US lab in 2019 determined grave dated back to 1477 and 1719

By Shamindra Ferdinando

UN Resident Coordinator in Colombo Marc-Andre Franche recently visited the Mannar mass graves site aka Sathosa mass graves site. The UN official was accompanied by some members of the UN staff here.

The visit was made in the wake of the Mullivaikkal events held on May 18 to commemorate those who perished in the last phase of the fighting on the Vanni east front. Sri Lanka brought the war to an end on May 19, 2009.

Following the visit to the North, Franche tweeted on ‘X’: “Glad to interact anew with civil society on understanding the development and social cohesion challenges in Jaffna and the wider Northern Province. It is clear stronger coordination with State and civil society is needed to ensure the needs of communities.”

The Tamil Guardian reported that Franche visited the Mannar mass graves sites and also met the families of the disappeared.

UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Marc-Andre Franche (fifth person standing from left) at the Mannar mass graves site (pictures courtesy Tamil Guardian)

Mannar mass graves site was found during the Yahapalana administration. Various interested parties immediately accused the Army of being responsible. However, six skeletal samples that had been sent to Beta Analytics Inc., in Florida, USA, to determine the age of the grave, revealed that it dates back to between 1477 and 1719.

A senior military official, who had served on the Vanni front during the Eelam War IV, told The Island that those who couldn’t stomach the LTTE’s defeat would continue to propagate lies with a view to harassing the country at the Geneva human rights sessions. “If they are not prepared to believe the assessment made by an internationally recognized US lab, with regard to the Mannar mass graves, what more can we do to address their concerns?” the officer asked, recalling the wild declaration made by former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, accusing the military of poisoning 104 LTTE cadres undergoing rehabilitation. That lie, too, was exposed, the officer said, urging the UN and other interested parties to make an effort to at least identify those living overseas, under assumed names, while they remained categorised as forcibly disappeared.

Chairman of Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security Rear Admiral (retd.) Sarath Weerasekera said that the government should take tangible measures to protect the warwinning military.

Interested parties seemed to be making an effort to revive accusations with regard to the Mannar mass graves for obvious reasons, while the UN plays the role of a willing accomplice in a continuing campaign to tarnish the war-winning Army that sacrificed so much for this country’s unity and territorial integrity, the former Navy Chief of Staff said.In another rather strange act of the present UN Resident Coordinator, one of his first acts on arriving in Sri Lanka was to pay a much puiblicised visit to the JVP Headquarters at Pelawatte.