Paranthanfarmers massacre ­28.06.1986

Paranthan is situated in the Kandavalai Assistant Government Agent Division in the Kilinochchi district. Paranthan is a key town in the Kilinochchi district. The main economic activity of the people is farming. Some also fish for additional income and some work as laborers.

Paranthan was subjected to many military attacks has been badly affected as a result during the war. In particular, this area faced the persistent attacks from the Elephant Pass military camp of the Sri Lankan military.

On 28.06.1986 at 5.15am, there was shelling from the Elephant Pass camp. The military moved forward into the Paranthan main road. Seven farmers who were irrigating their plots along the main road were arrested by the military for no apparent reason. They were tied together by a rope and tortured. Their bodies were later discovered in the nearby by waste water canal.

Those who arrived to work in the paddy fields that afternoon at 3.30 pm saw the bodies and informed the families. Many people in Paranthan displaced in the 1980’s from their homes due to such persistent atrocities.