The Eelam Tamil calendar is scarred with memorials of massacres and killings, each date carrying its own weight. May 18 is different.

 

Marking the 17th anniversary of the Tamil genocide and the 50th anniversary of the Vaddukoddai Resolution, the U.S.-based advocacy organisation PEARL has renewed calls for international accountability for war crimes and genocide against Tamils, while reaffirming the Eelam Tamil people’s right to self-determination.

On the 17th anniversary of the Mullivaikkal massacre, S. Ramadoss called for an international investigation into war crimes and a UN-supervised independence referendum as the only path to justice for Eelam Tamils

British Member of Parliament Uma Kumaran has called for truth, justice and accountability on Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, marking 17 years since the mass atrocities committed against Tamils in 2009.

 

Tamils in Point Pedro, Jaffna, commemorated the victims of the Mullivaikkal genocide today. 

The British High Commission in Colombo on Monday (May 18) issued a statement marking 17 years since the end of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict, stressing the need for truth, justice and accountability as families across the island continue searching for missing loved ones.

In a Facebook post shared on May 18, the British mission said,

All photographs by Uthayarasa Shalin

Thousands of Tamils gathered at Mullivaikkal commemoration ground this morning to mark Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. 

This year marks 17 years since Sri Lanka's genocidal offensive that left an estimated 169,796 Tamils unaccounted for and presumed dead. 

The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) distributed kanji in Urumpirai, Jaffna, to commemorate Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. 

The event was held in front of a statue of Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran, the first Tamil to die in the liberation struggle. 

A lamp was lit and flowers laid for the victims of the genocide perpetrated by Sri Lanka in the final months of the armed conflict.