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The Eastern University massacre was the arrest and subsequent
mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...
of 158
minority Minority may refer to: Politics * Minority government, formed when a political party does not have a majority of overall seats in parliament * Minority leader, in American politics, the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative b ...
Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...
refugees who had taken refuge in the Eastern University campus close to the city
Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...
on 5 September 1990. A witness identified
Sri Lankan Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; t ...
personnel as the perpetrators. The event is part of what is known amongst Sri Lankan Tamils as Black September, a series of civilian
massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...
s. The Sri Lankan government eventually established a presidential commission of inquiry. The inquiry found evidence of illegal abductions and mass murder. It also named the responsible parties, but there is currently no evidence of any judicial follow up to the inquiry.


Background information

Following the breakdown of peace talks between the government of Sri Lanka and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...
(LTTE) in 1990, the
Sri Lankan military The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka encompassing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force; they are governed by the Ministry of Defence (Sri Lank ...
mounted a series of operations against rebel-held territory in Eastern Province, mostly in
Batticaloa District Batticaloa District ( ; ) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (previously known as a Government A ...
. There were a number of massacres and disappearances of civilians attributed to the LTTE, Sri Lankan government forces and government-allied paramilitary groups such as the
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) is a Sri Lankan Tamil political party and former militant group. Initially, the TELO campaigned for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in northeastern Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1987, until ...
(TELO), and People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE).


The incident

According to a local human rights agency
University Teachers for Human Rights The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) or UTHR(J) was formed in 1988 at the University of Jaffna, Jaffna, in Sri Lanka, as part of the national organization University Teachers for Human Rights. Its public activities as a constituent ...
(UTHR), as the
Sri Lankan Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; t ...
personnel from Valaichchenai (se
here
camp went into the villages of Vantharumoolai, Sungankerny and Karuvakkerny for a
search and destroy Seek and destroy (also known as search and destroy, or S&D) is a military strategy which consists of inserting infantry forces into hostile territory and directing them to search and then attack enemy targets before immediately withdrawing. Fi ...
mission, people from these villages ran into the Eastern University campus for protection. The lecturers at the campus provided protection for them and hoisted a white flag in front of the University. One eyewitness account, as recorded by UTHR, reports: The witness further stated that: After witnessing the arrest of 138 people, the witness was arrested on his way home and subsequently released after a nine-day internment in which he personally witnessed the murder of arrestees in the camp.


Closure of the camp

Following the initial arrests, the army arrested 16 more people from the camp the following day. Eventually, the rebel LTTE ordered the authorities to close the refugee camp and ordered all the civilians to move into the nearby jungles. Most refugees thus left the university and became dispersed throughout the surrounding jungle. Many were caught in aerial attacks by the Sri Lankan Air force on purported rebel targets. Surviving refugees from the jungles eventually made their way back to their villages.


Government investigation

The President
Chandrika Kumaratunga Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (; ; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initials CBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth President of Sri Lanka, President of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. ...
appointed a three member-Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Removal or Disappearances of Persons in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The Chairman of the Commissioner was Justice Krishnapillai Palakidner. The President signed the warrant on 30 November 1994. The other two Commissioners were L. W. R. R. Widyaratne and W. N. Wilson. The Commission released its final report in September 1997. According to the commission's report, the arrests from the Vantnlaramoolai Eastern University refugee camp were the largest of this District. The arrests took place on 5 September and 24 September 1990. 158 people were arrested on the first day, while 16 others were taken into custody on the second day. A list containing the names of 158 people reported as missing was produced before this Commission and 83 witnesses testified to the disappearances of 92 people out of the 158 reported above. Evidence was also given regarding 10 of the 16 people who disappeared during the subsequent arrest. According to the evidence, nearly 45,000 people had taken refuge since July 1990 following the outbreak of violence in the vicinity of the university. The refugee camp was administered by Mano Sabaratnam, Thangamuthu Jayasinghan, and Velupody Sivalingam. It was supported by
Non-Governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
during this period. On 5 September 1990, by about 09:00, soldiers from Kommathurai army camp, along with personnel from some other army camps, arrived in a government owned bus and entered the premises of the Eastern University. This was followed by an announcement using an amplifier fitted to a white colored van asking the refugees to form into three different queues; people aged 12 to 25 in the first row, people aged 26 to 40 in the second row, and persons over 40 years of age in the third row. People in the three queues were asked to pass through a point where five people clad in masks and army uniforms were seated in chairs along with seven Muslims, standing behind the masked people. Whenever the people in the masks gave a signal, people in the queues were taken away to the side. When this operation was completed, 158 people who were pulled out from the queues were taken away by the Army despite protest from their kith and kin. There was evidence to show that the arrests were done by the Kommathurai Army camp with the assistance of personnel from other army camps, and that the following Army officers were directing the operations: Capt. Munas, Capt. Palitha, Capt. Gunarathna, Major Majeed and Major Monan. Some of these names are aliases. There was also evidence to show that Gerry de Silva had visited the refugee camp on 8 September 1990 and had told the officers responsible for the administration of the refugee camp that all 158 people taken into custody on 5 September were found guilty. However, he declined to say what happened to them after they were found guilty. There was further evidence showing that one of the officers in charge of the refugee camp made a request to the army personnel in charge of the operations to give a list of persons arrested. However, there was no response. It also transpired in evidence that Mr Thalayasingam, the Chairman of the Peace Committee, had received a letter in October, 1990 from A. W. Fernando, Air Chief Marshal, who was then the Secretary to the Minister of State for Defence, wherein it stated that on 5 September 1990, only 32 people were taken into custody from the Eastern University Refugee camp, and that all had been released within 24 hours of arrest. The letter contained a list of 32 names of people alleged to have been released. However the Commission was informed that none of those who were arrested had returned either to the said refugee camp or to their homes and still remain missing.


Day of remembrance

The incident and the related massacres of civilians has become an annual event of remembrance in Batticaloa.


See also

*
List of attacks on civilians attributed to Sri Lankan government forces The following is a list of attacks on civilians attributed to armed groups under the control of the Sri Lankan government, which includes the Sri Lankan Army, Sri Lankan Navy, Sri Lankan Air Force, Sri Lankan Police Service, state-backed mobs ...


References


External links


Eastern University , Sri Lanka (official website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern University Massacre Attacks on civilians attributed to the Sri Lanka Army Attacks on civilians attributed to the Sri Lanka Civil Security Force University and college massacres in Asia 1990s massacres of the Sri Lankan civil war Eastern University, Sri Lanka Massacres in 1990 Mass murder of Sri Lankan Tamils September 1990 in Asia September 1990 crimes Sri Lankan government forces attacks in Eelam War II Terrorist incidents in Sri Lanka in 1990 Attacks on schools in Sri Lanka Attacks on schools in 1990 University and college shootings in Asia