The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) and the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) have launched a new online database documenting individuals who were killed or disappeared during the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in the Tamil homeland between October 1987 and March 1990.
In a statement released on X, the ITJP said the website forms part of a broader long-term effort to restore the names and identities of those killed and disappeared on the island since 1958.
The organisation stated that the initiative aims to preserve historical memory and ensure that victims are remembered with dignity.
According to the ITJP, the release of the database ahead of May 18, which Tmaisl around the world will be marking as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, reflects an effort to remember those lost across different phases of the armed conflict in the Tamil homeland.
The organisation further noted that the IPKF period had been prioritised for early release because of the passage of time and the urgency of preserving living memory while survivors, families and witnesses remain able to contribute information.
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The database was compiled using more than 65 archival sources, including institutional reports, newspapers, websites and testimony-based documents in Tamil, Sinhala and English.
The collected records were standardised and merged into a unified database.
According to the ITJP, 10,427 unique named individuals have so far been identified as having been killed or disappeared during the IPKF deployment period.
The organisation described the project as an act of memorialisation and historical documentation, stating that identifying and naming those who were killed or disappeared is an essential act of recognition, dignity, truth and justice.
Victims of the Jaffna Hospital massacre.
The website publicly lists the names of victims from the period and is intended to ensure that those affected are not “lost to silence or reduced to statistics”.
The IPKF was deployed to the North-East of the island following the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord signed between India and Sri Lanka. Though publicly presented as a peacekeeping mission, the deployment rapidly evolved into a violent military campaign against the Tamil liberation movement and Tamil civilians.
The period remains deeply traumatic for many Eelam Tamils, with widespread reports of massacres, torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances and indiscriminate attacks carried out by Indian troops across the North-East.
The launch of the database comes amid continuing efforts by Tamil organisations, researchers and rights groups to preserve documentation relating to atrocities committed against the Tamil nation across multiple phases of the armed conflict.
The project also coincides with ongoing calls from Tamil families and civil society groups for international accountability, truth-seeking and recognition of the mass atrocities committed in the Tamil homeland.
The database can be accessed through the dedicated website launched by the ITJP and HRDAG here.
