The court case seeking approval to excavate the alleged mass grave wells in Mandaitivu has been postponed until 31 March 2026.
During a Sri Lankan military operation carried out by the armed forces on 25 and 26 August 1990, a large-scale massacre is alleged to have taken place in the areas of Mandaitivu, Allaipiddy and Mankumban. During this period at least 80 young men were forcibly disappeared.
It is claimed that the bodies of those killed were disposed of by being dumped into wells in the area and sealed. Seeking the excavation of these wells, the recovery of the remains, and the initiation of investigations complaints were lodged at the Uduvil Police Station on 4 September by 81-year-old Steven Matilda, who reported the disappearance of her son, and by Swaminathan Pragalathan, a member of the Velanai Pradeshiya Sabha and leader of the Island Development Front.
Based on this complaint, the police instituted proceedings before court, and investigations have since been underway.
In this context, the Sri Lankan police Tuesday, submitted to court a signed preliminary investigation report, which included inquiries conducted with residents of the area, affected persons, naval and military personnel, as well as findings relating to the wells where the bodies are alleged to have been buried.
The Magistrate directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to submit the same report in typed form today, which the police duly complied with. The case was adjourned until 31 March for further investigations.
Mandaitivu-Allapiddy-Mankumban (M-A-M) Disappearances
A report published in 2005 by the North-East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) detailed the scale of the forcibly disappeared from M-A-M where at least 70 young men disappeared in 1990.
Between August 23 1990, and September 25 1990, the Sri Lankan military detained hundreds of young men from the neighbouring villages of Mandaitivu, Allaipiddy and Mankumban. The three villages are situated just across the Dutch Fort in Jaffna. The majority of the people in the M-A-M villages were farmers, fishermen and toddy tappers.
Hundreds of families had taken refuge in churches, temples and mosques after instruction from the military. After which, hundreds of young men were taken by the military. Over the course of 10 days, most were released, but at least 70 were forcibly disappeared.
NESoHR published a list of the names of the disappeared.
The original list was divided into three parts for the people from the three different villages. In the list we have marked these as MT01 to MT28 for the 28 names from Mandaitivu, AP01 to AP32 Allaipiddy and MK01 to MK10 for the 32 names from for 10 names from Mankumban.
NESoHR were presented with another list of 22 names. There were three new names in this list. They have included these three names in the list as AP33+, AP34+ and MK11+ .
Families told NESoHR about other members of their family who were affected, NESoHR have added them to the list and marked with an “n” to indicate new. These are MT29n to MT32n; AP35n to AP39n; and MK12n to MK13n . Three people, MT12, AP31 and AP32, in the original AGA list of 70 names disappeared in different circumstances and they have marked them with a “-”.
Families of the Disappeared
NESoHR collected photos, where available, from family members of those who were disappeared; these photos are reproduced below from their report published in 2005.
S Vijeyaratnam, S Sugirtharatnam, and S Premaratnam (MT01, MT02, MT03) are children of Jesuratnam and Tharmaranee. Vijeyaratnam their eldest son was aged 23, their second son Sugirtharatnam was aged 19 and their third son Premaratnam was aged 17 when they were taken away. Vijeyaratnam was awaiting the results of his application for University entrance and after his disappearance the letter admitting him to a course at Jaffna University arrived. Other two sons were still studying at St Patrick’s School in Jaffna.
T Iruthayarasa (MT04) was aged 26 when he was taken away. He is the son of Thiraviyarasa who is the brother of Jesuratnam mentioned above. Iruthayarasa is the first cousin of the three boys mentioned above who have been taken away. His occupation was fishing.
S Selvanayagam (MT05) was 25 years old when he was taken by the military. He was fishing for his livelihood. His mother Reetamma met the NESOHR inquiry team. She had four children, two boys and two girls. The eldest daughter was already married at the time of this incident. Selvanayagam is the second eldest. His younger sister joined LTTE soon after Selvanayagam disappeared. His father died in 1997.
