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THE KOKKADICHCHOLAI MASSACRE & AFTER
3.1 The Massacre: 12th June 1991
3.1.1 Kokkadichcholai
3.1.2 12th June
3.1.3 After June 12th
3.1.4 In Batticaloa
3.1.5 Rape
3.1.6 What was behind the incident
3.1.7 How the people fare
3.1.8 The Politics behind Massacres
3.2 Incidents after the Kokkadichcholai
Massacre
3.2.1 Palugamam: 28th June
3.2.2 Massacre at Kinniyadi: 10th July
3.2.3 Chithaandi: 27th July
3.3 A History of Obfuscation
In happier times, Kokkadichcholai
was renowned for the famous Batticloa curd. Pilgrims wanting this commodity
from the source, would have travelled six miles south of Batticaloa
along the Kalmunai road, turned right just past Kattankudy and Araipattai,
then through the Muslim village of Ollikulam to the jetty at Manmunai, and
by ferry across the lagoon to a point 2 miles East of Kokkadichcholai. Today
Ollikulam is in ruins, and the ferry does not function. The crossing is by
fibre glass canoes, generally two or three strapped together by cross beams
for balance. Passengers are invited to man the oars. On a calm morning, the
journey is memorable for the astounding beauty of the surroundings. Half way
across, Batticaloa town and its telecommunication tower become visible, five
miles distant as the crow flies.
Now and then one does encounter bovine swimmers, a placid face
with gentle eyes, just above the water, towed by canoes going in the opposite
direction. Upon inquiry, one is struck by that very word that has become a
hallmark of Kokkadichcholai. These are creatures bound for the slaughter houses
of Batticaloa, taking their first swim, unaware that it was also their last.
According to legend, the name of the village comes from the Kokkatti
tree, whose sap was really blood. From the jetty, one then goes westwards
through 1 1/4 miles of uninhabited, once marshy land, now having on either
side of the road, a network of square tanks with neglected bunds. This was
the prawn factory, abandoned since the STF massacre of January 1987. The area
then realised a death toil of about 120 which included a number of employees
of the prawn factory. At the end of this uninhabited area, one reaches
the Mudalaikudah Methodist Church on the left, followed by a junction. The
road on the left (south) goes to Mahiladitivu, and that on the right (north)
contains the main part of Mudalaikudah (Crocodile bay - it being said that
crocodiles hereabouts are not man eaters). If one proceeds straight, one reaches
the main hamlet of Kokkadichcholai 3/4 mile on. It is this hamlet that contains
the army camp. Although Kokkadichcholai is a collective name for the three
hamlets, the name refers to the main hamlet in local parlance.
When food is brought for the army, a patrol would commandeer
a local tractor and set off to the jetty, posting sentries along the road,
with perhaps half a dozen men at the Methodist Church. Since this is
a regular operation, it is here that soldiers are most vulnerable, as experience
has shown.
As for the people of this area, the dominant group is the Mukkuvar
caste - mainly farmers. Under them are the service castes-dhobys, barbers
etc. The caste system in Batticaloa is more easygoing compared with Jaffna,
and inter-caste marriages are common enough not to be frowned upon. Unlike
the Jaffna based Tamil nationalism which is based on the old kingdom of Jaffna,
the root of Tamil nationalism in the East springs from the notion of a self
contained autonomous system of villages, presided over by the Ur-Podiyar,
elected from among the podiyars. It claims to be egalitarian in spirit and
the role of the Ur Podiyar is considered more ceremonial than coercive. Podiyars
in practice were the large landowners. Like the use of Singh by the Sikhs,
it has become common for people of the area to prefix their name with Podiyar.
The Muslim villages of the area have the same structure, with Tamil service
castes playing the same role. [Top]
The army was out on a mission
to collect provisions from the jetty. When the tractor was returning with
provisions, a landmine was set off at a point on the road 1/4 mile from the
Methodist Church and 1/2 mile from the main hamlet of Kokkadichcholai, whither
the army was bound. Two soldiers in the tractor were killed. The time was
12.45 p.m. Immediately south of this point and along the road was an extension
of Mahiladitivu. Those responsible for the explosion presumably escaped through
this area. (Going further south, one goes through Paddaiandaveli, Pandariaveli,
and Kodukkamunai to Ambalanthurai). Following the explosion, more soldiers
started moving from Kokkadichcholai to the scene of the explosion. At this
camp, there is also a group of 10 militants who had recently broken away from
the PLOTE. Most of them are from that area and have wives, children or parents
living there. Some of this group too went with the soldiers towards the scene.
