Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 15:54, 15 May 2007

Template:Totally-disputed Duraiappa stadium mass grave (also spelt Duraiyappah or Thuraiappa) was unearthed during the excavations of Duraiappah sports stadium in the embattled northern city of Jaffna, in Sri Lanka during a period of relative calm between civil conflicts. It was unearthed in stages between April 4 and 10 of 1999.Template:Biased source

Unearthing

v t e Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009)
Origins	Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism Sinhala Only Act 1956 1958 Vaddukoddai Resolution 1977 1981 Burning of Jaffna Library Black July
Combatants	Sri Lanka Army (LRRP) Navy Air Force Police Special Task Force Home Guards Attacks on civilians Assassinations LTTE Divisions Air Tigers Sea Tigers Black Tigers Attacks in the 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Assassinations Suicide bombings Other militants (list) ENDLF ENLF EPRLF EROS PLOTE TELO  India Indian Peace Keeping Force Paramilitary groups EPDP TMVP
Phases	Eelam War I Indian intervention Eelam War II III IV Eastern / Northern theatres
Major battles	Kokkilai Vadamarachchi Poomalai Pawan Jaffna University Helidrop Balavegaya 1st Elephant Pass Pooneryn Riviresa 1st Mullaitivu Weli Oya Sath Jaya Vavunathivu Jayasikurui Thandikulam–Omanthai 1st Kilinochchi Oddusuddan A-9 highway 2nd Elephant Pass Bandaranaike Airport attack Point Pedro Jaffna Thoppigala Vidattaltivu 2nd Kilinochchi 2nd Mullaitivu Puthukkudiyirippu
Major events	Air Lanka Flight 512 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Expulsions from Northern province Assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa Temple of the Tooth attack Lionair Flight 602 Bandaranaike Airport attack Expulsions from Colombo 2009 suicide air raid on Colombo
Leaders	Sri Lanka Military Army Tissa Weeratunga Nalin Seneviratne Hamilton Wanasinghe Cecil Waidyaratne G. H. De Silva Rohan Daluwatte Srilal Weerasooriya L. P. Balagalle Shantha Kottegoda Sarath Fonseka Navy Asoka de Silva H. A. Silva Clancy Fernando D. A. M. R. Samarasekara H. C. A. C. Thisera Daya Sandagiri Wasantha Karannagoda Air Force Dick Perera Andibuduge Fernando Makalandage Gunawardena Oliver Ranasinghe Jayalath Weerakkody Donald Perera Roshan Goonetileke Civilian J. R. Jayewardene Ranasinghe Premadasa Dingiri Banda Wijetunga Chandrika Kumaratunga Mahinda Rajapaksa LTTE Militant Velupillai Prabhakaran Pottu Amman Soosai Karuna Amman Political Selvarasa Pathmanathan Anton Balasingham S. P. Thamilselvan India Military Harkirat Singh Ashok K. Mehta Kulwant Singh Depinder Singh Dalvir Singh Krishnaswamy Sundarji Civilian R. Venkataraman Rajiv Gandhi V. P. Singh Jyotindra Nath Dixit J. Jayalalithaa M. Karunanidhi Vaiko
Aftermath	Genocide Films NPC resolution LLRC Reactions (Protests) Remembrance Day UN Panel on Accountability War crimes Chemical weapons
Related topics	Casualties Assassinations Massacres Child soldiers Disappearances Office on Missing Persons Human rights Popular culture Terrorism Non-state State PTA Sexual violence Sixth Amendment Thirteenth Amendment 1988 Maldives coup attempt 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
Sri Lankan civil war at Wiktionary    Source texts at Wikisource    Textbooks at Wikibooks   Images and media at the Commons    Quotations at Wikiquote    News stories at Wikinews

Renovation of the stadium, which was damaged and neglected during the course of the various phases of the Sri Lankan civil war, began in 1999. The attempt was hailed as a sign that normality had returned to the Jaffna peninsula, the battle-scarred heartland of the Tamils by the then government. Instead, it exposed one of the many secret mass graves created during the conflict between theSinhalese majority dominated military forces and the minority Sri Lankan Tamil dominated rebel group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Template:Biased source a conflict that has claimed more than 65,000 lives by 2007.

