Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day which is commemorated to remember those who died and survivors who suffered when the three-decade long civil war reached its final chapter at Mullivaikkal, in the Mullaithivu district was held at Wellawatte beach in Colombo on May 18.
Mullivaikkal is a sea water canal region which connects the land area of Mullaitivu with the Bay of Bengal. When the LTTE was active, the Mullivaikkal coastal region remained a key location for the outfit with regard to their gunrunning activities.
The arms ships which were operated by the LTTE brought arms and ammunitions and anchored in the high seas, from where small boats unloaded the arms and ammunitions and brought them to shore.
Therefore Mullivaikkal being the stronghold of the LTTE, became the focus of the final ruthless battle, and the civilians who were trapped between the LTTE and the Armed Forces endured aerial bombardments as well as the artillery shelling while walking through the Mullivaikkal area to find shelter for their safety.
Over 300,000 Tamil civilians were trapped between the retreating LTTE and the armed forces who engaged with their heavy war machinery. Sheltering in designated No Fire Zones, civilians endured relentless shelling, starvation and deprivation by the armed forces. Hospitals and humanitarian facilities were bombarded, while civilians were used as human shields, and those attempting to flee were fired on.
After the defeat of the LTTE, government forces gunning for those who were supporting and aiding the LTTE in Mullivaikal and other areas where the outfit, remained as a dominant force.
The United Nations Secretary General’s panel of experts who were tasked with the feasibility study on the last lap of the war concluded that around 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months alone. Later investigations and survivor testimonies suggest the figure could be even higher, with up to 70,000 victims.
Families were separated in the chaos; many people including some bigwigs of the LTTE who had surrendered to the LTTE had later disappeared and their fate is still remains a mystery.
An enduring and bitter memory of the final days is that the fleeing civilians didn’t have anything to eat. In certain places they gathered and prepared rice porridge (congee) with the rice they had in their possession and shared with each other.
Therefore rice porridge is still remembered and has become the Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day symbol. Each year on May 18 rice porridge is prepared and served extensively to the people in the North and East who participate at the Remembrance Day events to commiserate with those who perished at the final phase of the war.
This year, Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day was commemorated on the Wellawatte beach in the heart of Colombo, where hundreds of people including progressive Sinhalese activists sympathetic towards those who sacrificed their precious lives during the three decades of the civil war, also gathered
As far as Wellawatte is concerned it was an area which suffered immensely during the Black July communal riots in 1983.
Today the Wellawatte area is home to a huge Tamil community and numerous apartment blocks have come up in the vicinity with Tamils in their thousands interacting closely with the Sinhala community.
In the meantime, 16 years have concluded since the war came to an end on May 18, 2009. However the scars of the war still run deep and affect the families of dead and wounded soldiers as well as the Tamil militant cadres and civilians who suffered and have been traumatised by the war.
War victims from the North and East are still struggling for one of the fundamental human rights: the right to mourn. Every year, Mullivaikkal Day serves as both an act of remembrance and a form of resistance, a call to honor those who perished and to demand justice for those who vanished without a trace.
Yet, public commemoration remains observed by the Police and Armed Forces personnel. It is in this background that Sinhala chauvinists take the opportunity to interrupt the remembrance events.
Despite the security provided by the Police at the event, there was a group of Sinhalese people who had chanted slogans in support of the Armed Forces and shouted at the mourners as ‘LTTE sympathisers’.
Police ensured that no untoward incident took place at the venue on the Wellawatte beach and the mourners present there sang remembrance day songs and dispersed peacefully after an hour.
