Batticaloa massacre victims remembered

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2000, 21:23 GMT]
A day of mourning was observed in three villages near Batticaloa town Saturday for the 184 people, including five infants and forty two children, who were gruesomely murdered in the Sri Lanka army camp here ten years ago on 9 September, 1990. A foundation stone was laid for a memorial and a meeting was held at the Sathurukkondaan Kannaki Amman temple in memory of the dead. Special offerings were made at the Tamil temples of the three villages and special services were held in the local churches.

Two commissions of inquiry appointed by the Sri Lankan government to inquire into disappearances have investigated this massacre in the villages of Sathurukkondaan, Kokkuvil and Pillaiyaradi and have identified and named the perpetrators as Sri Lanka army personnel, including an officer, from the local camp.

Retired judge K. Palakidnar of the Special Presidential Commission of inquiry appointed by the People's Alliance government describes the massacre in detail in his report, including the murder of Mohanasundari, 27 and her three month infant who were chopped to death with manna knives by soldiers.

According to the report of the commission of inquiry, 5 infants, 42 children under ten, 85 women and 28 old persons were among the 184 villagers who were murdered by the SLA on 9 September 1990 in the Sathurukkondaan Sri Lanka army camp.

The judge in his report urged the Sri Lankan President that there is strong evidence for the massacre and that legal action should be taken against the perpetrators.

But so far neither has a Police investigation been conducted nor legal proceedings instituted against those responsible for the massacre.

An eyewitness to the massacre, Krishnakumar, who escaped with injuries continues to live in hiding as the SLA had searched for him on several instances to silence him permanently say human rights activists in Batticaloa.

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