Where have all the young men gone?

All
photos by the author. See full set of photos here.
Snippets from hearings of the Presidential Commission to investigate into
complaints regarding missing persons

Sathurukondan, 0!0!"0
by #hyagi $u%anpathirana
& on 0'!0(!)0"* +, Who is the missing person?
A, -ather, mother, brother, grandmother, grandfather, younger sister, older
sister and her three children.
An eerie silence follo%ed these %ords that %as only broken by the panicking
cameramen rushing to record the story about to unfold.
#he complainant recalled escaping the large round up that took place
around .pm.
#here %as a lot of commotion that night, tyre&burning smells engulfed the
area. / kno% the person responsible because / %ent to the Sathurukondan
army camp to 0nd out %hat became of all the people %ho %ere taken for an
1in2uiry3. 4e told me they had vanished into thin air5 #hat6s "0 from my
family alone& into thin air5
$eports of the incident have the total number of persons rounded up that
day at "'*.
777
8urukkalmadam, ")!0(!"0
+, 4o% did he go missing?
A, 4e %as on his %ay to 8almunai from 8attankudy for business. 4is van
%as stopped at 8urukkalmadam 9unction %here the :##; %as checking
vehicles. / haven6t heard from him since. #here %ere others %ho %ent like
my husband, but some returned. /t %as like they %ere picking some and
letting others go& to get the story out to all the <uslims.
Around .0 complainants repeated this e=act same story. / couldn6t
comprehend the horror, let alone understand the sheer arbitrariness of the
e=ercise. >ver ".0, at least, %ent missing after being picked at random& like
eeny, meeny, miny, moe& you shall live and you shall die.
#he families seemed to have come to terms %ith the fact that they %ere
probably massacred on the beach, even though their bodies have not been
found or even been e=cavated yet from %here they are suspected to be. )*
long years have passed, and loved ones still come before a Commission,
like they have in the past, to provide testimony. #hey %ant their stories
recorded, for history, for posterity.
777
At the ?atticaloa sittings of the Presidential Commission to investigate into
complaints regarding missing persons, / made an attempt to categorise the
cases of disappearances in the ;astern province from the late '0s and early
0s, purely to get my head around the incidents and numbers@ ;astern
Aniversity, Sathurukondan, 8urukkalmadam, a group that %ent sea 0shing
in "), groups that %ent missing %hile lagoon 0shing in 8allady in "0,
another incident at a rice mill in "'(. #he list %ent on.
#%o %omen giving testimonies then said some things so precious that
reality struck me right across the face %ith a side of shame.
/ remember he had a cold bath that morning before leaving for school. 4e
didn6t reach school and / haven6t seen him since. #his mother remembered
everything about her son and the day he %ent missing& including that fact
that he had bathed that fateful morning, over t%o decades ago. /t %as a
mother6s love. Simple and pure.
/ usually get a call from him during lunchtime. #hat day he didn6t call. /
kne% something %as %rong. / didn6t kno% %hat to do. / could relate to her,
at some level. 4aving pulled through almost a year of a long distance
relationship, / had some indication of ho% she must6ve felt& helpless at a
time of need. ?ut / could only speculate the entirety of her emotions, as if
the %hole %orld had been pulled out from right under her feet.
#he stories / %as attempting to categorise %ere of real people. #hese
%erereal stories of ho% someone6s father, mother, husband, %ife, son,
daughter, sister or brother %ent missing. Anfortunately media reports don6t
do them 9ustice. 4undreds of stories reduced to numbers appearing as
mere statistics on paper. #he human element of the hearings& the
memories, grief, pain, suBering and in some cases hope& is not represented
in the numbers that have so far gone before the Commission and placed
their trust in it, or in the blame game of %ho is responsible. Something to
remember the ne=t time you see a report on ho% many complaints have
been heard, is that there6s a face behind each and every one of these
complaints and a story that a grieving loved one is yearning to tell in the
hope that they %ill 0nd them.
777
Aniformed men abducted my husband in Cantharamoolai. When / %ent
searching for him at the army camp one man said that there6s a body
burning in the bushes and asked me if /6d like to see it5 #hese %ords still
give me the chills. Who in their right mind could say something so crass?
We live in a society that has dehumaniDed and desensitiDed to human
emotion such as losses of our fello% man. What %ould you do if your loved
ones %ere snatched from you in the blink of an eye? What %ould you do if
the only reason for having lost them %as because they %ere at the %rong
place, at the %rong time?
