Tamils should form global action group on mass grave investigation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 October 2018, 14:41 GMT]
Extreme racist sections of the Sinhala establishment in the south of the island would go to whatever extent possible in their attempt to cover up and suppress investigations on exhumed mass graves in the north, legal activists representing the kith and kin of enforced disappeared Tamils in Mannaar said. At the same time, the justice system of the occupying unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka is sophisticatedly derailing every attempt to conduct forensic analyses on the exhumed human skeletons by a neutral and international third-party, they said. The legal activists urged global Tamils to form an action group to demand international legal organisations such as the International Commission of Jurists to address the issue.



The mass graves in Thirukkeatheesvaram in Mannaar were exhumed in 2013 and 2014.

Four years have gone after locating 87 human skeletons at Thirukkeatheesvaram.

The demand for forensic analyses to be carried out outside the island remains curbed by the SL justice system.

Another mass grave was located four months ago and at least 175 human skeletons have been spotted so far. There are more to be exhumed, it is believed.

Both the mass graves are situated in former SL military zones, and there are clear signs of torture and gunshot injuries of victims including children and women.

Certain objects located along with the skeletal remains indicate the period of crimes at either the early 1990s or during the mid-90s of Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike rule.

Apart from these mass graves, there are also scattered discoveries of in-ground spots in SL military controlled Jaffna.

Workers digging an electric post hole on St. Josephs Road in Achchuveali in Jaffna on 11 October came across skeletal remains and alerted the SL Police.

Similar spots were also discovered at Naayanmaar-kaddu in Ka'l'liyang-kaadu in Jaffna. Naayanmaar-kaddu seems to be an extension of the Chemma'ni killing fields from the times of Chandrika Kumaratunga's genocidal rule of Jaffna in the mid-1990s.

None of the exhumed skeletons is subjected to proper forensic analysis, the legal activists in Mannaar said.

They also condemned the latest distortion coming from Padma Udayashantha Gunasekara, the Monaragala District parliamentarian of the extremist Sinhala nationalist JVP-breakaway group, which is aligned with former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Sinhala MP from a district located down south in the island claimed last week that the victims of Mannaar mass graves were Sinhalese killed by the LTTE, which is a total distortion, the legal activists in Mannaar said.

The JNP MP was also visiting Mullaiththeevu and Vavuniyaa earlier this month to confront the Tamil villagers who were opposing the heritage genocide waged by the extremist monks with active collusion by SL Archaeology Department and the Sinhala Police.

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