C Vimalathas (MT06) was aged 22 when he was taken away. He is also a cousin of the Jesuratnam boys mentioned above. He is the son of Varaprakasam Christopher and Indranee. His father, Christopher, recounted the day he was disappeared.
"Both my children Vijakumar and Vimalathas were taken by the army from Philipneri’s church...On September 23rd Vikayakumar my eldest son is with me at the west end of school and Vimalathas is with his mother at the east end. Army came to the east end in the morning and knocked the boys who were sleeping on their head and said “getup getup” and took them away including my boy. All the mothers started crying out loud and screaming. Army warned them with the guns. Mothers got frightened and stayed behind in the Palmarah yard and were crying aloud."
Anthony Robert (MT07) was 19 when he was taken away. He was a student studying at St Charles Mahavidhyalam school in Jaffna. He has just sat his GCE OL test. He was living with his parents and brother at the time of the incident. Both brothers were taken in from the PhilipNeri’s church. The younger brother Jeyathasan was released in a few days. Their father died in 1991 January a few months after the disappearance, and their mother in 2005.
K Peterpaul (MT08) was 17 years old when he disappeared. He was a student at St Patrick’s school in Jaffna.
S Swakeempillai (MT09) was 30 years old when he was taken away. His wife Selineyutsa was three months pregnant at that time.
Augustine Alagaraja (MT10) was 18 when he disappeared. He is the third child of Augustine and Amalaseeli. They have six children. Alagaraja was studying at school. His mother, Amalaseeli spoke of his disappearance.
“When the army came in 1990 we were very scared. In 1986 they came in a boat and killed 31 people in Mandaitivu. At that time we all walked through sea and ran to Allaipiddy. We stayed in the church for two days before returning to Mandaitivu...On 25th they took my second and third sons when we were staying at PhilipNeri’s church and released both of them on the next day. My eldest son was following classes in Jaffna at that time. On the third day I thought I would make rice kanchi and I called out to my children to come and drink it when the army came and said that they are going to move in and told us to move three miles further away. So we moved.
They came looking for my son and called him. I gave my three year old son to him to hold. Army yelled at him to put the baby down. My son kept turning behind and crying “amma amma” while they took him away. (cries). I told him not to be scared and that I will speak to the Father."
Alampin Robert (MT13) was 20 when he was disappeared. On the same day of 25-08-90 when he was taken away his older brother. Anton Asillas (MT30n) was shot dead by the military.
Wilfred Thevarasa (MT14) was 26 when he disappeared. His father is from Mandaitivu and his mother is from Mayiliddy, which is near the Palaly airport. The family lived in Mayiliddy.
P Kanthalingam (MT15) was 24 years old when he was taken away. His family is from Vaddukkoddai. Kanthalingam and his father were living in Mandaitivu at that time.
S Aravinthan (MT16) was 17 years old when he was taken away. He was a student at Mandaitivu Mahavidhyalaym.
R Suthaharan (MT17) was 20 years old when he was disappeared by the Sri Lankan military. He had just completed the GCE OL. He was in Negombo doing business. He came to Mandaitivu to attend a wedding when he get caught in the military operation and was taken away.
T Sathanantharasa (MT18) was 19 when he was disappeared by the Sri Lankan military. He was working as a van driver. M Thavaseelan (MT26) is his cousin. He was 24 when he was taken away.
Vijibalan (MT20) was 18 when he was taken away. He was studying at Mandaitivu Mahavidhyalayam school.
Vipulananthar (MT22) was 30 and was working as a cashier in a shop in Jaffna.
S Ratman Jeyaseelan (MT24) studied to be a priest, He was 23 when he was disappeared.
Kuhanantharasa (MT25) was disappeared from Allaipiddy on 6 September 1990 after being taken away by the army. He was aged 24.
S Anpalakan (MT27) was 18 when he was taken by the Sri Lankan military.
