Tamil Genocide remembered in North - East
- Post 17 May 2016
Defying intimidation by Sri Lankan armed forces, the Tamils have launched a Genocide Remembrance Week in the country's war ravaged north and east while the government has announced a 'war heroes month' to honour its armed forces.
Northern Provincial Councillor MK Shivajiligam led the inaugural memorial on the 12th of May at Chemmani in Jaffna where a mass grave of Tamils allegedly killed by government troops was exposed in 1999.
Tens of thousands of Tamils killed during the bloody war will be remembered in a series of memorials held in the north upto the 18th of May, Shivajiligam told journalists in Jaffna.
The Sri Lanka government declared its military victory over Tamil Tigers on 18 May 2009.
Mullivaikkal
The final remembrance event led by the chief minister of the north CV Wigneswaran is to be held at Mullivaikkal in the Mullaithivu district where a large number of Tamil civillians seeking shelter in a government designated No Fire Zone were killed during the final stages of the military's offensive.
The UN that has recorded credible evidence of indiscriminate heavy bombardment by Sri Lanka military on the No Fire Zone that killed at least a 70,000.
Activists around the world are planning Mullivaikkal rembrance events to call for justice for the victims of Sri Lanka's war.
President Maithripala Sirisena announced a War Heroes Commemoration Month earlier this month 'to felicitate and commemorate the heroic soldiers'.
The UN has called upon the government to halt its acts of triumphalism and take steps for the memorialization of war victims in order to pave the way for genuine reconciliation.
© JDS
