Colombo continues to sabotage investigations on Mannaar killing fields
A Consultant Judicial Medical Officer, who was to be present at the exhumation of the alleged mass grave site at Thirukkeatheesvaram, Maanthai, failed to attend Mannaar Magistrates Court and the site of alleged mass grave when all others, including the Judge and the experts from 12 other institutions, were prepared to commence the excavation. The explanation given to the Judge was that the consultant JMO was attending a conference and that the exhumation was to be cancelled without his presence. The Judge, after a lengthy meeting has fixed a new hearing on 29 April. Similarly, the CID from Colombo was seeking more time, once again, to receive a proper response from one of the three Latin American institutions that were to be approached to conduct forensic anthropological analysis on the already exhumed human skeletons from the killing fields of Mannaar.
The CID from Colombo was telling the court last Monday that it had received only one reply from a institution from Guatemala stating that it didn't have the facility of conducting Carbon analysis.
Attorney-at-Law Niranjan, one of the lawyers representing the missing persons in Mannaar, told TamilNet that he had requested the court to consider proceeding with DNA analysis.
The court has given more time for both the parties to come up with further information until 06 June when the case on the progress regarding forensic analysis is to be heard.
During the hearings in the past, as the lawyers in Mannaar representing the families of missing persons in Mannaar repeatedly requested the Mannaar Magistrate Court to find an external institution to conduct forensic analysis, Judge A G Alex Raja instructed the CID to determine one of the suggested institutions in Peru, Argentina, or Guatemala to carry out forensic anthropological analysis on the already exhumed 87 skeletal remains.
The instruction was given on 12 November 2015. Last time, when the case was taken up on 04 March 2016, the ‘Sri Lankan’ CID told the court that they had sent emails to the suggested institutions in Latin America and that they had not received any reply.
The exhumed skeletal remains are still being kept at Anuradhapura.
In the meantime, there were further allegations of another mass grave near Thirukkeatheesvaram temple, where the occupying SL military had dumped massacred Tamils. This is being addressed in a separate case at the same court.
Since the allegation surfaced, Colombo's CID has been trying to delay the process of excavating the site.
The officials coming from Colombo representing the SL ‘Criminal Investigation Department’ and the SL Archaeological Department have been falsely claiming that the exhumed site was a burial site.
The site of the alleged mass grave was situated inside SL military ‘High Security Zone’ between 1990 and 2002.
The native people, who were living at the village of Thirukkeatheesvaram before their displacement in 1990 and who have accessed the area after they were allowed to resettle there, have been repeatedly stated that there was never a burial site at the locality where skeletal remains have been exhumed.
The abandoned well was identified while Mannaar District Judge was present at the on 26 August 2015.
On 19 February the Judge fixed the excavation to be conducted from 04 April to 06 April. Representatives and experts from 13 institutions, including the lawyers representing the missing persons, were invited to witness the excavation.
Now, the case is to be heard again on 29 April and a strong message has been passed to the Consultant JMO from Colombo to present himself to the courts, legal sources in Mannaar said. Mr Ratnayake would be facing the risk of receiving an arrest warrant if he failed to attend the Mannaar Court on 29 April, the legal sources further said.
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