When they were disarmed by the soldiers, they realised that a plan was hatched
to punish the civilians. They went back to Kokkadichcholai (the main hamlet)
and warned the people to get clear. Those who could not run were taken, and
some went by themselves to the local school.
Mahiladivitu
Sivapragasam Tissaveerasingam, a leading person of Mahiladitivu,
was attending to his lunch-time chores when the explosion was heard. A few
minutes later he heard small arms fire. He ran to the end of Mahiladitivu
and waited there. He then saw people running, chased by soldiers firing with
automatics. He ran a further 3/4 mile south and saw fire rising above the
village.
A short distance from Tissaveerasingam's house is a mill belonging
to G.Kurukulasingam. Many of the people in Mahiladitivu who could not, or
preferred not to run away, gathered at this mill and in the house north, across
the adjoining lane. Over a hundred people were in this house. Among those
in Kurukulasingam's house with him were, his wife Puvaneswary and their children
Rupavathani (6), Nishantan (5), Suganthan (3) and Vivekananthan (8 months).Velupillai
Arunasalam is a carpenter who had gone that morning to Manalkadu, on the other
side of the lagoon, for his day's work. When the shooting began, his wife
Alikipodi Revathy and daughters Bavani (10) and Tharisana (1 1/2) were among
those who took refuge in the mill compound, which also contained the owner's
house. A group of soldiers came running along the adjoining lane from the
direction of Kokkadichcholai (west), entered the mill premises and opened
fire. Those inside the mill and the compound were all killed, and those in
the house injured. Four bullet holes which pierced the wall of the house are
prominently visible. Soldiers then went across the lane and shot Nallathamby
Subramaniam (80), who was on the verandah. This was seen by his daughter Paranchothy.
The rest who had taken refuge in that house were chased away.
Velapodi Alaiyapodi (53), a farmer, was at Coloniadi Mill. He
saw 7 soldiers coming from the Methodist Church, firing their automatics.
They encountered Sivapragasam Thirumathi, who was chased away. He then saw
5 soldiers entering Kurukulasingam's mill, followed by firing noises. After
the soldiers left, he went there to see what had happened, and noticed 7 corpses
in the compound and 5 injured persons in the house asking for water. He fetched
water in a bucket and gave them. Just then another group of 6 soldiers arrived,
and though Alaiyapodi quickly went into the house, he had been spotted. The
soldiers asked him how many dead bodies there were and how many injured. He
gave them the figures. He was asked to bring the injured out of the house,
and to follow them so as to fetch a cart to take the injured for treatment.
Alaiyapdi went with them for a short distance, gave them the slip and came
back to a house two doors away. By this time several people had gathered at
the mill to see what had happened.
Alaiyapodi saw the same six soldiers coming back. They thrust
about 35 onlookers into the premises and shot the whole lot, as well as the
5 previously injured. The soldiers then attempted to set fire to the corpses.
Vyramathu Santhanapillai's daughter -in- law and Alahipodi Kunamani's
grand daughter, Ponnamma, was beaten while protecting her baby. Alahipodi
Kunamani's son Kumarasingam Shanthilingam was 4 months married. He and his
wife were in Sempar's compound. The young couple were among those dragged
to the mill and shot. Vijayakumari (19) was shot in the leg by soldiers while
running away. Her mother Theivanai was at the mill with her 1 year old child.
Both Theivanai and the child were among those killed.
Among those killed in the mill, was a mother suckling her infant.
Evidently, the mother gave the infant her breast in order to quieten it in
the tense surroudnings, when the end came.
Further from the junction and south of the mill was a concrete
house in which a large crowd of mainly women and children had gathered. Among
those there were Ponniah Visalatchi (55), a Colombo Chetty lady, her step-daughter
Kanagasabai Praba, teacher at Saraswathy MV and Praba's aunt Usumundapodi
Soundarmma (60). There were about 50 in the room, together with Visalatchi's
niece and a 1 1/2 year old child. By the time the soldiers arrived here, their
murderous passions appeared to have cooled. But they were getting other ideas.
