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2.0. Trapped people in Kokkadichcholai.
2.1.Tiger ambush and TELO’s reprisal, 25th Oct. 1991
2.2. Incident on Nov 9th, 1991:
2.3. Incident on the 30th of November; Killing of the Grama Seva
2.4. 11th December, an incident at Ambalanthurai.
2.5. Latest incidents in Kokkaddichollai 3rd Jan 1992:
2.6. Dumping the bodies in the Lagoon
2.7. The livelihood of the fisher folk
2.9. Killing of Kaniston Michael
2.10. Killing of Dick in Navatkuda, 8th Dec 1991.
2.14. The need for re-evaluation and the negation of the past:
After the massacre at Kokkadichcholai on 12th June
l991 a presidential inquiry was ordered, and sittings are continuing up to
now. With all the risks involved, the victims have courageously gone and given
witness to the commission. They hope that at least this inquiry might produce
some results, which will put an end to these types of massacres which forced
them to take this risk. Every one is eagerly waiting for the commission’s report, but there is scepticism
at large about the final outcome.
But the day-to-day life of the people
in those hamlets still continues to be very uncertain. We bring out below
a few incidents, which occurred after the massacre to show the real plight
of these people who are trapped in between the LTTE and the Government forces
and their allies TELO. As we have mentioned in our earlier Report 8, though Kokkadichcholai is a collective name for the three hamlets, Mahiladitheevu, Muthalaikuda and Kokkadichcholai,
the name refers to the main hamlet in local parlance. [Top]
As usual when the Army was trying to
bring the provisions to their camp from the jetty, a group of Tiger cadres
suddenly ambushed them nearly 200 yards from the jetty. Eight(8) soldiers
were killed in the ambush and in the following shoot-out two Tiger cadres
were also killed. It happened round about 3.00 pm and the army left the place
and came later to take the bodies. They were able to take only a few bodies
and for the rest, they seemed to have approached the ICRC. In the evening
a group of TELO members came near the Methodist church area and beat the old
man who is a circuit steward in charge
of the church and another man who is a barber, and ransacked the place.
After the earlier massacre the NGO
EHED had organised to distribute dry rations, 500 sarongs, 200 sarees, and
stitched uniforms for the school children, with the Brigadier’s permission. They had distributed some of these the previous
week and left the remainder with the circuit steward in the church. All these
were ransacked by the TELO group. The army did not get involved in any reprisal
attacks. [Top]
On the 9th of November a
large number of TELO members came in an army truck with some army men who
were in civilian clothes to the Methodist Church area. Once again they beat
up the old caretaker and removed all the furniture and kitchen utensils from
the church as well as from a neighbouring house. The old man was found unconscious
when some others came into the house. He is still having pain in his leg and
finding it difficult to walk. All the medicines and furniture from the nearby
dispensary were also removed by the TELO group.
On the l2th some army men came to that
place on their normal routine. When they saw that there was no furniture in
the house, they inquired about it and when they came to know about the earlier
incident they promised to inquire into it. They blamed the TELO and promised
to find the things, saying that TELO might have sold the furniture for a booze.
Nothing happened. But recently, during the first week of December,
the TELO boys came and removed the only things left, the flowerpots. People
are wary about the army’s version as they don’t believe that TELO could have
come in an army truck without it’s knowledge. The people are keeping quiet
for not wanting to loose other things in the neighbourhood.
Here we want to qualify the term TELO
boys as there is some confusion regarding this. It is a well known fact that
there are TELO boys with the army in the camp at Kokkadichcholai proper. At
the same time there are some errant boys from that village who do not belong
to any movement but are with the army. Then there are some boys who were earlier
in the PLOTE and later joined the army. They were called Mohan’s group. Most of these boys are
from the same village Kokkadichcholai
and the above incidents all happened in
Mahiladitheevu. There was a general animosity between these two hamlets
and people are feeling that these boys are also settling old scores. We shall
discuss the behaviour of the TELO and PLOTE in a separate section. [Top]
Here we quote a paragraph from our
previous report number 8, which is very relevant here:
“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 we have pointed out, the earlier
pressure mines were planted under the tree inside the Methodist Church compound
where usually the army stays for sentry duty. On the 30th, Saturday,
as usual they came there and one soldier got wounded due to a pressure mine.
