More than 180 Tamil civilians killed in Batticaloa 33 years ago have been remembered with a fresh call for justice.
Relatives who attended the remembrance sought the assistance of journalists to obtain an international mediation.
Floral and other tributes were paid at the event on 09 September in front of a memorial at Panichchaiadi junction at Saturukondan.
The military is blamed for the killing of 184 men, women and children from four villagers.
Believing the media to be the voice of the people, relatives of the victims handed over a letter to head of the district’s Tamil journalists association V. Krishnakumar in an attempt to bring the attention of the international community to their plight.
A presidential commission appointed in 1995 found soldiers of ‘Boys Town’ camp at Saturukondan to be responsible for the killings on 09 September 1990.
The sole survivor of the murders, Kandasamy Krishnakumar, recalled how armed soldiers stormed Saturukondan, Kokuvil, Panichchaiadi and Pillayaradi villages and hauled the occupants to the camp.
They never returned except him, said the eyewitness who was 27 at the time and has three scars in his chest that remind him of how soldiers attacked him with a knife.
He also said the soldiers raped the girls and were busy burying the victims, when he made his escape.
The letter says that despite three presidential commissions having found the military to be responsible, no one has been brought to justice yet.
