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Over 200 people, including families of the disappeared, gathered earlier this month in Jaffna to view dozens of items of evidence exhumed from the Chemmani mass graves.
Among those present was Amalanathan Mary Calista, whose husband was arrested by the military in 1996 and has never returned. She told the Associated Press that she had hoped that seeing proof of his death might at least bring closure after nearly three decades of searching.
“I went there hoping to see at least his clothes. There was a sarong but it wasn’t my husband’s. He was wearing a blue sarong at the time. It was disappointing,” she said, breaking down in tears.
“I only saw the clothing of little children,” she added.
Calista recounted how her husband was one of 24 people detained in a single raid, when the Sri Lankan military swept through their village. Families tried to stop the army trucks by blocking the road, but the authorities reportedly pushed them aside. None of the detainees were ever seen again.
“My wish is that he should be alive and return, but we can do nothing if it is not so,” she continued. “The state army arrested him. They must say that they arrested him and that he died at their hands. They also must pay us compensation.”
Another woman, Sivanathan Selvamalar, recalled watching her younger brother being loaded blindfolded into a military truck during the same raid. Years later, in 2009, her husband was also detained at a checkpoint. He managed to call her to say he was arrested, but was never heard from again, she said.
Like Calista, she came to view the Chemmani evidence hoping for answers, but instead was faced with the same haunting images. “We went to see the things, thinking they may have buried people who were arrested around this area, but we saw only the things of little children,” she said.
“We have checked all the prisons but have not found them. When we are told that more than 100 skeletons have been dug out, we fear the worst,” Selvamalar added.
Read more from the Associated Press here.
The Chemmani site has long been tied to systematic killings carried out by the Sri Lankan army. Recent excavations unearthed human skeletal remains and personal belongings, rekindling anguish for the families of the disappeared who have waited decades for answers about their disappeared loved ones.
For Tamils, the mass grave is a grim reminder of the scale of atrocities carried out by Sri Lanka’s military, and the continued absence of accountability. Families of the disappeared have repeatedly demanded an international investigation into atrocities committed by the state, including accountability for the crime of genocide.