The women were subject to beating and abuse, and were asked to
go to the Kanniamman Temple, north and towards the junction. At the same time
a part of the house was set on fire.
One soldier grabbed Praba, tore her clothes, held her tight and
began biting her. Soundaramma forced herself in between and covered her niece.
The soldier went into a rage and started kicking Soundaramma. One kick with
a booted foot struck her in the mouth, causing her to lose 8 teeth. Praba
managed to get away.
About this time, the elder daughter of a prominent government
official was dragged by soldiers into the house. As the crowd moved the younger
daughter of the same official, a schoolgirl at St.Vincent's, Batticaloa, was
dragged into a shop on the opposite side of the road. A soldier attempted
to drag A.Kala, after prancing around with fierce gestures and making bestial
noises. Kala's sickly mother was not there. Once again Soundaramma, the sextagenarian
matron, strong though minus 8 teeth, intervened, grabbing Kala and interposing
herself. The beast become enraged and the face further contorted with the
noices even fiercer. Soundaramma was again assaulted, this time with a rifle
butt, receiving some hard shots on her back. Kala was shot at once near the
GS's house. She fell to the ground. A round of bullets then went over her.
She then got away.
As the women reached the temple, the abuse became even nastier.
Variations of an expression many remembered, was that they would only entertain
the male organs of the LTTE and thus deserved to be taught a lesson. On the
way, the women met some unarmed Tamil militants who were normally with the
army, and had pleaded with them in Tamil to stop this. They replied sympathetically
that anything they said would not be heard. The women felt that the soldiers
were drugged.
At the temple, Visalatchi who was also fluent in English and
Sinhalese, spoke to a man who appeared to be an officer, and pleaded with
him. saying that it is a sin to do such things to ordinary people who were
like his own. The man assured her that they would be safe in the temple
and started walking away. The women then spotted 3 soldiers with knives coming
towards the temple. She rushed after the `officer' and told him that his words
were of little use because the moment he left, others could do whatever they
pleased. The man came back, spoke to the soldiers and went away. Things were
then calmer.
Throughout this period there had been firing and burning of huts.
Tissaveerasingam, his brother Sivalingam and 4 others cautiously approached
Mahiladitivu at 3.00 p.m. They retreated when the army fired at them. While
the women were at Kannaiamman temple and soldiers were about making threatening
gestures with knives and weapons, some unarmed soldiers also came there and
pleaded with the other soldiers to leave the women alone.
After about 3.00 p.m. looting began in earnest. Soldiers got
busy removing valuables, including bicycles from houses and also trying to
burn the bodies. Soldiers were moving about very freely on bicycles till after
5.00 p.m. before going back. People identified the leader of the operation
as a bearded man waring a red handkerchief. The menfolk who had run away from
the village started trickling back towards nightfall.
Mudalaikudah (North of the Methodist Church)
At 12.45 p.m. the time of the explosion, Motchamala Kanapathipillai,
a teacher at the nursery school at Kokkadichcholai maintained by the Red Barna,
was cycling home eastwards, her home being next to the Methodist Church.
Her father, Kanapathipillai, was the circuit steward in charge of the church.
Her brother, an employee of the prawn factory, had been murdered during the
prawn factory massacre of January 1987, Motchamala lived with her father,
her widowed sister-in-law and her brother's children.
On hearing the explosion in front of her, Motchamala turned back
towards Kokkadichcholai. She was shot through the knees by soldiers coming
out of Kokkadichcholai - by men whom she recognised as those who came to her
house to ask for water and sometimes fruits.
Later 17 youths were taken, mainly from Mudalaikudah, to the
crater left by explosion, where they were shot, killed and burnt.
On hearing the commotion, the teachers at the Mudalaikudah school
kept the children inside and stayed there. Later in the evening the army came
and dismissed the students after beating the teachers. [Top]
Arunasalm the carpenter was
one of those who had waited on the other side of the lagoon, anxious for tidings
about his family. The boatmen who had brought their boats to Manmunai, also
brought news that much was amiss on the other shore. Little did he know that
Revathy and the two children had fled mortality leaving behind half burnt
corpses. On the 13th, people began trickling back to Kokkadichcholai, often
to burst into tears of agony on reaching home.
