A pile of fragments from gravestones bulldozed by Sri Lankan military in Kanakapuram Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam is now the centre of pilgrimage to relatives and friends of deceased Tamil fighters.
Sri Lankan police in Murunkan, Mannar District, have had an attempt to prevent the commemoration of Tamil freedom fighters on Maaveerar Naal, rejected by a local court earlier today.
The Mannar Magistrate Court dismissed the Sri Lankan police application filed under Section 106 of the penal code. The police had sought a conditional restraining order to prevent any Maaveerar Naal commemorations within their jurisdiction. The court rejected the request and dismissed the case, upholding the right to commemorate. Reports suggest police in other districts may also file similar cases.
Since the end of the armed conflict the Sri Lankan government has routinely cracked down on peaceful commemoration through the use of military intelligence and mobs, banning of symbols of Tamil Eelam, and use the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to repress events and their organisers. Memorials and LTTE cemeteries have been razed to the ground and are now under military occupation. Relatives of the dead have repeatedly attempted to fashion new memorials from the debris of destroyed ones to pay respect to the sacrifice of the LTTE fighters.
The attempt by the Sri Lankan police in Mannar is just the latest in a long history of repressing Tamil memorial events.
Earlier this year, police in Jaffna filed a case in September to prohibit commemorations and memorials in honour of Thileepan, a political wing leader of the LTTE. Last year, the memorial was attacked by a Sinhalese mob despite the presence of Sri Lankan police. Earlier this year, Sri Lankan counter terrorism police interrogated Tamil students and staff over art exhibitions depicting a decorative battle tank and a Karthigai poo - the national flower of Tamil Eelam - at Thellipalai Union College’s sports competition. In January of this year, a 16-year-old boy was interrogated by Sri Lankan police over a kite with a map of Tamil Eelam. During Maaveerar Naal commemorations last year, the Sri Lankan police banned yellow and red flags and prohibited the use of the Karthigai poo as an “LTTE symbol”.
In August 2024, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a damning report detailing the 46 cases of arrests and detentions under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) between January 2023 and April 2024. The OHCHR reports that at least 12 cases was used to detain "primarily those participating or involved in organization of memorialization activities". Furthermore, in May 2024, four women were arrested for distributing Mullivaikal kanji in Trincomalee. Mullivaikkal kanji is a porridge of rice and salt water, the only sustenance for tens of thousands of Tamil civilians marooned on the beaches of Mullivaikkal as Sri Lanka conducted its genocide.
Maaveerar Naal takes place on November 27th and honours those who gave their lives for the Tamil liberation struggle. It marks the death anniversary of Lt. Shankar who died on 27th November 1982, and it is commemorated all over the world.
