This is a remote village on the border of Mullaithivu district. More or lessthe entire population worked in their own paddy fields and they had ample farming produce to live by. However, Sinhalese settlers were settling in Ken
Farm and Dollar Farm and displacing the Upcountry Tamils in these places who had already been displaced from the Upcountry as a result of ethnic violence. From 29th November 1984 until 2nd December 1984 the SLAFs declared a curfew. A SLAFs regiment moved from Pathaviya to Othiyamalai on 1st December 1984. The SLAFs rounded up the people of Othiyamalai village. When the villagers opened their door at 5.00 am on
that day, they saw the Sri Lankan soldiers standing in green attire. The soldiers spoke fluent Tamil and asked for all the men in the village to come to the Development Society building managed by the LTTE, and demanded
that they assist the struggle waged by the LTTE. Deceived by the pretension of the Sri Lankan army soldiers 32 men went. Sithambarapillai Sagunthararasa otherwise known as Rasa lost his father and five uncles in the Othiyamalai Nedunkerni Massacre. His account is as follows:
“On 2nd December 1984, 32 peoplewere massacred here. My father andfive of my uncles were killed. Around5:00 or 5:30 in the morning, the SLAcame to our village. We were smallchildren then. We only know whatpeople told us, we don’t remembermuch. My father was listening to theradio. It was only when they caughthim that we realized they were the SLA. They caught our uncle at our house.They tore up his shirt in front of us and tied his hands. Like this, the SLA
went in twos and threes to every house and caught each family head. OnPuthukkudiyiruppu Road, they saw a tractor. They took hold of the tractorand put everyone they had brought on this tractor. They tied up everyone’s
hands and eyes. They shot everyone whilst the men remained still tied. Thewatching villagers told us, that they put five people, all of them over fiftyyears old in the back of a tractor. They took off the side doors of the tractor,
placed them on top of the five old men and the soldiers then stood on top ofthe men singing and dancing as they drove away.”
Available names of victims (name, occupation, age)
1. Nakamani Sinnaiya, -, 50
2. Nakaratnam Ketheeswaran, -, 23
3. Nalaiya Navaratnam, -, 17
4. Kanthaiya Kanakaiya, -, –
5. Kanthaiya Ponnampalam, -, 48
6. Kanthaiya Sivasithamparam, -, 35
7. Kirusnapillai Rasalingam, -, 29
8. Karuppaiya Thankarasa, -, 18
9. Kanapathippillai Sinnaiya, -, 35
10. Kanapathippilai Sivapatham, -, 28
11. Thanmotharampillai, -, 51
12. Thamotharampillai Sathasivam, -, 46
13. Thampiyaija Kasippillai, -, 45
14. Thampiyaija Veluppillai, -, 38
15. Thampiyaija Supramaniyam, -, 26
16. Thampiyaija Sivanganam, -, 23
17. Alakaiya Jekanathan, -, 17
18. Kovinthar Kanavathippillai, -, 55
19. Ponnampalam Thevarasa, -, 25
20. Veluppillai Sithambarampillai, -, 36
21. Suppaiya Kenkatharan, -, 26
22. Sinnaya Rasenthiram, -, 21
23. Sithamparampillai Rasaiya, -, 27
24. Sankarappillai Saparatnam, -, 40
25. Sankarappillai Sanmukasuntharam, -, 25
26. Sanmukarasa Ravichchanthiran, -, 16
27. Veerakaththi Thillainadarasa, -, 25