The army stayed within the camp on the 13th. Among the early
visitors on this day were the Tigers, who after their absence from the time
of the explosion the previous day, had popped in to take a photographic record
of the handiwork.
As the sun rose the corpses began to stink, and the stench was
carried by the dry kachchan wind. About 2.00 p.m. the villagers started burying
the corpses.
A helicopter circled the area on the 15th. The army came out
about mid-day, asked the people what happened and returned. They were apparently
testing the ground for the next day's official visit, which had been announced
in Colombo.
Even as late as the 16th, limbs were found in the crater with
bits of flesh sticking out. On this day an official party including the prime
minister, Bradman Weerakoon and MP's Casinadar, Joseph and Karunakaran were
brought to the Kokkadichcholai army camp by helicopter. The army maintained
that those killed were Tigers and that it was unsafe to go to the villages.
Joseph asked Karunakaran, "You are a member of a militant group that
is now with the army. Tell me, are those who died Tigers?" Karunakaran
replied, "No".
The prime minister's party was airlifted back to Batticaloa and
taken to the rest house. 100 yards away some of those affected were waiting
at the Kachcheri, Batticaloa's administrative centre, to talk to the prime
minister. This was, according to reports, disallowed on the grounds that it
was unsafe to go there. The Prime Minister, who earlier that month had
said that normality prevailed in Batticaloa, was now unable to meet
people at the seat of administration. Joseph protested to Colombo over what
he saw as groundless obstruction, saying that he was prepared to go to the
villages alone. He later met the people.
By the 20th June changes had been made at the Kokkadichcholai
camp and a new officer was in charge. A group of visitors came to Kokkadichcholai
by vehicle after obtaining permission at the Manalpitty camp. On their return
the captain at the camp stopped them for cool drinks. He told them that this
kind of situation can hardly be avoided when you send village boys to fight
after a few weeks' training. He also said that he was in-charge of three camps,
the others being Vellaveli and Kokkadichcholai. "Who is going to answer
if something happens again in Kokkadichcholai when I am not there?",
he asked. On 30th June a booby trap exploded at the ferry point while soldiers
were fetching provisions. Two soldiers were injured and taken away by helicopter.
Immediately the shops closed and people began shutting themselves up. An officer
went around asking people to reopen their shops and carry on normally. He
added, "Today we die. Tomorrow the Tigers die. You need not worry."
[Top]
According to a senior citizen
in Batticaloa, when on 12th June the news of the death of two soldiers in
Kokkadichcholai was radioed to the army command in Batticaloa, arrangements
were immediately made to airlift the magistrate and the JMO to the scene.
When the two were at the Batticaloa airport, they were reportedly told that
a second message had arrived making it necessary to cancel the expedition.
According to this message a second mine had gone off and it was now
unsafe. If this is true, it raises the question about the quality of information
given to the Batticaloa command, in addition to serious questions about discipline.
Or was it that on discovering that things had gone hoplessly wrong, the army
command was trying to cover up.
Where covering up is concerned, there does not seem to have been
much change. According to the number count made by leading local citizens
following a house to house check, 67 bodies were identified and buried and
a further 56 were missing. Most of the missing persons are presumed dead and
cannot be identified,because like the seventeen burnt in the mine crater,
they had been mostly burnt to ashes. The rice mill had the largest number
of bodies - 43.
The Superintendent of Police Batticaloa in discussions with leading
citizens was sticking to a figure of 32 dead - this being the number
exhumed, for whom death certificates had then been issued. The police also
maintain that there was no rape, on the basis of certification made by doctors
in Batticaloa, who examined several of the women. But medical officers have
privately told leading citizens that there had been rape and that the doctors
are afraid to certify that.
Like in almost all cases during the war, the police are not taking
steps to investigate anything. It is left to the people who are willing to
stick their necks out, to question people and collect evidence. The role of
the police seems to be to minimize the impact of evidence that has turned
up in spite of them. The proof of this is the atmosphere of terror in which
the JMO's, magistrates and the medical Officers function. The police who know
better pretend that this terror does not exist. Whether the commission of
inquiry can go beyond this insistitutional obfuscation is left to be seen.