Next to the compound is the circuit
steward’s house. They had already lost their furniture and in an earlier massacre
one of his daughters had been wounded in the legs and is still in Batticaloa
unable to walk. In the l987 massacre one son got killed in a prawn factory
and recently the old man was twice beaten up badly by the TELO. They did not have any idea that the mines were
there. Usually the mother of that house
sweeps the compound every Saturday for Sunday Church prayers. For some strange
reason she decided to sweep the place in the evening instead of in the morning
and thus narrowly escaped losing her
leg.
Immediately after the incident two
army men rushed towards the adjacent house and one was pointing the gun towards
the old man and was about to shoot when two colleagues of his came and stopped
him. After things cooled down they explained that they didn’t have a clue
that the bombs were there, and if they had known they would not have been
there, and thus convinced the soldiers of their innocence.
After that the army left the wounded
soldier in the camp, and returned to the village at about 5.30pm. Meanwhile
the people who had moved out of their houses
started to come back in the belief that the army had gone to the camp
and that they wouldn’t be returning. When they
realised that the army was returning it was too late. The army stopped
those whom they met on the way and ordered them to follow them. When they reached the house of Mr.Wijayratnam, Grama Sevaka for the village Ambalanthurai, they fired through the cadjan fence, seeing his movements.
Three shots were fired and only after the third shot the shout “Aiyo”! was heard by others. Then
the army moved with its captives further down. After that no serious incident
happened. All others were released later.
Why was Mr.Wijayaratnam killed? This
puzzles everybody. In the earlier massacre his two daughters were molested
by the army. One of his sons is in police custody for a long time purely on
suspicion that he has links with the LTTE. The previous day Mr.Wijyaratnam
had been in the Batticaloa town where his two daughters are staying after
their earlier ordeal. He went to his home in Mahiladitheevu on the day of
the incident. His daughters asked him to stay there. But he told them that
it was his duty, and he insisted that he should be there, and went. Even when
the people left the place after the incident, he continued to stay in the
house, confident that since he was a Government servant no harm would be done
to him.
Was he killed to terrorise the people
who are giving evidence to the commission? People who are closely monitoring the commission proceedings don’t
think so. There is a feeling that the army is looking for his brother’s son,
who is suspected to be involved with the LTTE and planting mines in those
areas. The poor man may be an innocent victim of the army’s revenge.
Of course his death is put into the
category of “ killed by unidentified
persons” as people are scared to give witness. More over to get at least
some compensation for the tragic family which has suffered a lot, it is necessary
that the Killers should be “unknown”.
Only when the “terrorists” kill somebody does the Government pay compensation.
Mr. Wijayaratnam is a government servant and only because of that, he
returned from Batticaloa and stayed at Mahiladitheevu. He has been killed by
the Armed Forces, and if the Government really has any notion of reducing
human rights violations, then it should make a full inquiry into it and pay
the compensation for the family and punish the people involved in the crime.
The whole question of paying compensation to the victims of state terrorism
has to be squarely faced if the government wants to build confidence among
the people. There is no point in military officers and the government asking
the people to forget the past when hundreds and thousands of people have lost
their loved ones just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. [Top]
Ambalanthurai
is another village in the Kokkadichcholai
area. LTTE’s presence is very high
and the army goes there very seldom. On the 11th of December, the
Army surrounded the village and did a cordon and search operation. Naturally the Tigers had vanished
from the scene, and only the innocent civilians were harassed. They arrested
seven fishermen and brought them to Batticaloa. When they approached the fishermen,
one person who was about 45 years old tried to run and he was shot dead. It is ironic that
the person’s brother who is called
Pandian is with the army in Kokkadichcholai
and belongs to Mohan’s group. Moreover
the dead man’s son is a Tiger. But he is a family man and he was killed because
he got scared of the army and wanted to get away from them.
Moreover it brings out the complex
reality of these families where it is natural for brothers from the same family
to be on different sides. It is more
accidental than any commitment to the cause. The next day the Sri Lankan
TV Rupavahini claimed that a terrorist was killed in Ambalanthurai and seven others were arrested!.
Here we want to bring out another incident
in which the army moved in to the Kalai
podda madu village where they set fire to 40 - 50 houses. In that “operation” a boy who had a hearing problem
was shot at and later admitted to the Hospital.
The people who are living in these
areas are very poor and live in huts thatched by cadjans. It is very difficult to take provisions to
those areas as well as other items which are needed to rebuild these huts
as the army won’t allow them for “security” reasons.
People have to go to Kokkadichcholai Army camp to get their
provisions and medicines. In places like Mahiladitheevu
the boys with the army have ransacked the cooperative and the dispensary.
