Mannar Bishop wants the government to tell the truth on mass graves
Colombo, 27 February 2014: Rayappu Joseph, bishop of Mannar, celebrated a special
Mass for the repose of the souls of 80 strangers, whose bodies were recently found
in a mass grave near Thirukketheeswaram temple, in the Northern Province.
"We
want to know what happened to these people," said the bishop in his homily. "We want
answers. We do not need food, but the truth. The government cannot force death certificates
on the families of people who disappeared into thin air ".
Many diocesan priests
and nuns as well as local residents attended the liturgy. For years, many locals have
not had any news about their loved ones and hope to find an answer with the discovery
of this mass grave.
For almost 30 years, northern Sri Lanka was the scene of
a bloody civil war. Tamil Tiger rebels, who waged a war against the armed forces,
sought to create a separate state in the mostly Tamil region. Tamils are Sri Lanka's
second-largest ethno-linguistic group.
From 1990 to 2009 (a period when the
conflict reached its apex), many people went missing, in particular men and fathers.
Even after the war, they were not heard from again. Many families continue to call
on the authorities to shed light on the fate of their loved ones.
The mass
grave was discovered in December of last year, when 36 skeletons were found. When
research resumed, many more bodies were found.
"This is the first mass grave
discovered in the area since the army defeated the Tamil rebels," said Dr Dhananjaya
Waidyaratne, the coroner investigating the case.
"For now, we found the skeletons
of 80 people. Now we will carry out more tests to determine how and when they died.
Among the remains found, there are also those of women and children."
The government
immediately tried to dismiss concerns that the military might have been involved,
noting that the area of Mannar has long been a Tamil Tiger stronghold.
However,
Sri Lanka's military retook the area in 2008, and it was during the last year of the
war that both sides carried out their worst atrocities against civilians.
"We
need information on missing people," Mgr Joseph said in his homily. "Transparent investigations
should be conducted because we want to know what happened to these people. We must
raise our voices for those who vanished into thin air. We have a right to fight for
justice. Let us pray for everyone, for those who died during the war and for those
who are missing. "
Last year, some workers discovered another mass grave in
the district of Matale (Central Province), hundreds of miles from the "hot" zones
of conflict.
They were the skeletal remains of at least 155 people, killed
during an antigovernment uprising that occurred between 1987 and 1990, unrelated to
the Tamil separatist conflict.Source: AsiaNews