Enforced disappearances in Mandaitheevu, Part-1

12/08/2024 2 Comments

Between 23.08.1990 and 25.09.1990, the Sri Lankan military detained hundreds of young Eelamtamil men from the neighbouring villages of Mandaitivu, Allaipiddy, and Mankumban (M-A-M). At least seventy of those young men have not been heard from since. The three villages, Mandaitivu, Allaipiddy and Mankumban, are situated just across the Dutch Fort in Yaalppanam (Jaffna). From here the Sri Lankan military launched its operations . The majority of the Eelamtamils in the M-A-M villages were farmers, fishermen and toddy tappers. Prior to 1990 it was economically prosperous.

Given that there were only about 800 families living in these three villages the impact of the incident on the villagers is substantial. The above two dates are engraved deeply in the psyche of the three villages. For fifteen years the families have been searching for their loved ones. Eventually their search led them to us, at the NESOHR inquiry team. We spoke to 41 families who have lost 50 family members. From eight families more than one family member had been taken. In one family three family members had been taken.

News from Eelanatham: https://30sec2remember.com/eelanatham-10-09-1990/

The Douglas connection (Leader of the Paramilitary group – EPDP)

All the families speak of the presence of Douglas Devananda and the late army commander Denzil Kobbekaduwa at the site. Families also speak of the assurance given by Douglas Devananda to the families that their children will be safe. The Jesuratnam family who are looking for three of their sons have the most detailed story to tell about the role of Douglas Devananda in this disappearance.

They met Douglas Devananda in the first week of June 1991. He got the particulars and then told them that he will go to Anuradhapura and will inform the family. The family went to Anuradhapura about ten times between 1991 and 1992 to meet Denzil Kobbekaduwa and succeeded in meeting him five times.

When the family contacted Denzil Kobbekaduwa on 17th June 1991, he asked the family whether they have contacted Douglas Devananda about their children. Again on 13th May 1992 Kobbekaduwa told them that he would visit the islands of M-A-M and after that he will show the children to the family. They met Douglas again on 25th June 1992 when he assured them that he would speak to the family after a visit to the islands of M-A-M.

The family was called by the 1995 Presidential Commission of Inquiry. Theirs is the only family from the list that managed to attend the inquiry. This is because they were in Colombo and managed to get a date in Colombo. All the other families were displaced to Vanni during the period of the inquiry and were not contactable due to the communication and transport difficulties under the genocidal war situation.

This family’s inquiry was held on 12th June 1996. At the inquiry the three commissioners instructed the family to ask Douglas Devananda about their children. They also promised to inquire from Douglas Devananda and inform the family but the family did not hear anything from the Commissioners after that.

This family also claims that when they appealed through Miss Maheswari Velayutham to the Ministry of Rehabilitation she has told the family that one or two people are with EPDP and the rest are in army camps, working. Later in March 2004 she denied that she said this. Below are some excerpts about the role of Douglas Devananda in this affair from what other families have told us.

S.Ratman Jeyaseelan’s (MT24) brother-in-law says, My mother-in-law (Ratman’s mother) and I went and spoke to Douglas Devananda. We asked him to release Rattu since he is a boy who does not have a father. Douglas said “He is a good child and we will not do anything to him. We are keeping him only to transport water”. … Rattu’s van is sandalwood colour.

After that whenever I see the van at a distance I run towards it. When I go there Douglas Devananda will be there. They will be transporting water. When Rattu’s mother is there she will beg for Rattu’s release. Douglas will also say as the same; “Amma why do I need your boy. I will keep him until we capture the Fort and then I will release him”.

1. S Vijeyaratnam, S Sugirtharatnam, and S Premaratnam (MT01, MT02, MT03) are children of Jesuratnam and Tharmaranee. All three children were taken away on the two infamous days. Understandably the parents have pursued relentlessly to locate their three sons. They are the first family to approach NESOHR with the case and forced NESOHR to deal with it.

2. S Selvanayagam (MT05) was 25 years old when he was taken away. 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.

Mother Reetamma says, “They took my son-in-law as well and he was released the next day. He said that he saw Selvanayagam at the Aluminium factory drinking water (cries). Next day I went with the other parents to see the army. My husband is sickly, therefore I went everywhere to search and complain. Douglas Devananda was at the Aluminum factory. We pleaded, begged and screamed to let our children go. They said they are keeping our children in Mandaitivu. Douglas kept saying that he will release them tomorrow. In reality they had no plans to release our children.

3. 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 says, “Both my children Vijakumar and Vimalathas were taken by the army from Philipneri’s church. Vimalathas came back the next day but Vijayakumar didn’t. By then we have moved to Mankumban. I cried in front of mother Mary and waited. Vijayakumar came back on the 13th day. He kept asking his mother, “Amma we should not stay here. Let us go somewhere else”. But there was no way of getting out of there and we did not have the means either.