According to some sources with official contacts, several of
the men involved in the massacre had been transferred to frontline areas in
the North. [Top]
Women of the area appeared to have a sense of community, and were very open on the subject of rape and molestation. when they come out with names, it is with a sense of personal identification with the tragedy, without any hint of gossip. The rape victims were themselves apprehensive. According to the women, at-least 6 of them were raped. Two of them were sisters. The elder girl was found by her father trying to cover her breasts with her plaitted hair. The second girl was found in a shop building in a state of shock after some searching. All they said was "You would have heard what happened to us". According to the mother, the elder girl was taking it up better, whereas the younger is refusing to go back to her boarding school or even continue her studies. It was clear that something terrible had happened to these girls. [Top]
We have shown elsewhere in
this report that there was a general state of lawlessness and indiscipline
among the forces. From August to October 1990 when there were several incidents
of civilians disappearing in large groups of 30 to more than 150, there appears
to have been connivance at high level. The forces have thus been trained into
a mental frame that they have the power of life and death over ordinary civilians.
At ordinary times this leads to petty crime and beating, for which the civilians
have no recourse to justice. If they complain, they know that they will be
at the receiving end. In such a situation the slightest crisis could trigger
off a total breakdown. It also appears that the control exercised by the officers
is also minimal. After training the men to kill and loot, the officers too
would have much to fear if they were to try and impose unaccustomed restraint.
Under these circumstances, the high command is bound to receive little honest
information, if they wanted it.
If some form of discipline had existed in the camp, at-least
by 1.30 p.m. whoever was in charge should have known that something was seriously
amiss. Thus even if only a section of the soldiers had planned the reprisals,
not long afterwards the whole camp would have been concerned in the matter.
Why was this allowed to go on for four hours? It also appears that not long
after 1.00 p.m. the high command in Batticaloa was also aware that something
was going on. The long duration suggests either complicity or a serious breakdown
in the chain of command. As we said earlier, this was to be expected.
The bestiality displayed during rape and molestation points to
something seriously disturbing. It shows up the army as something totally
alien, where the people are concerned-the very thing that accounts for the
success of massacre politics. [Top]
Soundaramma was taken to
Batticaloa hospital by Rasathurai from Thalangkuda and was warded for eleven
days. She has now been rejoined in Mahiladythivu by her two grandsons and
nephew who had fled. Mothchamala was in Batticaloa hospital for 40 days and
now with relatives in Kallady. Soundaramma had been urinating blood for some-time.
Alavapody Nagarajah is a small made, mild, innocent man, slow of speech. He
was mercilessly assaulted by soldiers who also broke up everything in the
house. Nagrajah was admitted to the hospital with injuries and a swollen
stomach, and was kept in the hospital for 9 days. He still has a urinary problem.
Except for the limited relief brought by the Methodist and Roman
Catholic churches, no relief agency had come into the area until late July.
Most of these agencies distributed relief on the other side of the lagoon
at Thalankuda, to those who have left the area. Normal life there is unusually
difficult. At one time bus service used to operate between the jetty
point and Kokkadichcholai. Now except for those who had crossed bringing along
bicycles, the others have to walk anything from 1 1/2 to 2 miles, often in
the scorching sun. There used to be a government dispensary. The army said
that the Tigers were taking medicines and wanted the dispensary to function
inside the army camp. As the result there are no medical facilities now. The
most primitive methods have to be used to get a patient across to hospital
in Batticaloa or Kattankuddy.
Although organisations and individuals are persuading the people
to go before the commission inquiring into the massacre, the people
remain deeply suspicious. Their experience since the event has not given them
confidence. A common remark to be hard is, "After putting us through
all the trouble of giving evidence, they are likely to put the blame on us."
However the people are said to have gained confidence
after the first hearings in Batticaloa.
Behind the massacres
of Tamils that have been going on for the last few years, two aspects stand
out, resulting from the political bankruptcy of both sides. On the side of
the state there is an undisciplined army, increasingly frustrated and prone
to use vindictive terror to its own detriment. On the other is a force that
received legitimacy because the people wanted their life and dignity protected,
but because of its political bankruptcy, must rely on government massacres
for propaganda and recruitment.
