The Eelam map was used at some events held in the North today to commemorate the victims of Mullivaikal.
Jaffna university students commemorated the “massacre” of Tamils in 2009 at a ceremony staged outside the university this morning by lighting candles near a map of Eelam.
The Jaffna university student’s union had invited the public to attend the ceremony.
The Jaffna university student’s union said the death of hundreds of Tamils during the final stages of the war in 2009 was the biggest massacre of a single community.
Meanwhile addressing a ceremony held at Vellamullivaikkal Northern Province Chief Minister C.V Wigneswaran said, “Not everyone who died during the war was a terrorist. We are here to commemorate the civilians. It is necessary to seek out what happened to these people since a lot of civilians lost their lives due to the war.”
Wigneswaran said those in the South of the country interpreted the commemoration ceremony as a “tribute to the terrorists” who were killed during the conflict.
A five-minute silence was observed in memory of the victims as well as religious observances.
Events to mark the remembrance of victims of the final war began in the North and East last week. Northern provincial council members and families of those killed during the final stages of the war attended the events.
In the past the authorities had attempted to prevent the Mullivaikal commemoration events from being held as it was seen as paying respects to LTTE cadres killed during the war. (Colombo Gazette)