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Former Sri Lankan minister and Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila has dismissed the ongoing forensic excavation of mass graves in Chemmani, Jaffna, as “pointless and a waste of money,” drawing outrage from families of the disappeared and Tamil rights advocates across the North-East.
“The North is war-ravaged so mass graves will appear anywhere,” Gammanpila, a Sinhala extremist leader, told the media. “Digging them up and commenting [on them] is pointless and a waste of money.”
His remarks come amid a renewed investigation into the Chemmani mass graves, where over 140 human skeletal remains, including those of children, have been exhumed so far. The discovery has sparked emotional reactions across the Tamil homeland and has reignited long-standing calls for international justice and accountability.
In interviews conducted by the World Socialist Web Site, several Tamil families of the forcibly disappeared voiced their devastation and frustration at such dismissive statements, recounting decades of trauma with little to no state support or justice.
Rasalingam Thulasimalar from Araly, Vaddukoddai, said, “Whenever these graves are discovered, our hearts suffer. We yearn to know what happened to my child who we believe is still alive. My child was taken away by the EPDP. I met [EPDP leader] Douglas Devananda, but he gave no answer.”
Thulasimalar, whose says her husband died from the stress of searching for their son, said she was no longer participating in the protests as the international community had turned a blidn eye to the struggle of Tamil families of the disappeared. “Those international countries have done nothing for us,” she said. “We are waiting for someone to bring our children back.”
Thiruneelakandan Sinnakili from Kilinochchi has spent 16 years searching for her husband and son, abducted during the final days of the Mullivaikkal genocide in May 2009. “I lodged complaints with many organisations, including the Human Rights Council, but got no solution,” she said. “I have participated in all the protests by the Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared, but it is useless.”
Sinnakili, now living alone and recently excluded from the state’s Aswesuma welfare programme, concluded, “On the issue of missing persons, this government is the same as all the previous ones.”
Sanmugam Sellamuththu, from Karainagar, recounted the 1991 disappearance of her 18-year-old son Sakthivel, who was arrested by the Sri Lankan army and never returned. “We searched all the army camps in the North. The army took away my son—my only boy among three girls—but they still say they didn’t arrest him,” she said.
Ilayathampy Nageshawary, who fled navy-controlled Karainagar in 2006, said one of her sons disappeared during the final phase of the genocide. “We only know that the army took him away,” she said, adding that their pleas to the government have gone unanswered.
For many like Aiyampillai Luxshmanan, the discovery of children’s belongings and skeletal remains in Chemmani validates long-held suspicions. “The discovery of the skeletons of women and children, even infants, confirms that people were killed there, even whole families, and simply buried,” he said.
His own brother, Ayampillai Jayakumar, was forcibly disappeared in Mullaitivu in 2009. “All the relatives believe that their children are alive, though there is no evidence, which is why they are fighting for it,” he explained.
Read more from the World Socialist Web Site here.