Following the five year anniversary of the brutal killing carried out by the Sri Lankan military, the Jaffna University Student and teachers made a statement in support of Mullivaikal Remembrance Day, 18th May.
“The Tamil people should have the freedom to mourn collectively the untimely death of a large number of members of their community,” the Jaffna University Science Teachers’ Association said in a statement.
However, the army commander intervened and threatened the staff and students not to support the remembrance day. Leaflet in English and Tamil also circulated in the university threatening that students may ave to face harsh consequences if they go ahead with the remembrance. Military try to prevented any mourning process to take place. The university was then closed between the 16th and 20th May.
Despite the threats staff and students shown enormous courage and carried on with planned event. Over 2,000 students, teachers and other staff of Jaffna University observed Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day at the Kailasapathi Hall in Jaffna on Wednesday, which marks the killing of thousands of Tamil civilians in the last brutal phase of Eelam War IV in April-May 2009.