The Skeletons Unearthed at Chemmani Are Irrefutable Exhibits of Tamil Genocide - Sujeevan Dharmarathinam

An Exclusive Interview with Sujeevan Dharmarathinam, Co-Coordinator of the People’s Action Network (Makkal Seyal Kaddamaippu)

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QUESTION 01: It has been 37 years since the people of Valikamam North were forcibly evicted on June 15, 1990. Could you speak about the upcoming protest demanding resettlement?

Sujeevan Dharmarathinam: "Thirty-seven years represents more than half a human lifetime. This milestone exposes the tragedy of an entire generation born, raised, and dying in refugee camps and relatives' homes without ever setting foot on their ancestral soil. The struggle of the Valikamam North people is not merely a demand for political rights; it is a fundamental human rights struggle to reclaim their ancestral habitats, agricultural lands, and livelihoods.

Decades after the war ended, the military continuing to hold thousands of acres of indigenous Tamil land under the guise of ‘High Security Zones’ constitutes blatant land occupation under international human rights law. While the military is permitted to cultivate these lands and run luxury resorts on them, allowing the rightful owners of the soil to wander as displaced persons exposes the brutal face of the state apparatus. That people still have to travel to Colombo to protest outside the Presidential Secretariat in 2026 proves that regardless of how many governments change, the fundamental grievances of the Tamils remain stagnant. Therefore, this June 15 protest is a critical move to expose the sluggishness of the current Anura Kumara government—much like its predecessors—in releasing our lands, while drawing international attention to our ancestral land rights."

QUESTION 02: How do you view the Anura Kumara government—which campaigned heavily on the slogan 'We are all Sri Lankans, equal rights for all'—continuing to treat Tamils as refugees and political prisoners?

Sujeevan Dharmarathinam: "The Anura Kumara Dissanayake government, which rode to power in the South on the promise of a ‘System Change’ and the slogan ‘Equality for All,’ follows the exact same Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist trajectory when it comes to the national question of the Tamils. Preaching 'We are all Sri Lankans' on election platforms is mere populist rhetoric designed to harvest Sinhala votes and deceive the international community; in practice, Tamils continue to be treated as second-class citizens, held as political prisoners, and viewed through a lens of suspicion.

The Anura government’s attempt to impose a singular ‘Sri Lankan’ identity is a calculated strategy to dilute the distinct national identity of the Tamils and their demand for self-determination. This very government preaching ‘equal rights’ has failed to halt the ongoing Buddhization, systematic land grabs, and the illegal construction of viharas in the North. It offers no concrete political solution regarding the release of Tamil political prisoners languishing behind bars for years without trial, nor does it have a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the more than 19,000 war-displaced families still living as refugees. Preaching equality without dismantling structural racism is pure eyewash."

QUESTION 03: With over 405 skeletons identified at the Chemmani mass grave so far, how do you interpret the disturbing recovery of a significant number of children's remains?

Sujeevan Dharmarathinam: "The relentless recovery of skeletons from the Chemmani mass grave—particularly the remains of young children and infants—declares to the world once again that what was perpetrated against the Tamil people was a calculated genocide. These are direct forensic exhibits detailing the fate of our forcibly disappeared loved ones when the military captured Jaffna between 1995 and 1996. No future government can ever cover up these truths again.

Past experiences have taught us that domestic judicial mechanisms will never deliver justice for this. Therefore, only an international investigation supervised directly by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), incorporating international forensic experts to examine the entirety of the mass graves discovered across Chemmani, Mullaitivu, and Mannar, can bring truth and justice to our victims. Only then will international accountability for these atrocities become possible."

QUESTION 04: There has been a rising trend among Southern Sinhala youth on social media viciously attacking democratic, non-violent protests by Tamil youth with racist rhetoric. What is your take on this?

Sujeevan Dharmarathinam: "While it is claimed that the regime change in the South brought educated, progressive youth to the forefront, their deep-seated majoritarian mindset surfaces the moment the conversation shifts to Tamil rights and memorialization. Branding democratic, non-violent protests by Tamil youth for their rightful demands and memorialization as ‘terrorism’ proves that true ethnic reconciliation has not taken root in Southern society.

This toxic, racist cyber-campaign against Tamil youth is politically orchestrated. It is the direct continuation of the false ideology—‘Tamils equate to separatists’—seeded into the minds of Sinhala youth over decades by the state and majoritarian media. Although Anura’s NPP government claims to strictly monitor social media, it takes zero legal action against these racist threats directed at Tamils. This cyber-violence is weaponized to intimidate Tamil youth and suppress their democratic voices of resistance."

QUESTION 05: Having campaigned on the promise to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), how do you view the Anura government continuing to arrest Tamils under this very act?

Sujeevan Dharmarathinam: "Pledging to 'completely abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)' prior to elections, only to weaponize the exact same draconian law against Tamils and critics upon assuming power, is blatant political deception.

Currently, the government is attempting to replace the PTA with a new draft bill titled the Protection of the State from Terrorism Act (PSTA). In response, the Tamil community rallied its collective opposition, gathered over 29,000 public signatures, and submitted a massive joint petition to the government in late March. However, an official ministerial response obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has exposed how this government treats the democratic voice of the Tamil people.

According to that official response:

1. They failed to formally record or review any of the public submissions or proposals sent regarding the new PSTA bill.

2. The petitions sent by the Tamil people were never categorized by district or region.

3. Above all, the government has not even issued a basic letter of acknowledgment for a massive petition signed by 29,000 citizens or the corresponding emails.

How can we expect equality from an Anura government that lacks the basic democratic decency to acknowledge receipt of public demands, responding instead with a dismissive ‘Does not arise’? Meanwhile, our youth continue to be arrested under the PTA merely for Facebook posts. The Tamil community will never accept this double-standard politics of throwing 29,000 public signatures into the wastebin while branding our youth as terrorists. Until the PTA and PSTA are fully dismantled, democracy and reconciliation in this country remain hollow words."