Krishanthi Kumaraswamy tragedy and mass graves in Chemmani

CHEMMANI, a sparsely populated area in the northern peninsula of Jaffna has in recent times acquired a somewhat dubious image. Just as Nallur in Jaffna is associated positively in public perception with the famous Kandasamy temple, Chemmani is associated negatively with mass graves.

- By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

The long war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has resulted in innumerable instances of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. The mass graves uncovered in Chemmani are symbolic proof of those disappearances and killings.

In July 1998, Corporal Somaratne Rajapaksa and some other soldiers were convicted for the rape and murder of a Jaffna schoolgirl Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and the killing of her family. Rajapaksa revealed at his sentencing that between 300 and 400 Tamil civilians killed in 1996 were buried in the Chemmani area.

This disclosure resulted in excavations in 1999 that yielded 15 skeletons, two of which were identified as of youths made to disappear in 1996. Despite forensic confirmation of assault and execution, there was no follow up prosecution. Justice was not meted out. The uncovered human remains taken to the University of Glascow for analysis are still in Scotland.

On 13 February this year, construction workers uncovered human skeletal remains at the Sithuppaathi Hindu cemetery in the Chemmani area. They were engaged in a project to redevelop the cemetery. The Jaffna Magistrate's Court formally declared the site a mass grave and ordered a court-supervised excavation under judicial scrutiny.

67 skeletons including those of infants and children have been exhumed so far. Several personal artefacts such as a schoolbag, a toy doll, bangles, sandals and fragments of clothing have also been discovered. Currently excavation has ceased but will be resumed from 21 July.