The affidavits

The affidavits

The following section is a summary excerpt from about 500 affidavits made by families of other victims of the wanton killing by the Indian forces during the period concerned.

Schools where people had taken refuge from the shelling had come under attack as described in the next two affidavits.

1. Chellaih Thurairaja, of Thiruchelvan Lane, Palaly Road, Kondavilin his affidavit said that his family had sought shelter at Chundukuli Girls College on 20 October 1987. With him was also his daughter who had just given birth to a baby. Around 7.00pm, shells fired by the Indian forces stationed in the Navatkuli camp exploded on a classroom and one of his daughters was killed by shrapnel. Thurairaja said in his affidavit that ten people died on that day in the Chundukuli Girls College due to shelling.
2. Kamalambikai Karuppaih of 70, Kannathiddy Road, Jaffna in her affidavit said that her family took refuge in Navalar School on 20 October. On 24 October, Indian forces approaching the school opened fire at the people who had sought shelter inside the school killing 17 civilians including her 58 year old husband Sivalingam Karuppaih. She said that the dead bodies were burnt by the Indian forces the next day on the school grounds.

Affidavit after affidavit claims how the Indian forces had hunted people, men, women, young and the old and killed them by shooting point blank. A sample of nine such affidavits is given.

1. Rasaih Segaran of Power House Chunnakam in his affidavit said that on 12 October 1987, around 5.00pm about 28 of the people in the area had collected in one spot after hearing the news that the Indian forces are moving towards their area in several gun carriers. When the Indian forces arrived a little later it ordered the 28 people to come out in the open space and then it opened fire at the people. Eight people among the 28 were gunned down in the incident. The Indian forces left at 6.30pm. While the injured were removed those survived the attack fled the area. Segaran said that he returned to the area only on 16 October. He said the dead bodies of the victims were still there in highly decomposed state. Segaran lost his father and mother and in his affidavit he lists the names of those killed in the incident as follows: Kanapathy Rasaih aged 45; Rasaih Manonmani aged 37; Nannithamby Ranjinithevi aged 14; Muthan Kathiri aged 33; Muthusingam Pooranann aged 33; Kanagan Selli aged 60; Kathirgamanathan Sarojinidevi aged 20; and Kathirkamanathan Vimalanathan aged 89.

2. Puvanendram Yogamma of Pokkanai, Urelu said in her affidavit that on 12 October 1987, Indian forces ordered them to walk out of their homes with their arms raised. As they walked out, the Indian forces opened fire on them. Her daughter was hit by a bullet and she fell down but Yogamma had to leave her injured daughter and move on as ordered. When they were allowed to return home, her daughter was dead and her house was burnt.

3. Rajalingam Vijaya of Urelu, Unrumpirai said in her affidavit that on 12 October 1987 around 10.00am, Indian soldiers knocked on their door, entered the house and searched. As they left, they informed the family that they will not harm them and they should stay indoors. Later Vijaya learnt from neighbours that the Indian soldiers have done the same thing to other households in the area too. Around 3.00pm another batch of Indian soldiers had come to Vijaya’s house and knocked. When her husband carrying their child opened the door, the Indian soldiers opened fire. Her husband fell to the ground with the child. The Indian soldiers then left and Vijaya with the help of neighbours took her husband and child to the hospital. Her husband died on the way to the hospital. Her child’s right arm below the elbow had to be amputated.
4. Senior Santhirakumaran of Surwatha, Chunnakam in his affidavit said that on 13 October 1987, his wife, Santhirakumaran Easwary aged 32 and their three children aged 12, 8 and 3 were shot point blank and killed by the Indian forces near Chunnakam Power station.
5. Sivagnanasundarampillai Sivanesan of Palay Road, Vasavilan in his affidavit said that on 16 October 1987 his father Ilagupillai Sivagnanasundarampillai aged 63, his mother, Sivagnanasundarampillai Sivapakiyam aged 59, and his brother, Sivagnanasundarampillai Sivaharan aged 32, were shot and killed by the Indian forces in their home. Sivanesan had just gone to the shops and as he returned he heard from others that the Indian forces had entered his home. Sivanesan was able to go to his house only on 25 October to find the highly decomposed bodies of his three family members.
6. Sinnamah Poopathipillai of Karanthan Road, Urelu, Chunnakamin her affidavit said that on 20 October 1987 her 65 year father, Elayavan Ramu, was moving with the rest of them away from their home due to the forward movement of the Indian forces. About 200 meters from their home the Indian forces opened fire at them and her father was hit and he died on the spot. The rest of them fled leaving the father there. She said they were able to return to their home only one month later to find her father’s skeletal remains at the same spot.
7. Nageswary Rajasingam of Kalaivani Road, Anunkai, Kondavil, in her affidavit said that on 16 October 1987, Indian soldiers entered her house and shot dead her husband and her 78 years old mother-in- law, Chellaih Archchipillai. Nageswary escaped and it was only on 21 November that she was able to return home to find the skeletons of her husband and mother-in-law.

8. Arumugam Nagalingam of Vannar Kovilady, Vasavilan in his affidavit said that on 19 October his wife was visiting a neighbour when the IPKF soldiers entered the neighbour’s house and opened fire injuring one person. The others ran into the kitchen seeking shelter. The Indian soldiers broke open the kitchen door and opened fire killing one person on the spot. Three more people were injured including Nagalingam’s wife. She later succumbed to her injuries.