As workers sank the foundations for new changing rooms at the Duraiyappah stadium in northern Sri Lanka, their spades struck bones. Eventually 25 skeletons, including those of 2 children,Template:Biased source were unearthed. As the battered skins of six oil drums were pulled back to reveal a pit a few feet across, horrified villagers clutching the identity cards of missing sons and husbands came forward to witness the layers of skulls and broken vertebrae crushed into hardened clay 3 feet below the turf.

Eye witness

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Paramanthan Selvarajah was one of the witnesses to the unearthing of the mass graves. He was quoted as looking for his son, Pirapakaran, who disappeared in July 1996 at the age of 24 after being taken by the Sri Lankan army as he rode home past a checkpoint in Jaffna.

" I saw his bike lying behind a bunker and heard him crying inside,"

he said.

"We never saw him again"

Pirapakaran, a tailor, is among more than 12,000 predominantly Tamil civilians believed to have disappeared since the war began. Template:Biased source

Jaffna Additional magistrate S. A. E. Ekanathan sought assistance from forensic experts, Ruhuna University’s Professor N. Chandrasiri declared that proper scientific methods were not used in the excavation and vital evidence may have been destroyed. Preliminary reports suggest that the site may be around (10) ten years old, placing the suspicion on the Indian Peace Keeping Force and or the rebel LTTE as the potential perpetrators of the crimes.

UTHR

According to a local human rights group UTHR the bodies could hardly have been buried there before late 1987. The Indian Army or the IPKF was there until the end of 1989. The LTTE was in control of the area from September 1990 to October 1995. Since then the Sri Lankan Army has been in control.

According to UTHR the age of the victims had not been ascertained, which would allow the forensic experts to determine as to when they might have died. The organization demanded that an impartial investigation must be conducted and the Magistrate allow exhumations. It was noted that the basic step of issuing a public notice calling upon persons who have reason to believe, or even suspect, that the graves may contain the remains of persons in whom they have an interest, to come forward was not done, and because of this error the field has been left open to interested speculators. The forensic tests alone will not be satisfactory since the gaps between the departure of one armed party and the arrival of the next are small. It demanded that only a public testimony that will be the determining factor. The report concluded that at that time the excavations at Duraiappah Stadium are neither satisfactory nor professional.

A local newspaper demanded that as they are several more mass graves in the North-East of the country and they should be investigated impartially as well. Although news agencies reported that the skeletons were sent to capital Colombo for further forensic analysis there is no further information on this mass grave.

See also

• Mass grave at Mirusuvil
• Mass grave at Chemmani

Notes

•  name: Duraiappah Stadium is named after Alfred Duraiappah, a former mayor of Jaffna city. He was assassinated by the rebel LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
  

References

1. ^ "Mass graves in Sri Lanka". Sri Lankan monitor. 2007-05-04.
2. "Child soldiers:Understanding the context" (PDF). BMJ.com. 2007-05-06.
3. ^ Scott-Clark, Cathy; Levy, Adrian (1999-04-11), "Mass graves found at Stadium in Jaffna", The Times {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
4. "Façade of accountability: Disappearances in Sri Lanka" (PDF). Third World Law Journal: Boston College Vo l23:115. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |Date= ignored (|date= suggested) (help)
5. "Mirusuvil mass grave". Sri Lanka Monitor:British refugee council. 15 February, 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. "Mass graves in Sri Lanka". Daily News.lk. 2007-05-04.
7. ^ "UTHR Report 12". UTHR.org. 2007-05-04.
8. "Mass graves: importance of looking good". Sunday Times.lk. 2007-05-04.
9. "Will justice prevail in the Trinco graves issue ?". Abooda.com. 2007-05-04.
10. "Pirapaharan:First Military Operation". sangam.org. 2007-05-06.

External links

• A death plot in Sri Lanka
• UK parliament question and answer secession