#he Eothering6 culture is so deeply embedded in our society that the
problems facing those aBected by the conFict in the Gorth pales in
comparison to a %ater cut in Colombo5 H-irstWorldProblems.
/ suppose three decades of %ar can have this eBect on society.
777
#he <ullaitivu sittings of the Commission took a diBerent tone altogether.
Iiven that a ma9ority of the cases %ere from )00(&)00, here memories
%ere still fresh. #he tears still rolling. Wounds still healing.
#he :##; took one from each house& they already took our son. Juring the
last phase they %ere desperate and they didn6t care, so they took my
daughter too5 We %ere crossing the Gandikadal lagoon %hen / lost my
youngest to shelling. #he %oman bello%ed. She had lost all her children.
#he army said that anyone and everyone %ho %as involved in the
movement& even if it %as for 9ust one day& should surrender before they are
taken to displacement camps. #hey said they %ould make in2uiries and
release them. When / surrendered my husband to a responsible army of a
responsible Iovernment, it6s their duty under humanitarian la% to return
him5
/ can6t begin to conceive the courage it must6ve taken a mother to
surrender her son, or the fortitude of a %ife to surrender her love she
%rongly assumed had returned to her %hen the guns fell silent. #hey placed
their everything in the hands of the army %hen they forced their loved ones
to surrender, hoping they %ill either be e=onerated or held to account for
their crimes, by la%. -ive years since the end of the %ar, they are still
pleading after oKcers at detention centers and the /C$C in hopes of 0nding
them.
777
/f you go to the camp today / can sho% you the man %ho abducted my son5
4e still %orks there5
#he absolute impunity that pervades leaves hardly any space for
reconciliation. What is reconciliation for families of the disappeared?
$econciliation is no more about truth seeking and 9ustice for those %ho6ve
gone missing. $econciliation today is about barring families from
commemorating the dead. $econciliation today is about having the event
%here families of the disappeared are meant to share e=periences of their
search for loved ones, be disrupted by a violent group inclusive of monks.
4ope is running slim for them.
777
+, Was there shelling %hen you %ere crossing over to army controlled area?
A, Les, there %as severe shelling and there %ere dead bodies every%here.
+, -rom %hich side %ere you being attacked?
A, Sir, it %asn6t from 9ust one side. /t felt like %e %ere being attacked from
all four sides5 We suBered heavily in this %ar. We don6t %ant anything
e=cept please 0nd me my son.
#he Commission is their last ray of hope. -amilies of the disappeared have
once more come for%ard to a Presidential Commission to give evidence. So
far over ",000 persons have made %ritten complaints to the Commission.
>ver the past ( months hearings have been held in the districts of
8ilinochchi, MaBna, ?atticaloa and this %eek the Commission %ill commence
its 0rst hearings in <annar. Although progress has been slo% and there
have been a number of shortcomings and concerns regarding the
proceedings, the Commission has been making some progress into the
mammoth task of carrying out its mandate& much unlike a number of
commissions of in2uiry appointed in the past.
#his is all no% at the risk of changing in the %ake of the Commission6s
mandate e=pansion. As a political gimmick and a counter narrative to the
AG >4C4$ investigation on Sri :anka that kicked oB this month, a
seemingly rushed Council has been appointed on an advisory capacity to
assist the Commission %ith matters of the e=panded mandate. #he ne%
mandate includes in2uiring into issues ranging from international human
rights and humanitarian la% violations to international criminal activities of
the :##;. While these remain important issues that %arrant independent
investigations, combining them %ith the current %orkload of the
disappearances commission runs the risk of side&lining the intended
purpose of the Commission. #his is already illustrated by the very fact that
the missing persons commission has overnight turned into a %ar crimes
commission in the media.
4o% disappointed %ould the families of the disappeared feel Fipping
through the papers to 0nd %hat became of their testimonies, to 0nd that
the speci0c issue of missing persons has been no% blo%n out of the %ater?
What fate a%aits the thousands of missing persons and their families %ho
placed their faith %ith the Commission? #he Commission %as appointed on
the basis that the issue of disappearances is a matter so delicate that
needs resolving, that there is 9ustice o%ed to the families, that
reconciliation is a non&starter for the %ar aBected %ho have been in a state
of limbo for decades searching for their loved ones. #he matter left
unresolved has a detrimental impact on long&term reconciliation.
?ut alas, %hen %ill they ever learn? When %ill they ever learn?
Posted by Thavam