A torch rally was held at the Ondaachchimadam Bridge in Batticaloa on Monday evening in a show of solidarity with the “Unextinguished Flame” vigil in Chemmani, Jaffna - a protest demanding international justice for the mass graves recently uncovered in the area.
The demonstration began around 6:00 p.m. and drew participation Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) parliamentarians, local officials, party members, youth, and the general public.
As the remains of dozens of Tamils, including infants, were exhumed from the Chemmani site, families of the disappeared have intensified calls for justice and accountability. The rally aimed to draw global attention to the Chemmani mass graves and to press for an international mechanism to investigate Sri Lanka’s long-standing history of enforced disappearances and genocide.
The “Unextinguished Flame” vigil in Chemmani began earlier that day, at 10:10 a.m., with a symbolic lamp lit by a relative of Krishanthy Kumaraswamy, a Tamil schoolgirl who was abducted, gang raped, and murdered by Sri Lankan soldiers in 1996. Her case later led to the exposure of mass graves in Chemmani, after one of the convicted soldiers testified that more than 300 bodies had been buried in the area by the Sri Lankan military.
In Batticaloa, demonstrators marched with placards and chanted slogans as they made their way across the Ondaachchimadam Bridge. Upon reaching the centre, they raised flaming torches and called on the international community to act.
The protest was held under the auspices of the ITAK and saw the participation of Batticaloa MPs R. Shanakiyan, G. Sirinesan, and S. Sreenath, alongside Amparai MP K. Kodiswaran. Local municipal and divisional council officials also joined the rally.
Protesters stressed that with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk currently in Sri Lanka, now is a critical moment to push for international justice for the mass graves and for the broader genocide committed against the Tamil people. Tamil political and civil society organisations have repeatedly rejected domestic investigative mechanisms as compromised and ineffective, and continue to call for international accountability.
