Image: Edirmanasingam Kapilraj
The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has written to Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake announcing a hartal on Friday, to protest against the “military’s brutality that continues to date”, following the reported killing of a Tamil man last week.
Tha party demanded urgent action over the killing of 32-year-old Edirmanasingam Kapilraj, whose body was found in Muththaiyankaddu tank, Mullaitivu, after Sri Lankan soldiers assaulted him.
In a letter dated 10 August, ITAK drew the president’s attention to “the finding of the body of Edirmanasingam Kapilraj (32 Years) in the Muttaiyankattu Tank yesterday morning.”
“It has now been revealed,” the party wrote, “that on the 07th August 2025, 5 men were asked to come to the 63rd Division camp of Sri Lankan Army and been severely beaten by the soldiers there. One of them, the said Kapilraj, had gone missing and later his body was found floating in the Tank.”
The party confirmed that some soldiers have since been arrested in connection with the killing, but stressed that the case must be met with “unhindered thorough investigation” to ensure “the culprits [are] brought to book.”
ITAK also used the letter to highlight “the oppressive conduct and excessive presence of the military in the North and the East” and urged Dissanayake to “take immediate steps to remove the excessive presence of the military without delay.”
The letter calls on the president to ensure that “the process of Justice in this instance is carried out without interference” and announces a region-wide protest.
“We have called for a hartal on Friday the 15th August 2025, in the entirety of North and East Provinces to protest against the military’s brutality that continues to-date,” it stated.
Kapilraj’s killing has provoked outrage across the North-East, where eyewitness accounts from the day of the incident describe how he and several others were lured to the 13th Battalion of the Sri Lanka National Guard’s camp in Muththaiyankaddu under the pretence of collecting scrap materials, before being attacked. His body, recovered two days later, bore clear signs of severe assault.
The murder is the latest in a long list of abuses committed by Sri Lankan security forces in the heavily militarised Tamil homeland, where calls for an independent, internationally monitored investigation remain urgent and unheeded.
Tamil Guardian