan military continued their daily bombardment, slaughtering many. 

The distribution of kanji has been continued as part of commemorative events.

Video footage shows two Sri Lankan police officers dragging two of the women across the floor. The arrests and court orders come as the Tamil homeland commenced Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week today. Across the North-East, commemorative activities are taking place to remember the tens of thousands of Tamils who were slaughtered in Sri Lanka's genocidal offensive in 2009.

Read more here.