1984 Mannar massacre

1984 mass killing of Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan Army soldiers in Mannar, Sri Lanka Mannar massacre (disambiguation) September 2014 1984 Mannar massacre Sri Lanka 8 57 58 N 79 52 59 E Sri Lanka relief location map.jpg Mannar, Sri Lanka 8 57 58 N 79 52 59 E region:LK inline,title Sri Lankan Tamils December 4, 1984 +6 GMT Shooting 200+ Unknown Sri Lankan Army Guns The 1984 Mannar massacre was the killing of 200+ minority Sri Lankan Tamils civilians by Sri Lankan Army soldiers in the town of Mannar, north-western Sri Lanka, on December 4, 1984.Brown (edit) Cynthia Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights 1995 Human Rights Watch 1-56432-152-5 https://archive.org/details/playingcommunalc00brow p. 91Massacres of Tamils (1956-2008). Chennai: NESOHR/Manitham Publications. 2009. p. 15. 978-81-909737-0-0. The attack was triggered when three Army jeeps hit a land mine, killing one soldier. In retaliation, landmarks such as the Central hospital, the post office, a Roman Catholic convent as well as villagers working in rice paddy fields and bus passengers were attacked. Villages around Mannar town such as Murunkan and Parappankadal were also attacked. Immediately after the incident, the then Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardene appointed a Presidential commission of inquiry. A local Roman Catholic priest, Mary Bastian who was a member of the Presidential commission was later killed in January 1985. A Methodist minister George Jeyarajasingham, who was a witness to the incident, was also killed in December 1984.Hoole Ranjan Sri Lanka: The Arrogance of Power : Myths, Decadence & Murder 2001 University Teachers for Human Rights 955-9447-04-1 p. 327Marks Thomas Maoist Insurgency Since Vietnam 1996 Routledge 0714646067 p. 231 Background information Origins of the Sri Lankan civil war By 1956, 50% of clerical jobs were held by Tamils, although they were a minority of the country's population.Neil DeVotta, Ethnolinguistic Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka, p73 This was partly a result of the Western education provided by American missionaries in the Tamil dominated Jaffna Peninsula.https://uthr.org/Rajan/selfdet.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20010925121028/http://www.uthr.org/Rajan/selfdet.htm usurped September 25, 2001 Welcome to UTHRJ Mendis, G. C., The causes of communal conflict in Ceylon (1943) http://dlib.pdn.ac.lk/handle/123456789/1109 https://web.archive.org/web/20241126230821/http://dlib.pdn.ac.lk/handle/123456789/1109 2024-11-26 In order to win support amongst the majority Sinhalese people populist politicians initiated measures aimed at reducing the over representation of Tamils in the civil service and science based courses such as the Sinhala Only Act and the Policy of standardisation. These measures, as well as riots and pogroms that targeted the Sri Lankan Tamils, led to the formation of a number of rebel groups advocating independence for Sri Lankan Tamils. Following the 1983 Black July pogrom full scale civil war erupted between the government and the rebel groups.http://countrystudies.us/sri-lanka/71.htm Tamil Alienation 2008-05-08 Russell R. Ross The incident On December 4, 1984, three Sri Lankan Army jeeps hit a land mine, killing one soldier and wounding eleven others. In retaliation, about thirty (30) soldiers went on a rampage, attacking public buildings and civilians in and around Mannar.September 2014 The soldiers attacked the central hospital; stopped vehicles and shot and killed the occupants; shot 15 employees of the post office by lining them up and shooting them, killing eight; opened fire on peasants in fields; and attacked a convent, stripping the nuns of watches, gold crucifixes and chains. Another group of soldiers stopped a bus and shot all the male passengers. A bus travelling in the opposite direction was also stopped and twenty of its passengers were shot dead. Off the main road, an army jeep drove into the village of Parappankadal. The soldiers fired indiscriminately, killing 12 of people including a mother nursing her infant child. The child survived but three of its toes were blown away by the bullet that killed its mother. Murunkan was another village affected the incident.September 2014 By the end, more than 200 people were killed; another 20 were missing, mostly young male Tamils taken to army camps. It took three days to transport all the bodies.Tamils hit by scorched-earth blitz Weaver Mary Anne January 27, 1985 Sunday Times 9 Londonhttp://pact.lk/2008/03/23/4-december-1984/ Michael Hamlyn reporting in The Times, 18 February 1985 2008-05-08 Michael Hamlyn October 2010 H3llBot Investigations The then Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayawardene instituted a Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate the incident. Although many locals were reluctant to participate in the investigation, Mary Bastian, a Roman Catholic priest, participated in the investigation.September 2014 Rev Jeyarajasingham, a Methodist priest, was another the focal point of Human Rights activism on behalf of the local people He was also the local contact for the Sri Lankan government appointed presidential committee to investigate Human Rights violations in the Mannar district. Rev. Jeyarajasingham was shot dead on December 13, 1984, when he was travelling in his vehicle. Later his body was burnt along with his vehicle. Rev Fr Mary Bastian collected the remains of victims including Rev Jeyarajasingham and handed them to the Jeevothayam Methodist Centre. http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DC23Df05.html https://web.archive.org/web/20021001211016/http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DC23Df05.html unfit 2002-10-01 Chapter 32: Limbo between war and peace 2006-03-26 Asiantimes http://www.uthr.org/Reports/Report1/Chapter1.htm#_Toc517801526 Note to the incident at St. Patrick's 2006-03-26 UTHR 2005-10-31 https://web.archive.org/web/20051031070927/http://www.uthr.org/Reports/Report1/Chapter1.htm#_Toc517801526 usurped Frerks George Bart Klem Dealing with diversity: Sri Lankan Discourses on Peace and Conflict Netherlands Institute of International Relations 2004 90-5031-091-5 p.118 Humphrey Hawksley Massacre in Akkaraipattu The Guardian February 22, 1986 http://www.tamilnation.org/indictment/indict041.htm Lawrence Patricia The Ocean of Stories; Children's Imagination, Creativity, and Reconciliation in Eastern Sri Lanka 2001 International Centre for Ethnic Studies 955-580-076-6 p.40McDermott (edit) Rachel Fell Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West 2008 University of California Press 978-0-520-23240-2 p.121 Caron Cynthia Floundering Peace Process: Need to Widen Participation Economic and Political Weekly 38 11 1029–1031 March 15–21, 2003 4413336 Rev Fr Mary Bastian was himself killed on January 6, 1985, allegedly by the military. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=10878 Mannar human rights activist Fr Mary Bastian remembered 2006-03-26 Tamilnet Brown(edit) Cynthia Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights 1995 Human rights Watch 1-56432-152-5 https://archive.org/details/playingcommunalc00brow p.91Marks Thomas Maoist Insurgency Since Vietnam 1996 Routledge 0-7146-4606-7 p.197http://storage.paxchristi.net/AP29E97.pdf#search=%22Fr.%20Mary%20Bastian%20%22 Speaking truth to power:the human rights situation in Sri Lanka 2006-03-26 Paxchristi See also List of attacks on civilians attributed to Sri Lankan government forces References 2 Category:Massacres in 1984 Category:Attacks on civilians attributed to the Sri Lanka Army Category:1980s massacres in the Sri Lankan civil war Category:December 1984 in Asia Category:Massacres of Sri Lankan Tamils Category:Sri Lankan government forces attacks in Eelam War I Category:Terrorist incidents in Sri Lanka in 1984