A group of unarmed Tamils killed 35 years ago in an attack carried out by foreign troops in Sri Lanka and denied justice, was remembered in Jaffna recently.
The Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) is accused of carrying out the attack.
Regional reporters said family members and relatives of the victims held a commemoration for their loved ones killed on 5 June 1989 in Vatharavattai, Puttur, Jaffna.
On 6 June 2024, in remembrance of the deceased, relatives displayed the photographs of the victims and offered flowers and lit lamps. Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) former Provincial Councillor Ananthi Sashitharan also joined the event.
Villagers claim that the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) took the nine persons to the Puttur-east Pillayar Kovil area, murdered them, and burnt their bodies. The nine were, Thambirasa Latsanakumar, Thalayasinham Thayanandarasa, Sundararasa Vaikundarasa, Vallipuram Thurairajasinham, Vallipuram Balasingham and Thambimuttu Yogendram who lived in Vatharavattai, and Thavasi Nallathambi, Sinnavan Sivapadam and Sathayan Kandaiyah from Puttur.
These Indian soldiers, who were stationed in Jaffna, were in Sri Lanka at the invitation of former J.R. Jayawardena government purportedly to maintain peace. However, they have been accused of committing a spate of mass murders in October 1987.
The Indian troops had committed the series of mass murders after a group of Indian soldiers died in an attack carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The current president served as a minister of the government at the time, while the present opposition leader’s father, who was the Prime Minister at that time, became the next President.
During the past 35 years, none of the governments on both sides of the Palk Strait has conducted any investigation into the murders committed by the Indian troops or compensated the victims.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) that leads today’s National Peoples Party (NPP) ridiculed the Indian troops as ‘Monkey Troops.’ The JVP lost the armed struggle launched against the devolution of power under the Indo-Sri Lanka accord and held minister posts in a Sri Lankan government that came to power later. It is now determined to form the next government through the ballot. However, it has done nothing to serve justice with regard to crimes committed in the north either by India or Sri Lanka.
