A local Jesuit priest in the North-East, described how Tamils braved harassment and threats from Sri Lankan intelligence officers on Monday to mourn their loved ones who were massacred during the final stages of the armed conflict six years ago.
Writing in Colombo Mirror, Father Elil Rajendram described how he feared no one who come to the memorial event on May 18th, organised as the epicentre of the blood shed, in Mullivaikkal, after locals were warned by Sri Lankan security forces not to attend the event.
"Having learnt that our vehicle was parked at the premises, the police and army intelligence officers quickly made their presence felt. As we left the place at dusk there were four officers from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and Military Intelligence who took photos of us. Even though I am a priest, I was frightened when they did this because of Sri Lanka’s history of abductions in unmarked white vans which we all know about," Father Rajan, who is also a spokesperson for the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) wrote.
"A family came to see me to say that no one from Mullaivaikkal dared to participate in our religious service because officers from CIDs had visited some local people and instructed them not to attend the other events so they assumed they should not come to ours either."
"The people near the church gave me a call on the 18th May morning asking me to come as they were scared because of the unusual deployment of officers from the CID and military intelligence there. I had to ask the Sinhala priest to come with us. When the parish priest arrived, he was approached by a CID officer who inquired what he was organising. All day from morning until the end of the service in the evening, there were two men in plain clothes seated under a tree who recorded all the activity and passed messages to their superiors.
I admire the courage of the people from that area. In spite of their very real fear and the surveillance and monitoring they helped me organise the service. I could only imagine the struggle they face since even I as a priest had to go through so much."
See full article on Colombo Mirror here.
See here for full coverage of May 18th remembrance events.
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