A survivor of the 2009 Mullivaikkal genocide delivered a harrowing testimony, recalling how Sri Lankan soldiers looted jewellery from the bodies of Tamils.
According to reporting by A7TV, a survivor of the massacre at Mullivaikkal described the horror of walking past the bodies of Tamils while witnessing Sri Lankan soldiers stole from the dead.
“We had to walk past the bodies of our dead. As we were walking, we could see in the distance, the army looting jewellery from dead bodies and putting it in their own clothes and shoes” she said from an event organised by Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) in Sangaanai, Jaffna.
The survivor went on to detail the immense suffering faced by Tamils in 2009, describing the deprivation of even the most basic necessities.
“We sold whatever we could sell for whatever money we could get. We made plain kanji. By the 12th and 13th we could not even make kanji. We had no rice. We had no pots and pans, no clothes, no sanitary products for women.”
“We were constantly running and we lost more and more across that distance” she added.
The Sri Lankan military committed a litany of human rights abuses throughout the armed conflict. During the final months of the conflict, the Sri Lankan military deliberately shelled hospitals, food distribution lines, raped and sexually tortured men and women and forcibly disappeared surrendering families.
Despite the devastating loss, the survivor emphasised her enduring belief in the Tamil people’s strength and the Tamil struggle.
“The reason I am alive today is because I believed that we could do it, we could manage. We had self-confidence that even if not today, our struggle will succeed one day” she said.
Earlier this month, it was announced that large quantities of gold and silver, originally in the possession of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the final stages of the armed conflict, had been handed over by the Sri Lankan Army to Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Priyantha Weerasuriya.
The jewellery is now to be evaluated by the National Gem and Jewellery Authority before being transferred to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.