The Chettikulam massacre was a massacre of  Eelamtamils who were living in the village of Chettikulam, located on the border of the Vavuniya and Mannar districts. It was among the first of the series of massacres carried out by the Sri Lankan armed forces during the country’s genocidal war.

Chettikulam is a beautiful village was filled with farmers, and government employees. On Dec 2nd, 1984, the Sri Lankan military imposed a curfew throughout Chettikulam. The Sri Lankan Army invaded this village in the early morning at around 5.30 a.m. Most of the people in the village were still asleep, not knowing their fate.

Armed personnel entered the houses and forcibly removed all the males of the village for ‘inquiries.’ At least 52 men were taken in military vehicles to the adjacent town of Mathavachchi in Anuradhapuram District.

There has been no information about these 52 men since. The people of the Chettikulam village are saying that the 52 men were taken to a Sinhala village in Mathavachchi, and there they were sliced with sharp knives and heavy vehicles were run over them. As a result, the Chettikulam villagers were filled with fear and fled from their own village to Vanni, Madhu, and Tamilnadu. Chettikulam villagers never forgot about these 52 innocent  Eelamtamils who were massacred by the SL army.

Available names:

Kanthaiah Kulanthaivelu, Soosaipillai Christhurasa, Ramasamy Sinnathamby, Mahalingam Manmatharasa, Mylvaganam Vaithilingam, Kumar Varatharasa, Paramalingam Paramanathan, Appapillai Vettrivelpillai, Oorkanasamy Jothi, Kandiah Gengaratnam, Sangarapillai Selventhiran, Sangarapillai Nagulenthiran, Sangarapillai Balenthiran, Kulasegarampillai Eugene, Pandian Periyarasu, Chithravadivel, Philippaiya Arudpragasam, Ramasamy Ponnuthurai, Iyampillai Paramanathan, Senathirasa Nathan, Muthusamy Konarkopal, Murugesu Sangarappillai, Ramasamy Sithamparapillai, Alvin Robinson, Alvin Anthony Stevenson, Alvin Alexander, Alvin Anton, Ponnuthurai Christhuraja, Ponnuthurai Thananayagam, Philippupillai Anthonipillai, Sounthararasan Pusparasa, Sellaiah Jude, Sellaiah Ketheeswaran, Sellar Moorthy, Sellar Mahenthiran, Vethanayagam Sebamalai, Veluppillai Sivabalasingam, Santhappillai Iruthayarasan, Sinnakutty Kanthasamy, Sivaganeshan Gurukulasamy, Vadivel Ashokumar,  Vinayagamoorthy Yoganthan, Veluppillai Mahenthiran, Vanniyasingam Krishnothayabalan, Thiyagarasa Ananthasivam, Kumarasamy Satkunaseyon, Aasirvatham Alexander, Nagalingam, Kanapathipillai Pathmarasa, Michael Gnanapragasam, Subramaniam Ambalavaner