The Indian Army continued its atrocities against the residents of the Kokuvil area after it was occupied on October 23. When the IPKF reached the Kokuvil junction, they simply directed cannonfire at the threestoried school building with almost a thousand refugees inside. The building simply collapsed, bringing immediate, painful death to 26, mostly women and children, and seriously injuring 76. Many of these people died within a few days.

I was inside the premises when the building collapsed and shall never forget the terrible sight: the cannons blasting away, the bricks and cement falling, the building tottering a moment, with the hapless people crying out, their voices merging into deadly screams, and then finally the collapse.

Among the debris in the dark, we ransacked for the survivors. Bodies had been blasted into pieces by cannonfire. That night, the dead lay silent and the wounded moaned and screamed, while the rest stayed stunned and shivering without being able to offer any help. A number of them suffered nervous breakdowns. One of my friends, a senior government officer, kept on telling me, ‘Have all of us gone mad, or is it really happening?’

But what was most shocking and revealing about the real intentions of the counterrevolutionary Indian regime was the reply that the injured and bereaved got from the officer in charge of the IPKF at Kokuvil. When informed of this heart-rending atrocity by a delegation, he simply said, ‘Our forces mistook it to be an LTTE arms factory.’ Then he gave some kerosene and ordered that the dead be burnt immediately, lest worse follow.

The most seriously wounded were surreptitiously removed for medical treatment with the help of the LTTE cadre. There was no food at the camp.

It is quite clear that the IPKF’s “peace keeping” was nothing other than the pacification of Jaffna in the style of any army of occupation. Its conscious aim was to punish the populace for their political support for the national liberation struggle and cow them with brute force.

The IPKF succeeded in getting a large number of the residents to go into the camps. The condition in every camp was similar to what was seen at the Kokuvil Hindu College. Neither toilets nor water facilities were provided. Thousands of people were forced to squat for long nights without any room to stretch themselves.

The figures given below of those killed by shellfire, though necessarily incomplete, provide a glimpse of the situation:

* Seven deaths at the Chundukuli Girls College refugee camp.

* One child and several grownups killed at the Osmania College refugee camp, Jaffna.

* Seven killed at the Inuvil Pillayar Kovil Temple grounds, one at the Hindu Ladies College and several at the Kondavil Amman Kovil

The Stalinists, CWC (Ceylon Workers Congress), LSSP, and all the revisionist groups had supported the Indian invasion, pretending in order to deceive the masses that the accord would secure some concessions to the Tamils. The Sri Lankan bourgeoisie invited the Indian Army into the island when it found that it was impossible to keep the working masses in check by itself.

As no newspapers are being allowed in Jaffna, news spreads slowly. Even by word of mouth, it does not spread fast, as little mutual contact among people is possible due to the military occupation.

Pirambady and Kokuvil are not the only massacres that took place. On October 22, 29 fishermen and refugees were massacred at Arali Lagoon, when they were trying to cross into Kayts Island for safety. When an IPKF helicopter started firing at the five boats that were crossing, the people put up white flags. They kept on shouting and even went to the extent of lifting up some children to show to the helicopter crew that they were civilians.

Without heeding all this, the helicopter went on shooting from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM. A few managed to dive under a bridge and save their lives, but 29 were killed on the spot and many others died in the hospital.

On October 24, at Ponnali Bridge, Indian helicopters attacked with rocket mortars, killing four people including a child. On October 25, Indian helicopters and bombers attacked the Chavakachcheri market place, killing 40 people on the spot.

The logic of the Indian soldier is simple. If you are wounded, you must be LTTE, and therefore you have no right to survive. If you are educated, you are suspected.

The experience of a lady teacher from Jaffna working in Colombo is particularly illustrative. She had returned to Jaffna just before October 10 to see her mother, who was very sick. IPKF soldiers came into her house and demanded her identity.

When they were shown her degree certificate, they threatened to kill her, saying that she must be a Tiger. She managed to escape after a crowd had gathered in response to her wailing. When she returned to her Colombo school a week later, a teacher named Abu Youssuf of the same staff, a Stalinist leader in the Teachers’ Union, said to her, “I thought you got married to the IPKF.”

On 24 October, the Indian forces moving in heavy military vehicles along the KKS road towards Jaffna town started firing artillery from their tanks directly into the Kokuvil Hindu College buildings where people had taken refuge. All together 26 civilians taking refuge in one classroom was killed by these attacks. A further 14 injured civilians died without medical care while they were being taken to smaller hospitals. Among the 40 civilians killed in this attack is the Dean of Education Department of Jaffna University, Professor Chandrasekaram. Another 80 people were injured in the attack.

Rasaih Panchalingam 43,  Rasaih Selvarani 37,  Ramu Rasu, Farmer 60, Nagaratnam Vijayaratnam 46,  Nadarasa Rasakumaran 44,  Nadarasa Rajeswari 24, Nadarasa Gunarani 35, Nadarasa Thamilselvi, Student 10, Nadarasa Sabeshkumar, Student 06, Nadarasa Ramathy, student 13, Nadesu Parameswari 51, Nallaih Pakiyam 50, Kandaih Sangarapillai, Retailer 65, Kanthavanam Maheswari 52, Kunabalasingam Pathmasri, Student 08, Paramu Thangamani, Home maker 24, Parameswaran, Manonmani 25, Parameswaran malini 01, Tharmalingam Nisanthan 02, Thuraisamy Kumarasamy, Retired 72, Thambirasa Nadarsa, Retired 61, Venugopal Mahathevan 41, Mahathevan Rasammah 28, Mahathevan Balamurugan, Students 09, Mahathevan Venukrishna, Students 07, Mahathevan Vigneswaran, Student 10, Annasingam Kamaladevi, Home maker 33, Periyathambi rassaih 30, Chandrasegaram, Professor 30, Selvanayagam manickaratnam, Retired 69, Sellar Thiraviyam 53, Suppiral Govindasamy, Retired 72, Sivaguru Sellathurai, Retired 85, Visvanathi Vijayaratnam, labourer 40..