We did not even have a change of clothes. We left everything and ran away. People collected clothes from homes and distributed to us. They also gave us some food items and we started cooking. 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.

4. 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. Principal’s letter is provided in Appendix A4. He was living with his parents and brother at the time of the incident. Both brothers were taken in from the PhilipNeri’s church. Younger brother Jeyathasan was released in a few days. Their father died in 1991 January a few months after the disappearance of his son. Their mother died recently. The eldest son of the family was working in Colombo at the time of the incident. Eldest son’s father-in-law V Balaraja (MT29n) disappeared while travelling from Jaffna to Vavuniya in February 1991.

5. K Peterpaul (MT08) was 17 years old when he disappeared. He was a student at St Patrick’s school in Jaffna. His father Sebasti Iruthayanathar says, “They said they will release him in a month. We have gone everywhere and we are exhausted. We got a letter saying my son is not in their detainee list and we must get the death certificate and obtain the compensation. I told them to get lost. We did not get any reply to all the complaints we lodged everywhere. We hoped that almighty will give our child back but we are losing hope now. We hear a lot of stories about the whereabouts of our boys”.

6. S.Swakeempillai (MT09) was 30 years old when he was taken away. His wife Selineyutsa was three months pregnant at that time. She spoke to the NESOHR inquiry team. Swakeempillai was fishing for their living. His wife has survived and raised their daughter by selling food that she cooks at home.

7. 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 says, “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.

In 1990 we were first displaced and living in someone else’s backyard. We moved into the church later. August 1 st is Sampethuruvar festival. We all decided to go back to Mandaitivu for it. Gunboats were constantly firing. 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 Yalppanam 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.

8. 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. Thevarasa’s father Gnanaprakasam says, “My son was doing farming. One day in 1986 after returning from a visit to the doctor Thevarasa was taken by force in a motorcycle by the EPRLF and he was made to join in their group. They kept him until April 1990, that is until the Indian military (IPKF) left. Soon LTTE took him in on suspicion. After inquiries he was released in 19 days. They kept him in Jaffna for some more days. Then they released him. This was sometime in September 1990.

We were all at the PhilipNeri’s church. Army told us to cook and eat. I went to collect some firewood. Water in the rice pot has not even started to boil and I saw people screaming and running. We all went on our knees in the church and were crying. The army came and divided the men and women and then divided the men into age groups. They tied them together with ropes and took them away. They took my sons and sons-in-law too and then released them in three days. Twenty-six people from the group that the army took away at first have not come back. Then we all displaced to Mankumban School. One morning army came and knocked our sleeping children on their head and told them to get up and took them away. Thevarasa was also taken away.

9. 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. They were both working as toddy tappers. His parents died. His sister P Kala gave their information to NESOHR.

10. S.Aravinthan (MT16) was 17 years old when he was taken away. He was a student at Mandaitivu Mahavidhyalaym. His father Sivaguru says, “We were at the Mankumban School for one month. My wife met Douglas Devananda to ask for the release of Aravinthan. Devananda asked for a photo and we gave the only photo we had to him.

When we returned to Mandaitivu our hosue was destroyed and all our belongings were gone. The roofing of our house was by the army used to build their security posts. I recovered them and repaired the roof of my house. In 1991 we displaced to Jaffna and then to Mallavi in 1995. One of our son was studying at Mallavi Mathyavidhyalaym. The school was bombed by the air force and several students died. After that my son refused to go to school”.

11. R.Suthaharan (MT17) was 20 years old when he was taken away. 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. His family went to Colombo immediately to initiate inquiries about his son. His mother Vasanthaladchumy says, “We have five children and Suthaharan is the third. When they took the children away mothers who cried and ran behind were hit on the head with the gun. Our house in Mandaitivu is burnt down.

12. T.Sathanantharasa (MT18) was 19 when he was taken away. He was working as a van driver. M Thavaseelan (MT26) is his cousin. He was 24 when he was taken away. There are two boys and three girls in Thavaseelan’s family. The other boy in the family is in the Indian prison. Thavaseelan’s mother Satkunabaladevi says, “Thavaseelan was working in the Allaipiddy Aluminium factory. We were at the door of Vairavar (a temple Saivaite god). The army came. They hit my son so hard his sarong fell down. My son was wearing a green shorts under his sarong. So the army said he was LTTE. The next day was Kodiyetram (first day of the festival season at temple). There was a lot of red paint on the ground. Every time there was shelling or bombing we were lying flat on the ground. So there was a lot a red paint on my son’s body and his shirt. People explained this to the army but they did not understand. My three girls and I ran behind crying. They shot over our head and yelled in English ordering us to go inside.