Jaffna mass grave a test for the dissanayake government

Jaffna mass grave a test for the dissanayake government

The site was discovered by accident in February this year when workers, who were readying land in Chemmani, located in the outskirts of Jaffna, to build a Hindu crematorium, stumbled upon what appeared to be human bones; Justice Minister says the govt. has ‘the complete political will’ to address the grievances of those who have suffered ‘catastrophic deaths, disappearances and losses’ drawn domestic and international attention, is putting to test the Anura Kumara Dissanayake government’s pledge to address Tamil people’s grievances.

The site was discovered by accident in February this year when workers, who were readying land in Chemmani — on the outskirts of Jaffna, a former war zone — to build a Hindu crematorium, stumbled upon what appeared to be human bones. They immediately alerted authorities, prompting the Jaffna Magistrate Court to order excavation and further investigation.

A team of experts, comprising a senior archaeologist, assisted by students from the University of Jaffna, and Judicial Medical Officers, has since been excavating the site that is now protected with restricted access. According to sources familiar with the excavation, about 65 skeletons, including some believed to be children, have been found so far, at times with what appeared to be school bags and other personal belongings.

The growing count is agonising for locals, especially families of disappeared persons, who have been chasing the truth about their missing loved ones for years. Their resolve continues to date, 16 years after the civil war ended with the state armed forces crushing the LTTE, while tens of thousands of civilians were massacred.

From the time his 21-year-old brother was arrested by the Army in 1996, Ponnambalam Arumugasamy has spent much of his time and energy trying to trace him. “Each of us looking for a missing relative has been undergoing enormous pain, not knowing what happened to our brother or son or daughter,” says Mr. Arumugasamy, 75, who resides near Jaffna town.

Political will

This is not the first time Chemmani has been in focus. In a startling court revelation in the late 1990s, soldier Somaratne Rajapakse — among those convicted in a case of rape, abduction, and murder of 18-year-old Tamil Krishanthi Kumaraswamy — testified that “300-400 bodies” were buried in Chemmani. His disclosure led authorities to some 15 bodies at the location, but the case was dropped after that.

“This government is unique,” asserted Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara, pointing to the ruling National People’s Power’s [NPP] huge mandate in last year’s general election in the island’s north and east, where Tamil-speaking people are a majority. “So, unlike previous governments, we have a bigger responsibility in fulfilling their aspirations, looking after their well-being,” he told The Hindu in an interview.

Observing that the Dissanayake government has “the complete political will” to address the grievances of those who have suffered “catastrophic deaths, disappearances, and losses”, Mr. Nanayakkara said the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP, the chief political constituent of the ruling alliance) had “suffered the same” in the late 1980s, and therefore “takes it very seriously”. Amnesty International estimates that Sri Lanka has one of the world’s highest number of disappearances, with a backlog of 60,000 to 1,00,000 complaints, including from the island’s south where thousands went missing during the JVP-led insurrections in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mirak Raheem, a commissioner at the Office on Missing Persons, set up in 2016 to probe disappearances, observed that investigating mass graves is “a very complex” exercise.

To start with, the whole process of excavation is destructive. The site must be destroyed [to recover the skeletons] and can never be reconstructed. The focus is not only on recovering human remains, but also on collecting as much information as possible from the location. “For instance, the orientation and the position of the bodies, the geography of the site, details such as the boundary of the mass grave, may provide useful pointers on how the site might have been dug,” he said.

While political will is fundamental to see the case through, technical expertise is also critical, experts noted. Earlier, the community, including the families, activists, and lawyers, was not as aware of the subject, according to Ranitha Gnanarajah, an Attorney at Law, working with and appearing on behalf of families of the disappeared. “But now, we have had more exposure, including to other contexts that have dealt with mass graves, such as Guatemala, Argentina, and Rwanda. We are more aware of the strategies, systems, legal process, challenges and the diverse approaches in the excavation at tracing of mass grave sites,” she said. Winning families’ trust will be crucial, according to Minister Nanayakkara. Acknowledging that “people need closure, people need justice”, he also flagged the need for dignity of families, recognition as a special category of victims and some form of social protection to support their lives. “When you fight for 30, 40 years, discriminate and marginalise, they (Tamils) are not going to trust the Sinhalese just like that. Our job is to win their trust and help heal.”