1990 Batticaloa massacre

Killing of Tamil refugees by the Sri Lankan Army Batticaloa massacre or Sathurukondan massacre The ditch in which the massacres victims were buried Sri Lanka 7 42 58 N 81 42 0 E Sri Lanka relief location map.jpg Batticaloa, Sri Lanka 7 42 58 N 81 42 0 E region:LK inline,title Sri Lankan Tamil civilians 1990 9 9 +6 GMT Cutting, Burning 184 1 Sri Lankan Army Swords, Knives Tamil text Tamil_A.svg Tamil text Help:Multilingual support (Tamil) question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts The 1990 Batticaloa massacre, also known as the Sathurukondan massacre (ta சத்துருக்கொண்டான் படுகொலை), was a massacre of at least 184 minority Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, including infants, from three villages in the Batticaloa District by the Sri Lankan Army on September 9, 1990. http://www.uthr.org/Reports/Report8/chapter2.htm#c The massacre at Sathurukondan: 9th September 1990 – Report 8 UTHR 8 September 2011 29 April 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090429172345/http://www.uthr.org/Reports/Report8/chapter2.htm#c usurpedChapter 45: War continues with brutality http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DF22Df04.html dead https://web.archive.org/web/20020722000018/http://atimes.com/ind-pak/DF22Df04.html 22 July 2002 8 September 2011 Asia Times http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=5390 Batticaloa massacre victims remembered Tamilnet 8 September 2011 http://www.dailynews.lk/2003/10/07/fea06.html Towards reconciliation Dailynews 8 September 2011https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k1/asia/srilanka.html World Report 2000: Sri Lanka Human Rights Watch 8 September 2011 Although the government instituted two investigations, no one was ever charged. Background information Origins of the Sri Lankan civil war By 1946, 33% of clerical jobs in Ceylon were held by Sri Lankan Tamils, although they were 11% of the country's population.Devotta Neil 2003 Brown Michael E. Fighting Words: Language Policy and Ethnic Relations in Asia' The MIT press 115 Ethnolinguistic Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka 9780262269353 This was partly due to the availability of Western-style education provided by the Protestant American Ceylon Mission, Hindu revivalists, and local Catholic missions in the Tamil-dominated Jaffna Peninsula. After gaining independence from Britain in 1948, Sinhalese politicians made the over-representation a political issue. They initiated measures aimed at correcting the over-representation by establishing ethnic quotas for university entrants. These measures, and a series of riots and pogroms starting from 1956 that targeted Sri Lankan Tamils and the resultant mass murder, displacements and refugees, led to the formation of rebel groups advocating independence for Sri Lankan Tamils. After 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 During the course of the civil war there were a number of massacres of civilians, war rapes, torture and enforced disappearances attributed to both the government and allied groups as well as the various rebel formations. The massacre The village of Sathurukondan lies just beyond Iruthayapuram, the northern suburb of Batticaloa. At 5:30 p.m. on September 9, 1990, armed men in uniform and in civilian clothes came into the area and ordered everyone to come on to the road. They were then marched to the army camp in the vicinity after being told that they would be questioned and released. Most of those who were left in the village that day were elderly, women and the very young. According to the only survivor, Kanthasamy Krishnakumar (21), in a recording made before leading citizens in Batticaloa:Fifty commandos walked about 150 of us to the Saturukondan army camp, which we reached about 7.00 or 8.00 p.m. Four were separated from the rest, attacked with swords and kris knives and were pulled away out of the camp. All were then taken to one place, attacked and burnt with tyres. Krishnakumar who was injured, managed to roll out of sight in the semi-darkness, crept away to a house and asked for water. He then went to his village and stayed in an empty house, and later found his way to his cousin's in Batticaloa town. The list of victims totaled 184 (38 Sathurukondan, 47 Kokuvil, 37 Panniachchiady and 62 Pillayarady). Of this number, there were 47 children below the age of 10 and several women. http://www.disappearances.org/mainfile.php/frep_sl_ne/78/ Arrests and subsequent disappearances from the village of Sathurukondan and other Villages 4 July 2007 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20061024173933/http://www.disappearances.org/mainfile.php/frep_sl_ne/78/ 24 October 2006 Government investigation Retired judge K. Palakidnar of the Special Presidential Commission of inquiry appointed by the People's Alliance government described the massacre in detail in his final report. According to the report of the commission of inquiry, 5 infants, 42 children under ten, 85 women and 28 old persons were among the 184 villagers who were murdered. The judge also identified three captains of the Sri Lankan Army: Warnakulasooriya, Herath and Wijenaike as the responsible parties. The judge in his report urged the Sri Lankan President that there is strong evidence for the massacre and that legal action should be taken against the perpetrators. http://www.uthr.org/SpecialReports/spreport12.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20020327082736/http://uthr.org/SpecialReports/spreport12.htm usurped March 27, 2002 Unanswered Questions About 1990 Operations in The East UTHR-J 8 September 2011 Although indictment levelled against alleged miscreants by the Human Rights Task Force, no action has been taken against the alleged perpetrators.http://www.disappearances.org/news/mainfile.php/articles_srilanka/10/ Where is the Mass Grave of Vantharamoolai? ACHRC 8 September 2011 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120402084112/http://www.disappearances.org/news/mainfile.php/articles_srilanka/10/ 2 April 2012Cronin Audrey How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns https://books.google.com/books?id=E-bTT2DXZ0EC&q=batticaloa+massacre&pg=PA240 2009 Princeton University Press 978-0-691-13948-7 240 8 September 2011 Within the Batticaloa district, during the late 1980s and early 1990s a total of 1,100 civilians disappeared, assumed killed.http://www.disappearances.org/mainfile.php/frep_sl_ne/78/Cyberspace Graveyard for Disappeared Persons – Statistic for Batticaloa district 1 August 2006 September 2016 InternetArchiveBot yes https://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/asia10.html HRW report – Sri Lanka 2007-02-02 HRW https://web.archive.org/web/20070214185125/http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/asia10.html 14 February 2007 live References 33em Category:Massacres in 1990 Category:September 1990 in Sri Lanka Category:September 1990 crimes Category:Attacks on civilians attributed to the Sri Lanka Civil Security Force Category:Attacks on civilians attributed to the Sri Lanka Army Category:1990s massacres in the Sri Lankan civil war Category:Massacres of Sri Lankan Tamils Category:Sri Lankan government forces attacks in Eelam War II Category:Terrorist incidents in Sri Lanka in 1990 Category:1990 murders in Sri Lanka