9. Rev Fr Veeravahu Nathaniel Tharmakulasingam of Jaffna Road, Uduppiddy in his affidavit said that Indian soldiers entered his home on 15 February 1989 through the rear and the front of his house. They shot at his brother who was carrying his young son in his arms. The brother and his young son were slightly injured. Then they opened fire on his two sisters one of whom was pregnant and killed both of them. The child, who was in the arms of the pregnant woman, was injured in his thighs.

Entire families who were a little too late to leave home as the Indian forces approached had been killed by shelling. Elderly who were too feeble to walk to the refuges had also been found as skeletons by families when they returned home.

1. Sinnaih Kanagasabapathy of Kondavil North, Kondavil in his affidavit said that on 10 October 1987 his family sought refuge at the Nallur Kandasamy temple but his 88 years old father, Kanthar Sinnaih, being too feeble to walk stayed behind at their home. On 16 October, a neighbour informed Kanagasabapathy that Indian soldiers shot and killed many people in their area and among those killed was also his old father. The situation did not permit Kanagasabapathy to go to his house to check on his father. They returned home only on 21 November to find a skeleton which they could identify as their father only through the clothes he was wearing.

2. Dr Nagalingam Therugnanasampanthan of Palaly Road, Kondavil

lost his brother, brother’s wife and their son. In his affidavit he said,

“Prior to 14 October we were living in our own house. When shells started falling around our house, we sought refuge at Nallur Kandasamy temple. By 1 November we had moved to 268, Navalar Road seeking refuge there.

My brother Nagalingam Jeyaseelan, a retired Divisional Agricultural Extension officer aged 68, was living with his family at his own house, Ëaswaran Illam”, Irupalai, Kondavil. In their

household in addition to my brother, there were his wife, Rukumani, their son Gnana Easwaran, and two domestic aids, Kanaga Kalarani and Kanaga Wijayaledchmy.

On 1 November, a neighbour of my brother informed me that my brother, his wife, his son and the two domestic aids were found dead in the rear of their home with gunshot wounds. We could not go to their home due to the prevailing situation. Few days later, other neighbours of my brother informed me that the five bodies of the dead were cremated in the same compound. On 16 November we managed to go to my brother’s home and found the house had been ransacked with many of their personal belongings missing. In the compound we found signs of bodies burnt and few pieces of bones were there.”

3. Sangarapillai Thilaiampalam of 392 Navalar Road, Kailasapillaiyar kovilady said in his affidavit that a lot of his relatives had taken refuge in his house on 11 October 1987. Indian forces stationed in Jaffna Fort started firing and three shells exploded on his house, instantly killing his son-in-law Yoganathaan aged 32, his 90 years old uncle Pasupathy, his cousin Sinnamah, and his niece Nirmaladevi. His son Kathirkamanathan aged 32, daughter Bavani Yoganathan aged 28, and his nephew Maheswarakumar were seriously injured and were admitted to hospital where all three of them succumbed to the injures. The two little grandsons of Thillaiampalam aged two and three were also badly injured.
4. Kumarasamy Tharumalingam of 66/3, Palam Road, Jaffna, in his affidavit said that on 5 November 1987, Indian bomber and helicopter gunships attacked their area. One bomb exploded over their home killing five members of his family. His daughter Tharumalingam Navaranjin aged 18 was among the dead. The entire family of five, parents and three children, of his brother-in-law was also killed inside the house.

People had been killed while travelling, sometimes on mercy mission with permission from the Indian forces.

1. Pararajasingam Puvaneswary of Sandipay Jaffna in her affidavit said that her husband in a car transported to Tellipalai hospital four civilians who were injured on 9 November 1987 when a shell exploded on the Kalvalai Pillaiyar temple. The same day he returned and told his wife that he had to take some patients from Tellipalai hospital to Jaffna General Hospital and they were in the car. He then left for the General Hospital. The next day she was informed that her

husband and five others in the car had been shot dead by the Indian forces.

2. Muthu Ponnuthurai of Anpuvalipuram, Trincomalee in his affidavit said that his family had been living as refugees in Neervely MPCS refugee camp in Jaffna since 1986. On 27 October his wife and two daughters left for Trincomalee. In November he came to know that that a van bound for Trincomalee was shot by the Indian forces and 16 people including one Brahmin priest were killed. It was only in December 87 that he came to know that his wife, Maheswary Ponnuthurai aged 49 and two daughters, Ponnuthurai Manjuladevi aged 28 and Ponnuthurai Kamaleswar aged 10 were in that same van and that they too had been killed.

In many of the affidavits of victims, torture was recorded.

Ponnambalam Logendran of Theniyambai Valvettithurai in his affidavit describes the beating, electric shock and other forms of torture meted out to him, his two friends and four other young men following their arrest by the Indian forces on 16 November 1987. Logendran was kept in one place with two others while the rest were taken elsewhere. Two days later they were all put in a van and driven to Vellaiveli, a vast open land. One of the young men taken, Paramasamy Paramanathan, was in the van only as a corpse and he was buried in Vellaveli by the accompanying Indian soldiers. A fellow detainee of Paramanathan told Logendran that they were severely tortured and Paramanathan died of the torture. In his affidavit Logendran stated, an Indian soldier named Anilkumar was the key torturer of Paramanathn. After burying the body of Paramanathan, the Indian soldiers ordered the remaining detainees to dig graves. One of the detained, Munusamy Baburaj, was then ordered to lie facing up in the grave he had dug and he was then shot and killed in the grave by the Indian soldiers. The rest were then warned of the same fate. Subsequently, the rest of them including Logendran were released.