Relatives of the Disappeared Hold Major Protest at Chemmani

20-Jun-2026

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Relatives of forcibly disappeared persons staged a major protest at Chemmani demanding international monitoring and international justice in relation to the Chemmani mass grave.

The protest was held following a visit by Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara to the site on June 19.

More than 350 human skeletal remains have reportedly been identified at the Chemmani mass grave so far. In view of ongoing excavations, members of associations representing families of the disappeared from the Northern and Eastern Provinces organised the demonstration at around 2.00 p.m.

Among those who participated were Tamil National People's Front leader and MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, party secretary Selvarajah Gajendran, religious representatives, relatives of the disappeared and civil society activists.

Protesters raised slogans demanding international justice and international monitoring, while carrying placards and photographs of their missing relatives.

During the demonstration, a police officer presented a court order issued by the Jaffna Magistrate's Court. The order prohibited named individuals and participating organisations from blocking roads or causing obstructions around the Chemmani Sithupathi Hindu cemetery, the Jaffna District Secretariat and the Jaffna Court complex.

In response, the protesters stated that they were not obstructing roads and were only demanding justice. They argued that domestic mechanisms had failed to establish the identities of those whose remains were found in mass graves such as Chemmani and reiterated their call for an international justice mechanism.