T Raveenthiran (MT28) was 21 years old when he was disappeared. He was earning a living doing business.
S Lingeswaran (AP03) was 21 when he was disappeared and he was a farmer.
T Gnanenthiran (AP04) was 18 and T Arulnesan (AP25) was 30 when they disappeared. The family could give the NESOHR only a photo of Gnanenthiran.
P Pathmarasa (AP06) was 20 when he was taken away. He was a student at Allaipiddy Parasakthi school at that time. He was the eldest of three boys.
Michael Sylvister (AP08) was 35 at the time of disappearance. He was working as a carpenter. His wife Annapuranam spoke to the inquiry team. Her brother Anthony Arokyarasa (AP09) was also taken away by the Sri Lankan army.
Yesuthasa (AP10) was 28 and was working as a builder (mason) when he was disappeared.
K Piramatheeswaran (AP12) was 21 years old and was farming when he was taken by the Sri Lankan military.
K Balasingam (AP13) was 34 years old and was farming when he was disappeared.
A Jeyaseelan (AP14) was 23 years old and was working as a builder (mason) when he was taken away.
Nobert Ramesh (AP17) was 19 and he was studying at Velanai Central College when the Sri Lankan army took him.
He is the only son in the family of five children. His mother Puthenamma speaking on his disappearance said,
“They took the father too. That was the last time we saw our son. We go and wait at the Allaipiddy junction everyday. We spoke to Kobbekaduwa too. He told us not to worry and that he will release them after inquiry. We went again and again. Finally on September 28th they suddenly left. Children were also gone. There were various stories like they took some of the children in a ship. We went everywhere crying. They released my husband on the second day. He is fluent in English and Singhalese. Our son would have thought his father will be able to get him out. (cries). What can he do? He was kept in the Aluminium factory and our son was kept in Mandaitivu. Children who were released from Mandaitivu said that our son asked us not to cry and that he will come back. He asked us to send him out of the country. We told him to finish his studies because he is a clever boy”.
S Selvanathan (AP18) was 21 years old and he was working as an electrician.
S Sivaruban (AP19) was 17 and was studying at school when he was taken by the Sri Lankan military.
S Ranjithkumar (AP20) was only 15 and was studying at Jaffna Central College when he was taken by the Sri Lankan military.
K Rasasekaram (AP21) was 19 years old when he was disappeared by the Sri Lankan military.
Pathinathar Dias (AP22) was 17 years old when he was taken away. His brother Pathinathar Senyute (A35n) was 26 when he was disappeared from Jaffna town.
Y Edward (AP26) was 26, and married with two children aged 4 and 6 when he was disappeared.
Thaveethu Selvaratnam (AP27) aged 29 and his brother Thaveethu Arokyanathan (AP28) were taken from Mankumban school.
Madutheen Antonit (AP29) was 19 when he was taken away.
George Sylvister (AP34+) was 20 when he was taken away. He was a fisherman. Their father S Thiruchelvam (AP36n) died in 1991 when army shot him.
S Indrakumar (MK04) was 20 when he was taken together with his brother S Vijayakumar (MK05) who was 19.
T Suntharalingam (MK06) was 24 when he was taken away with his brother Thanabalasingam who gave evidence to NESOHR. Their younger brother T Rathakrishnan (MK12n) was shot dead by the army on the same day
S Jeyakumar (MK07) was 25 when he was taken away and was a fisherman.
Charles Anthony Annathas was aged 27 when he was disappeared. He was a fisherman.
V Anton Arulthas (AP31-) was 26 and his brother V Donbosco (32-) was 19 when they were disappeared.
Nicholas Dias Edwin (AP37n) was 17 years old and was a student when he was taken away.
Michael Stanis (AP38n) disappeared while travelling in the sea with three others.
Pakianathan Varothayarasa (AP39n) was 18 years old when he was disappeared and was from Allaipiddy