But people are scared to go to the army camp in
Kokkadichcholai as invariably they are beaten up as Tiger supporters.
People believe that youth who are with the army in Kokkadichcholai are purposely spreading this rumour to punish them
as they had village rivalries, which have nothing to do with the present politics.
So, only the older women go to the camps to collect their provisions. On the
other hand the people in Kokkadichcholai
fear that there will be a massacre if the army moves out, as the LTTE thinks
the Kokkadichcholai people are
with the army. In reality the people hate both the parties and are angry about
the whole situation. They are also scared about their future. [Top]
Just before the New year, people at
Kokkadichcholai became suspicious that
the boys were planning an attack. So they used to flee away from their own
village. The villagers expected something to happen on New Year’s Day and
most of them fled. The Christians had their New year service. The army had
come and inquired from them about the others. They had said that the others
had gone away expecting some thing to happen. Again on the 2nd
night villagers had heard dogs barking in a way which indicated that there
are strangers roaming around. So they all fled to Pandariavadi, a village
two miles from Kokkaddichollai. The army had come on
3rd morning up to the Mahiladitheevu
junction where the Methodist Church is situated and they noticed that the
whole village was empty. So they returned back to the camp and came back again
with more forces. They moved with TELO in front. As they proceeded towards
the jetty the army started firing and
the LTTE cadres who were a little away started
retaliating. The shoot out went on for an hour. Helicopters also were in action.
The army was forced to retreat into the camp. Two TELO cadres and two army
men died.
The people at Pandariavadi moved to Ampalanthurai
when they heard the firing. At about 3.30pm the LTTE cadres returned from
K’cholai and villages had seen nearly 500 of them including 20 girls. They
were carrying a dead body and an injured person.
After this incident when the army comes
to the village the people flee away fearing reprisals. There was no harassment
reported. [Top]
In middle November, 5 to 6 bodies were
burnt inside a notorious army camp (housed in Forest Dept. building) and people
around that place came to know about it. When the Peace Committee approached
the Superintendent of Police (SP) he said that the army had asked them to
dispose of the unidentified bodies and that’s what
they had done. The Peace committee raised the point that even if those were
unidentified bodies, there should have been a proper procedure adopted and
that there should be more sensitivity towards the people and protested against
the burning of the bodies. The SP promised that it wouldn’t happen again and
assured them that they would follow the proper procedure in the future.
But, on the 1st week of
December nearly 10 bodies were burnt in the early morning near the Kalladi bridge and half-burnt hands and limbs were found in neighbouring
compounds!. [Top]
There are large numbers of fisher folks
who earn their livelihood by fishing in the lagoon in Batticaloa. The famous area
for fishing is along Lady Mannings Drive which is opposite to the District
Judge’s bungalow (formerly). Today nobody can use this area for fishing as
the army does not give permission. Due to this, hundreds of families are affected.
There are no convincing reasons given for this ban.
Since security reasons were given for
the ban, the people approached the Army and pleaded saying that they are prepared
to adopt any restrictive practice such as having specific identity cards,
fishing during a specified time such as in between 8am - 10 am, and 2 pm-4 pm and even to fish
in a confined area. But all was in vain.
Suddenly a few fisher folk began to
fish in the lagoon after an incident in Manmunai Lagoon. In that incident
one Navy personnel was killed due to a Tiger ambush. After that people noticed
that there was no Navy patrolling around the Lagoon and they started fishing.
A few days later the Navy came and beat up the fisher men and then every thing stopped abruptly.
Bringing normalcy means making the
people feel that they can have their own livelihood without any disruption.
People are pragmatic enough to understand any security reasons given with
sincerity and will be prepared to adapt themselves. But when they are put
under unreasonable constraints, how is the state going to build
confidence? Is it because the lagoon is filled with human remains that the army feels embarrassed about it and prevents the fisher folks from fishing there?
Legitimate question indeed . [Top]
Thambiraja Thiyagaraja and Thevanayagam Thambiraja
both 21 years old were fishing along
the sea coast near the Bar area at 7am on 9.11.91. The army came and arrested them on the information given
by the TELO. They were from the village called Arumugathan Kurippu in Earuvur and came to Batticaloa after the massacre at Savutkady.
For two or three days relatives could
not trace them and the peace committee approached the Army. Col.Vipulaguna promised to find out and
later traced them in their captivity. Now immediate family members are being
allowed to visit them.