We have pointed out earlier [Report No.6], that this particular
political tendency could necessarily brook no rivalry. When several militant
groups functioned until five years ago, competition among them, made them
sensitive to the need to safeguard civilians. Thus when the Chavakacheri Police
Station was attacked at the end of 1984, the approaches to the area were mined
in order to delay the army's arrival. This gave the civilians time to get
away.
In the case of Kokkadichcholai, while there was 1 1/4 miles of
uninhabited stretch, the mine was placed near a populated area. Beginning
a short time later, a small number of soldiers ran amok for 4 hours without
hindrance. The militant party came in the morning for its photographs.
It was also essential that no one in the village should have any idea that
a mine was planted, if this kind of attack was to succeed. Thus the rebels
come and go from day to day, asking for one thing or the other. People take
their presence for granted. One night, presumably, a mine quietly is planted.
In all the cases that we have encountered over the years, as
strongly as the people concerned are angry with the conduct of the army, they
are far from taking kindly to the manner of being let down by their liberators.
The latter have in many instances, taken no trouble to hide their motivations.
On occasions they have said that a target of so many thousand civilians must
die for the militant struggle to receive international recognition. Sometimes
the camera men have come and expressed disappointment that only a small number
had got killed in reprisals. The people are in general terrified to talk about
it. To start with they are usually legalistic - `How can we say the LTTE planted
the mine? There are so many armed groups coming and going with similar uniforms,
etc.' But when trust is established, a different record comes out - `Yes,
it was them. If they had just fired two shots, the army would not have come.
They would have called the helicopter gunships. But the people would have
got away. But defending the people had not been on the agenda when they had
planted the mine. When the present politics destroys humanity, fighting for
human rights virtually involves fighting against this politics. Even in village
after village where the Sri Lankan forces have swelled the ranks of the LTTE,
the question is asked, "Did we need all this death and destruction? Was
it necessary for our sons to die?"
[Top]
In this section we look into the matter of how the appointment of the inquiry commission has affected the conduct of the army, and whether the army is developing any mechanisms to ensure that such tragedies will not happen again. This will also suggest to us whether the commission has already lost its momentum or not. We let the incidents speak for themselves. [Top]
About 7.00 a.m. when the people of Palugamam were getting ready either to go to work or to go to school, the army ordered everyone to come to the compound adjoining the Palugamum M.V.(High School). When the people were assembled, 3 youths were picked up by the army. These were two students, Murugesapillai Navaneethan and Logitharajah Vallipuram, both A.L. students at the school, together with another youth, not in school. Murugesapillai, a retired teacher, is a famous snake-bite physician. The young men were marched into the school, and were subject to severe beating on the stage. Those who went there after the incident found several fragments of sticks and blood stains on the stage. Later in the morning a lorry arrived at the school gate, bringing new furniture for the school. The soldiers had the furniture unloaded outside and took the lorry inside the school. The three detainees were loaded into the lorry and the lorry was brought back with its back end covered. The driver and the cleaner were then ordered to get into the back of the lorry, which was then driven to the army camp at Poraithivu. The driver and the cleaner were then made to get out at the entrance. The lorry was then taken inside and brought back empty. The three youths have since been missing. The little information the people have, makes them pessimistic. Two days later, on Monday, the students of the school washed the blood stains from the platform. The youth detained, it is said by the villagers, had nothing to do with the LTTE. Navaneethan in fact had been shot in the knee by the IPKF, and was lame [Top]
Kinniyadi is a village on
the shore of the lagoon, west of kiran. It is generally known that when the
LTTE, who have the freedom of movement on the other(interior) side of the
lagoon come into the Kiran area, they move in the vicinity of Kinniyadi. As
the result, the army is also harsh when it comes into this village. Consequently
when the villagers learn that the army is coming, the young men go to the
other side of the lagoon rather than risk punitive beating or worse.
Thus when the army used to come and find the young men missing, it used
to become more angry. Crossing the lagoon is something familiar to the villagers,
because they have their fields on the other side. They also know where the
water is shallow, permitting them to cross on foot or swim.
On this day when the army came just after 3.00 p.m., on receiving
intelligence the villagers as usual tried to get away from the village, without
realising the proximity of the soldiers. Several of them were apprehended
by the soldiers. These men were taken to the lagoon shore and then shot dead.
