141 Skeletons, Baby Bottle, And A Dark Secret Buried For Decades: What Was Hidden In This Sri Lankan Mass Grave?

The findings were made at a cremation ground in the Chemmani area near Jaffna town, the cultural heartland of the country’s ethnic Tamil minority. But hardly any burials take place here, as Hindus mostly cremate their dead according to religious customs.

Excavations have been underway since June, after workers found human remains while digging to build an electric crematorium.

Investigators found school bags, bottles with grave

A pit test over nine days discovered 19 sets of human remains. Shallow burials of about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in a scattered and disorganized manner, and the absence of clothing, indicated the site was a mass grave, according to a report provided to a court in June.

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Since the area was secured and declared a crime scene that month, a total of 141 skeletons have been discovered within a 165-square-meter area. About 135 of the bodies had no clothing, and only one set of adult clothing was identified. Tests confirmed that a skeleton found with a schoolbag was that of a girl between 4 and 6 years old. Toddlers’ dresses, socks and footwear, tiny bead bangles, and a baby powder tray were also recovered.

When did they die?

The identities of the dead and the cause and timing of their deaths are all unclear. But many think the victims could be civilians who disappeared during Sri Lanka’s civil war, which broke out in 1983 between government forces and ethnic Tamil rebels, who fought to create an independent homeland for the minority group. The war ended in 2009.

Several Tamil armed groups and an Indian peacekeeping mission were active in the region over the decades. But attention has focused on the Sri Lankan military, which had a heavy presence for over a decade in Chemmani, as the gateway to Jaffna town.

How a secades-old confession heightens suspicions

A confession made by an army soldier before he was sentenced to death for rape and murder 27 years ago has strengthened suspicions about the site.

In 1998, Somaratne Rajapakse along with four alleged accomplices from the military and police were sentenced to death for the gang rape and murder of a schoolgirl and the killing of her mother, brother and a neighbour.

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The five, who weren’t hanged and remain in prison due to a moratorium on executions, have maintained that they were not involved in the rape and murder, but only disposed of the bodies under orders.

Rajapakse told the court that he knew where up to 400 bodies were buried in Chammani.

“We cannot say exactly who the perpetrators are yet, but the finger points to the (state) army,” said Brito Fernando, an activist working with the families of people who disappeared during various armed conflicts in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka civil war

The area, including the cremation ground, were under Sri Lankan military control from 1996, when it captured Jaffna from the rebels, until after the war ended in 2009. The military operated checkpoints, and anyone who entered or left the area was searched.

In 1999, Rajapakse led police to a spot where the schoolgirl, her family and the neighbor were buried and later showed police other places where more remains were found. But the investigations were abruptly stopped.

(Note: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by The Daily Jagran and has been published through a syndicated feed. Source - PTI)