Those people who escaped massacresand
came to Batticaloa for safety are
also feeling insecure by the activities of TELO cadres. There is no hard evidence or reasons for the arrests of
the large number of innocent civilians, apart from personal reasons of TELO
members, simple suspicions or because of some prejudice they have against
a village. They randomly identify some individuals as Tigers and put their
lives at risk. [Top]
Kaniston Michael is from Navatkuda. He was earlier arrested by the army and later released
and asked to report to the Army camp
every week. He was doing so regularly and on 12th November the
TELO took him into custody and his body was latter found on the 13th
with his throat slit by a razor blade.
People resent the activities of the TELO and they made complaints against
them to the Army and the police. The
Police had declared that they have nothing to do with the TELO.
People still wonder about the role played by the TELO and try to figure
out whether the TELO is being used by the army in such a way as to put the
blame on them for dirty work the army wants to do.
The famous Captain M who used the TELO
for his dirty work had been transferred to somewhere else. Some senior citizen
said that the TELO is freely moving around and behaving like an “executing
squad”. The pattern seems to be the same everywhere. [Top]
A boy known as ‘Dick’
from Navatkuda, who belonged to
the Catholic Church, was in the seminary to become a brother. On the 8th
evening he had come home to have his dinner. On the way home TELO had stopped
him. So he had run into a neighbouring house and the lady of the house had
hid him and stood at the door.The TELO had demanded for Dick. The lady was hurt by TELO. The boy Dick was taken away. The lady of the house ran to Dick’s parents and informed them of the
plight of their son. The mother and sister ran to the nearby camp and informed
the army . They said that nothing of that sort had happened. Next day morning
some people reported that a body was lying near a river bank. The parents
went to the scene and found that it was Dick’s body.
The body was cut with a blade. They
had cut open his throat and inserted the rosary through his mouth in to the
throat!. The blade too had been inserted through the mouth. [Top]
The killing of Elizabeth, aged 16, created a lot of panic in the Batticaloa Town.
She was a student at the convent school and was engaged to a reserve police
constable. Her body was found in the lagoon. There was evidence of multiple
rape. She was seen by some at Anaipanthy
Pilliar Kovil in the company of TELO boys. People had seen a red car with
boys approaching the lagoon at about 2.30
pm in daylight.
People still don’t
understand how this car was able to pass all the check points without being
detected. Whether there was a connivance of the army in the whole sordid affair
or some TELO persons involved had the sanction of the army to move around
is unclear.
Recently police arrested a boy named UKKAN in this regard, who is notorious
for his dominating and insulting behaviour towards the people. He was earlier
in the group ENDLF and later was moving
around with the TELO. [Top]
In August an old van was left near
the Kaththankudi sentry point near Dr.Kaleel’s
dispensary, loaded with explosives. The explosion cost the lives of twelve Muslim civilians. After the incident the Tamils
were expecting some retaliation but
no serious incident occurred.
Related to this incident is the arrest
of Mr.V. Balasingham a retired
CISR research officer from Puthukuddiiruppu,
who is in his 60’s and a young Franciscan brother called Mark. Since the van was parked in the church
compound a few days before, it led to the arrest of the father. According
to the people the van was in an unusable condition and it was sold to some
one and they were towing it to their place. Since it got late they left it
in the church compound and went. Only the next day they came and took it.
Then the van was taken to the place of the explosion in the same condition
and people left it there. It is very unusual that nobody suspected this to
contain explosives.
Mr.V. Balasingham is an expert in cashew cultivation. He processes cashew wine and other
products. He was a tireless worker and was actively involved in environmental
issues. People know him feel that he is a straightforward man, an asset to
this country. He was asked by the Government to survey the Valaichenai river for a development plan. His two sons who have done
PhD’s are residing abroad. His third son is a motor
mechanic whom the police must be suspecting of having some connection with
the explosion. The father who has no involvement in this incident is being
held in custody. The allegation against both Bro.Mark and Mr.V.Balasingaham
is that the previous day the van was
parked in their compounds. But every one thinks that they are keeping him
to arrest his son. The son is missing and nobody knows whether he has any
connections with the Tigers. Even if he does not have any connections, it
is unlikely that any young person will voluntarily go and surrender after
so many fateful experiences of youngsters. For three months Mr.V.Balasingham’s wife was not allowed to see him. Only recently
she was allowed to visit him. [Top]
Noting the absence of reprisals after
the bombing incident, a senior citizen expressed that it has shown the “maturing of opinion”. He compared the
way in which the mood of the people in Kaththankudi had changed from abnormal
frenzy - found at the time when the pilgrims were killed by the Tigers -to
that of a more mature state.
