Ceremony held at the memorial in Mullivaikkal village despite reports of heavy surveillance and allegations of intimidation.
Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil community marks 15 years since the end of the island nation’s civil war, in an emotional ceremony that took place despite fears that authorities might prevent it from taking place.
Public events celebrating the separatist group Tamil Tigers, which waged an unbridled battle to establish a homeland for an ethnic minority, are illegal and authorities have blocked previous memorials.
Over the years, Sri Lankan authorities have repeatedly disturbed similar memorials in the island’s former war zones and arrested participants, but Saturday’s ceremony went ahead despite reports of heavy surveillance and allegations of intimidation.
Tamils say the events are held to remember all the victims of the decades-long war, which ended in 2009 after a military offensive on the Tigers’ last stronghold that saw at least 40,000 civilians killed in recent months, according to United Nations estimates. .
The operation was internationally condemned for the indiscriminate bombing of civilians.
“Thousands died here a day before the end of the war,” a 41-year-old Tamil village worker, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, told AFP news agency at the memorial in Mullivaikkal on Saturday.
“There were many injured people crying out for help,” he added. “This will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
‘Collective failure’
Several thousand Tamils traveled to the village for remembrance, where they lit oil lamps to honor the dead.
This year, the commemoration was attended by Amnesty International’s global head, Agnes Callamard, the most important foreign dignitary to date to take part in a remembrance event in battle-scarred northern Sri Lanka.
The human rights body has for years pressured Sri Lankan authorities, who have repeatedly refused to allow an international inquiry into wartime atrocities, to properly investigate and prosecute those responsible for the abuses.
“Today’s anniversary is a grim reminder of the collective failure of the Sri Lankan authorities and the international community to bring justice to the many victims of Sri Lanka’s three-decade internal armed conflict,” Callamard said in a statement emailed to Al Jazeera.
“It is worrying to be in the same place where, 15 years ago, countless civilian lives were lost during the final days of the war.”
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, who in 2022 voted to recognize May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, said on Saturday that his country “will always uphold justice and accountability for crimes committed during the conflict.” .
Tamil residents near the ceremony site told AFP that security forces were noticeably more active in their communities as the anniversary approached.
“There is heavy surveillance of people and this is intimidation,” said a Tamil resident, asking not to be identified for fear of harassment.
Saturday also marked 15 years since the assassination of the charismatic but reclusive Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who had led the separatist group in open rebellion against Sri Lankan forces since 1972.
His death in Mullivivaikkal was the culmination of the lightning military offensive that killed thousands of civilians in the final months of the fighting.
Sri Lankan forces have been accused of indiscriminately shelling civilians after ordering them to move to “no-fire zones” to clear the path of their attack.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
