Othiyamalai massacre 01.12.1984
This is a remote village on the border of Mullaithivu district. More or less the entire population worked in their own paddy fields and they had ample farming produce to live by. However, Sinhalese settlers were settling in Ken Farm and Dollar Farm and displacing the Upcountry Tamils in these places who had already been displaced from the Upcountry as a result of ethnic violence. From 29th November 1984 until 2nd December 1984 the SLAFs declared a curfew. A SLAFs regiment moved from Pathaviya to Othiyamalai on 1st December 1984. The SLAFs rounded up the people of Othiyamalai village.
When the villagers opened their door at 5.00 am on that day, they saw the Sri Lankan soldiers standing in green attire. The soldiers spoke fluent Tamil and asked for all the men in the village to come to the Development Society building managed by the LTTE, and demanded that they assist the struggle waged by the LTTE. Deceived by the pretension of the Sri Lankan army soldiers 32 men went.
Sithambarapillai Sagunthararasa otherwise known as Rasa lost his father and five uncles in the Othiyamalai Nedunkerni Massacre. His account is as follows: “On 2nd December 1984, 32 people were massacred here. My father and five of my uncles were killed. Around 5:00 or 5:30 in the morning, the SLA came to our village. We were small children then. We only know what people told us, we don’t remember much. My father was
listening to the radio. It was only when they caught him that we realized they were the SLA. They caught our uncle at our house. They tore up his shirt in front of us and tied his hands. Like this, the SLA went in twos and threes to every house and caught each family head. On Pathikudippu Road, they saw a tractor. They took hold of the tractor and put everyone they had brought on this tractor. They tied up every ones hands and eyes. They shot everyone whilst the men remained still tied. The watching villagers told us, that they put five people, all of them over fifty years old in the back of a tractor. They took off the side doors of the tractor, placed them on top of the five old men and the soldiers then stood on top of the men singing and dancing as they drove away.”
Kumulamunai massacre 02.12.1984
Kumulamunai is in the Mullaitivu district. Farming and rearing livestock are the main occupation of the village. During the 1984, it was common for the Sri Lankan military to round up the Kumulamunai village and arrest people and torment them.
On 01.10.1984, the village was rounded up by the Sri Lankan military and two people from the same family were arrested. Following this on 29.11.1984 several more villagers were arrested. Military released most of the people it had arrested except the four brothers of the two people arrested earlier and another person from Kumulamunai named Mohan. The families of these men persisted in seeking the release of the men. The military promised to release them after inquiry. On 01.12.1984, the military told the families that they have shot dead all seven men. Six of the seven men shot dead are brothers. Six of the men were married.
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