He related the feeling of the Muslims
during and after the massacre of Muslims of Kaththankudi who were coming from Colombo in the first week of July l990. Immediately after hearing
news of the abduction of the passengers, a few Muslims went and approached
the prominent people in Batticaloa,
who were from the Catholic Church to find about their whereabouts. A party
of prominent people including Fr.Miller
went to the scene to find out what had happened. On the way when they approached
Kaththankudi the people wished them well
and gave cool drinks and were waiting eagerly to know the outcome. When the
party came without any success the mood began to change, although the group
of people who went to the scene were not sure as to what had happened to the
passengers and were asking people to be calm. Rumours began to spread that
all were killed. Banners were hoisted all over the place and announcements
were made through a loudspeaker asking for tit-for-tat. When senior citizens
approached a responsible person from the Muslim community to find out what
was happening he was very helpless. He said that a few young extreme elements
were involved and that emotions were running high and that even if he tried
to calm them he would be killed. We saw the outcome of this in the next few
weeks. The Tamils were scared to go to the outskirts of Kathankudy and people
in Kathankudy also lived in fear of further Tiger onslaught. All these things
have been in our earlier documents. [Top]
The response after the recent explosion
has shown that passions have died down and that the people have had time to
reflect on what has happened on those fateful days. There is a need for a serious re-evaluation of the past by both communities.
A group calling itself a Liberation Group is involved in massacres against
a community which it also claims to represent. The ordinary people can claim
that they have nothing to do with it. But the question still remains, how
it is possible for a group to do these type of dastardly acts and still feel confident that they can claim to represent
the Tamil people? Isn’t it that they have appealed to the gut feelings of
the ordinary Tamil people and there is a passive approval or willingness on
the part of a section of the Tamil community to rationalise it?. Unless the Tamil community begins to re-examine,
and show their disgust for these types of acts carried on their name, there
is no hope for our community. Similarly the attacks and brutal murders by a section
of the Muslims against innocent Tamils in various places cannot be explained
away as a spontaneous act done by a small number of people. It may not have
been done by an organised group such as the Tigers, but those who have done
the similar types of dastardly acts cannot be allowed to go scot free. The
community should take the responsibility and find ways and means to overcome
the sordid past. At least organised bodies should come out and condemn those
acts and commit themselves that in the future their community won’t be high
jacked by a few unruly elements, and ensure that there will be organised forces
to combat it. It is a challenge for
all political groups in their respective communities.
The peace committees in these areas
which have to some extent articulated the urgent needs of the people, now
need to attend to these issues, and
find ways and means to bring different communities together by breaking the
narrow mould of thinking which still govern our politics. By doing so they
can create an environment in which people from different communities need
no longer look for safeguards on specific structures only.
No specific structure can guarantee safety when our politics is going to stress
only the ethnic aspect without considering the other basic issues such as
economic, social, civil and democratic rights (i.e.; human rights in a wider
sense). [Top]
2.15. Latest information
from Kaththankudi and Kalmunai.
When we were writing the report we
received news about bicycle bombs which exploded in Kaththankudi and in Kalmunai.
According to the news the two bombs placed on bicycles exploded and four people
were killed and a number of others were injured. In Kathankudy which is a
densely populated Muslim area a bicycle
was parked in the middle of the town with a bomb. The explosion took the lives
of three civilians and injured about 20 people. Immediately after the incident
the buses carrying Tamil passengers were stopped before entering Kathankudy
and normalcy was restored. The passengers in a van which was already inside
the town, when the explosion occurred, were manhandled by the angry crowd.
But due to the immediate intervention of the police and elders from the community
it was stopped.
The whole episode once again brings
out the destructive nature of the LTTE. The bomb was targeted towards the
Muslim civilians and they expected a backlash against Tamil civilians. Although
no serious incident occurred immediately, news reports show that two fishermen
were killed by the Muslim home guards later.
A similar incident happened in Kalmunai
on the same day. Another cycle bomb had been placed near the police barrier
in Kalmunai. In that incident police claim that they have arrested three of
those involved in planting the bomb. After the incident the police, the majority
of whom were Muslims, started attacking the Tamils. But because of the intervention
of the STF it was brought under control. After these incidents the Muslim
youths in Batticaloa town also went on the rampage and the Batticaloa police
managed to control them by taking stern measures. [Top]
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