From December 1st to 15th, 1984: the area surrounding the region that connects Mullaithivu to Trincomalee saw three well-planned massacres by Sri Lankan Army & home guards. The reason behind the massacres was to drive out the local Tamil population from their villages, for colonization of Sinhala settlers. The Mullaitivu and Trincomalee Districts were traditional Tamil farming & fishing villages for generations. It was interspersed with small and large farms owned by Tamils or held on long leases by Tamil-owned business enterprises. Among the large farms were: Navalar farm, Ceylon Theatre's farm, Kent farm, Railway Group Farm, Postmaster Group Farm, and Dollar Farm. Kent and Dollar farms were later used to rehabilitate the hill country victims of the 1977 anti-Tamil pogrom. Throughout the 1980s, SL government conspired with many schemes to grab the lands of Tamils & settle Sinhalese people. Deliberate & coordinated attacks on Tamil villages began after the 1983 Anti-Tamil pogrom, >3000 Tamils were wiped out & 100s to 1000s were forced to flee. Yan Oya settlement was one such, aimed at breaking the territorial contiguity of Tamil Eelam, between Trincomalee & Mullaitivu. It was administered by SL minister of Sinhala ethnicity Lalith Athulathmudali backed by President J.R. Jayewardene.
Nov 1984, alleging Tamils as terrorists, Superintendent of Police in Vauvuniya Arthur Herath raided & drove away residents of Kent and Dollar Farm. Subsequently, Sinhala ex-convicts and prisoners were settled there and armed. Next, the nearby villages of Kokkilai, Manal Aru, Kokkuthoduvai, Alampil, Nayaru & Kumulamunai were targeted in Mullaitivu District. Historic Tamil villages of Amaravayal & Thennamarwadi in Trincomalee were also attacked with the objective of ethnic cleansing of Tamils.
List of Massacres:
- Manal Aru
- Othiyamalai
- Amaravayal
- Thennamarawadi
- Kokkilai & other coastal villages
Manal Aru:
On 03.12.1984, Sri Lankan military rounded up Manal Aru area and fired randomly at the civilians. Civilians from Manal Aru were chased away by the Sri Lankan military and their houses were set on fire. People who have lived in the villages for generations were thus displaced. Many civilians were killed including women and children. Hundreds of families were displaced from these areas. Sinhalese were settled in these villages later. Army officers either visited or sent messages to village elders informing them of an impending attack on their villages and advised them to leave. They also used harassment - theft, assault, kidnapping, and rape. The harassment was followed by a direct onslaught.
Othiyamalai:
Another instance was the massacre at Othiyamalai during the succeeding months where > 25 Tamils were killed by the army.
Amaravayal:
Ancient Tamil village in the north of Trincomalee district. The village was neglected by the state and its inhabitants were harassed by Sinhala colonists who wanted to grab their farmland. People of the village received a message that, unless they left the village immediately, they would be attacked by the Sinhalese. N.Vijayaratnam in his book 'Manal Aru' describes the events:
Thennamarawadi:
In December 1984, Soldiers and Sinhalese mobs invaded the village of Thennamarawadi variety of weapons, knives, axes, crowbars, clubs, and guns. About 200 families lived in Thenaimarawadi at that time. They fled into the forest & mob set fire to their huts & destroyed everything they could lay their hands on. Mob returned again the next day, searched the forest for Tamils, aught a few Tamils & soldiers shot them dead. Youths were lined up & shot. Women were also raped. 3rd day, 4 December, residents of Thenaimarawadi began their journey to safety; they walked through the forest for 4 days & reached Mulliyavalai. They built temporary sheds & stayed there, named their new settlement Ponnagar. They have lived there for the past 20 years.
Kokkilai and other coastal villages:
Colonization and forced eviction attempts in traditional Tamil fishing villages by the Sri Lankan military culminated in a series of massacres that killed hundreds of Tamils which included 31 women and 21 children. Dec 15, 1984, a large number of Sri Lankan military troops entered the coastal villages of Kokkilai, Kokkuthoduvai, Alampil, Nayaru, and Kumulamunai in Mullaitivu District. The Sri Lankan Army arrived and announced that several villages were to vacate within 24 hours. Entire villages in the region such as Kokkilai, Kokkuthuduvai, Karnaddu kerni and Koddai Keri amongst others were ordered to vacate within a day’s time. The military then began killing people and destroying property. 131 civilians were killed including 31 women and 21 children. More than 2,000 families were forced to relocate following the attacks and subsequent colonization attempts of their lands by the Sinhala population. They remain displaced to this date.
The Kokkilai massacres have come to be viewed as a part of the greater Sri Lankan state-sponsored colonization of Sinhalese in Tamil areas. The Mullaitivu District had historically been a Tamil area, and the population was almost entirely Tamil in the district. Villages situated at the southernmost part of the district, serving as the vital link between North & East became favorite targets for colonies of Government. Fishing villages in the district incl Kokkilai were colonized by Sinhala fishermen from Negombo & Chilaw. The Tamil community from this region never returned to its original prosperity. Similar treatment was meted out to numerous traditional villages in the Batticaloa, Ampara, Vavunia, and Mannar districts. A new division called the Weli Oya (Manal Aru) was carved in the southern parts of the Mullaitivu district. Today the majority of the population in the area is Sinhalese while Tamils have been systematically denied any claim to their lands.
