Pannangkandy is a village of about 300 families. It is situated near the town
of Kilinochchi. The main economic activity in the village is agriculture.
The villagers had displaced from their homes due to Sri Lankan military
shelling as it conducted an operation from their Elephant Pass militarycamp. Most of the displacedfrom Pannankandy wereliving in the Vaddakkachchivillage. They were very poorand due to poverty theyreturn to their own land in
Pannankandy to collect theproduce from their land. The
military that has setup acamp near Pannankandywould capture the poorvillagers and kill them. Hundreds of people died in this fashion in theKilinochchi district during this time. This is recorded in another section
titled, “Kilinochchi town massacres”. The following is the story of whathappened to the Pannankandy villagers.
The village headman, Sithamparapillai Rajendram, recited the following as
he was told by Karuppaih Nanthakumar aged 23,“On 5th July 1997, Nanthakumar and Sukumar went on bicycles to their
home in Pannangkandy at 3rd Vaikal which was a ‘no man’ region and
from which they were displaced at that time. They went to check their homes and also collect coconuts and other produce from their land.
The SLA caught both of them. The army tied Nanthakumar to a post and took Sukumar to the village well. Sukumar’s shirt was removed and his hands were tied to the back with his shirt. He was then forced to bend over the short barrier wall of the well so that the front half of his body was hanging into the well and the back half was outside. His body was then cut and then pushed into the well.
Stones were thrown into the well to stop the body floating up. Nanthakumar, who was watching this, managed to untie himself and ran away.
When Nanthakumar arrived at Tharmapuram where we met him, he told everyone the story. No one went to check it at that time out of fear. On the same day the four other men went missing. No one knew about their fate at that time.
In March 2000 following the Sri Lankan army withdrawal from our village we went back to Pannangkandy to resettle. First only about 10 families went. We cleaned the well mentioned above because we needed to use it for drinking water and also because we knew about what has happened to Sukumar. When we started cleaning the well 6 bodies were recovered. Everyone whose family member had gone missing came to check whether their relative’s body is among them. Relatives were able to identify the clothing with which the hands of the skeletons were tied once the clothing was washed.”
Mrs Pannichelvam Seethalaxmi’s husband skeleton was one of those found in the well.
“On 5th July 1997, there was a military operation named ‘Sath Jaya’ carried out by the SLA. Our village was bombed and shelled. We left our place and lived in Union Tank, Akkarayan, and Skanthapuram as refugees. There were no employment facilities there. We were very poor.
One day my husband together with Kanthasamy Muthulingam and Perumar Sugumaran went to Pannangkandy on 5th July 1997 at 7:30pm to get some things and pluck some coconut fruit. They did not return back that day. I was surprised. I went and met another family member and the Rural Development Society president and also informed the International Red Cross Society in Mallavi. But I did not get any information from 1997 to 2000.
One day, a Father came to my house and told me that he had some news about some skeletons that were taken by somebody in the lavatory pit at Pannangkandy. Immediately I ran there with the help of the Tamil Eelam Police. I saw the skeleton. I proved that the skeleton was that of my husband.”
The sixth body belonged to a young boy wearing blue school shorts. His identity has not been settled yet. Later we heard that he could be from Udaiyarkaddu, Kaddaikadu. No one came inquiring about this boy. The remains from the well are with the Tamil Eelam police.
Note: Appathurai Selvakumar (35) also from Pannangkandy disappeared and his fate is unknown. His family lives in Pannangkandy
Available names of victims (name, occupation, age)
1. Seenivasagam Panneerselvam, Worker, 37
2. Perumal Sasikumar, Worker, 38