13 bodies of those killed were recovered and funeral rites were
conducted. Upto about 8 more are said to be missing. The thirteen whose bodies
were discovered are: Murugan, Karunakaran, Shanmugam Chandran, Sinnathamby
Pakianathan, Sivendran, Saravanamuthu Sounderalingam, Ravindra Alagiah,
Sonarami Krishnan, Sinnathamby Krishnapillai, Kandiah Chinnaan, Karuval Kurukulam,
Mylvaganam Thangarajah, Vairamuthu Chinnathamby and Ponnuchamy Sethuraman.
The incident was not reported in any of the national dailies
except the `Veerakesari', a Tamil daily published in Colombo. It was reported
in the government media that several Tigers were killed. This distortion has
impeded relief workers going into that area, because of a fear of the forces.
The villagers have virtually been isolated, with even church organisations
fearing to go there. The villagers are clear that neither were any of the
dead LTTE, nor were any armed. According to a senior citizen in the area,
only the Ceylon Red Cross went there the following day. They also went off
after asking the families to come to Batticaloa and register. This did not
seem very helpful, as the families are at a loss about formalities and feel
afraid. [Top]
On this day the train was to come to Batticaloa and army pickets were out to provide security for the train. A land mine attack by the LTTE about 10 a.m. resulted in 7 soldiers and a member of the TELO being killed. Perhaps because the inquiry commission into the Kokkadichcholai incident was due to convene in a day or two, army reprisals took a novel form. Travellers on the Batticaloa - Trincomalee Road the following morning were confronted with a new gimmick at the Kommathurai camp. People in buses as usual got down and queued up for checking. The soldier who was to check the bags slapped many of the passengers as they came. There was little interest in looking for bombs in bags. Those who were slapped were generally slapped several times with both hands and included women. Those frequently singled out were old villagers wearing `Verti', who could be seen progressively lowering their heads as the slaps followed. Another soldier stood with an improvised whip made of electrical wire, doing his own thing. This reportedly went on for 3 days. The officers managed to stay out of sight. The number so treated would run into hundreds. Yet another soldier was standing with a pole, to hammer people bulging out of Batticaloa's over crowded, `push-start' buses. [Top]
In this section we take up
the question of how responsive the forces have been, to representations made
by citizens' bodies and individuals. The Batticaloa Peace Committee has made
regular representations with regard to missing persons. On the 29th and 30th
August 1990, the peace committee sent letters to the military authorities
in Batticaloa, one with a list of over 400 missing persons in the Batticaloa
area. The secretaries to the peace committee were Chellian Perinpanayagam
and Arunagirinathan. Sometime in August 1990, A.Martin took over from Arunagirinathan.
On 21st September a reply was received from Brigadier A.N.U.Seneviratne
of Head Quarters, 3 Brigade Group, Batticaloa. He acknowledged that 3 persons
in that list of 400 had been taken and handed over to the D.I.G. for legal
action. The reply added "Please note that no other person in the referred
list was taken into custody by the security forces under this head quarters".
The other letter had referred to the discussion with the Brigadier
of 25th August 90, and enclosed two schedules of missing persons totalling
67, mostly school boys. `A' schedule contained missing persons from the Batticaloa
district, including youth of the Chenkallady and Pullumalai Brigades. Schedule
`B' referred to the Amparai district. The reply acknowledged only one as having
been taken.
On the 20th of September 90, the defence ministry was sent a
list of names of 158 persons taken from the Eastern University refugee camp
on 5th September.
A reply dated 17th October 1990 was sent from the office of the
Minister of State for Defence, signed by Air Chief Marshal A.W.Fernando, Secretary.
31 persons were acknowledged as having been taken, and their names given.
Not one of them is known to have surfaced although they are said to have been
released.
On 9th October 1990 the peace committee wrote to the authorities
about the incident at Sathurukondan of 9th September, with a list of 184 missing
persons. This was followed by a letter about the army going to Savukkady,
after which 31 persons were missing. On 11th October, about the incident at
Chithandy (21 August), after which 44 persons were missing. No satisfactory
replies have so far been received.
In recent times we have had the killings by the Iruthayapuram
police in late March, the disappearances of April/May and the incidents described
in the current report. None of these has been investigated. [Top]
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