George Jeyarajasingham (died 13 December 1984) was a minority Sri Lankan Tamil Human Rights activist and a Methodist missionary from the Mannar district of Sri Lanka. He and three others were shot dead on 13 December 1984 when they were traveling in his vehicle. Later their bodies were burnt along with his vehicle. [1] [2] [3]
He was of minority Sri Lankan Tamil origin. He was born in the city of Komari in the eastern part of Sri Lanka. He was attached to the northwestern Mannar district Methodist church.
He was in charge of a big Methodist farm known Jeevothayam Methodist Center in a nearby village called Murunkan in the Mannar district. He was engaged in social and pastoral work with the victims of the many disappearances and killings which were taking place in that area. He was known to help the civilians by interceding on behalf of them with the local military authorities.
During military offensives by the Sri Lankan Army in 1984 as part of the ongoing Sri Lankan Civil War in Mannar region, a local Roman Catholic priest Fr. Mary Bastian and George Jeyarajasingham became the focal point of human rights activism on behalf of the local people. He and Mary Bastian became the local contact for the Sri Lankan government appointed presidential committee to investigate Human Rights violations in the Mannar district. [1] [2] [3]
According to Pax Christi, on 13 December 1984 he was requested by the army to give evidence on some of the matters he was reporting. Along with his driver Abdul Cader Sulaiman, his Sinhalese wife Brigette Jeyarajasingham and a police constable named Jesuthasan Roche attached to the Murunkan police station, he was allegedly stopped by Sri Lankan Army personnel while traveling from Mannar to Murunkan. The victims were shot dead at point blank range. The perpetrators later burnt the car and the victims' bodies along with the vehicle. Mary Bastian collected the remains of victims including Jeyarajasingham and handed them over to the Jeevothayam Methodist Center. [1] [2] [3]
Black July was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated, and was finally triggered by a deadly ambush on a Sri Lankan Army patrol by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 23 July 1983, which killed 13 soldiers. Although initially orchestrated by members of the ruling UNP, the pogrom soon escalated into mass violence with significant public participation.
The 1977 anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka followed the 1977 general elections in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalistic Tamil United Liberation Front won a plurality of minority Sri Lankan Tamil votes. In the elections, the party stood for secession. An official government estimate put the death toll at 125, whereas other sources estimate that around 300 Tamils were killed by Sinhalese mobs. Human rights groups, such as the UTHR-J, accused the newly elected UNP-led government of orchestrating the violence.
The Vankalai massacre was a massacre of a family of four minority Sri Lankan Tamils at the hands of the Sri Lankan military personnel from the village of Vankalai in Mannar District, Sri Lanka on June 8, 2006. The victims were tortured and the mother was gang raped before her murder.
Velanai is a small village in Velanai Island off the coast of Jaffna Peninsula in the North of Sri Lanka.
Mary Bastian was a Sri Lankan Tamil human rights activist and Catholic priest. He was shot and killed along with 10 other civilians on January 6, 1985, during the Sri Lankan Civil War, allegedly by the Sri Lankan Army.
Chandra Fernando (1942–1988) was a priest from the town of Baticaloa in minority Tamil-dominated eastern province of Sri Lanka. He was known for his human rights activism. He was assassinated by unknown men on June 6, 1988.
Thiruchchelvam Nihal Jim Brown was a minority Sri Lankan Tamil, Roman Catholic parish priest who disappeared during the Sri Lankan civil war. He was active helping his parishioners during the bombing of his church in northern Sri Lanka. He went missing with Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas on August 20, 2006, and is presumed dead.
On June 12, 1991, 152 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians were massacred by members of the Sri Lankan military in the village Kokkadichcholai near the eastern province town of Batticaloa. The Sri Lankan government instituted a presidential commission to investigate the massacre. The commission found the commanding officer negligent in controlling his troops and recommended that he be removed from office, and identified nineteen other members of the Sri Lankan military to be responsible for mass murder. In a military tribunal that followed in the presidential commission in the capital city of Colombo, all nineteen soldiers were acquitted.
The Padahuthurai bombing or Illuppaikadavai bombing happened on January 2, 2007, when the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed what they claimed to be rebel LTTE naval base in Illuppaikadavai in Northern Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the local Roman Catholic bishop, and the LTTE claimed 15 minority Sri Lankan Tamils, including women and children, were killed and 35 injured due to the bombing.
Eelam War I is the name given to the initial phase of the armed conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.
Eugene John Hebert was an American-born Jesuit missionary in Sri Lanka. He along with his Tamil driver Betram Francis disappeared on August 15, 1990 as the Sri Lankan civil war was raging. He went missing on his way to the eastern city of Batticaloa from a nearby town of Valaichchenai. He was known for his Human Rights activity on behalf of the local civilians. The Jesuits believe that he was killed along with his driver.
Nicholas Pillai Pakiaranjith was a minority Sri Lankan Tamil, Roman Catholic parish priest and aid worker. He was killed on 26 September 2008 by a Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lankan Army.
Madhu church shelling or Madhu church massacre is the name for the shelling of the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu in Sri Lanka during the Sri Lankan civil war on November 20, 1999. The shelling resulted in the deaths of approximately 40 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians, including children, and more than 60 non-fatal injuries. The exact cause and nature of the event is disputed between the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government. According to Bishop Rayappu Joseph, the attack was carried out by the LTTE. The church is a Roman Catholic Marian shrine in Mannar district of Sri Lanka. With a history of over 400 years, this shrine acts as a center for pilgrimage and worship for Sri Lankan Catholics and others. The site is considered as the holiest Catholic shrine in the island.
The 1984 Mannar massacre was the killing of 200+ minority Sri Lankan Tamils civilians by Sri Lankan Army soldiers in the town of Mannar, north-western Sri Lanka, on December 4, 1984. The attack was triggered when three Army jeeps hit a land mine, killing one soldier. In retaliation, landmarks such as the Central hospital, the post office, a Roman Catholic convent as well as villagers working in rice paddy fields and bus passengers were attacked. Villages around Mannar town such as Murunkan and Parappankadal were also attacked. Immediately after the incident, the then Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardene appointed a Presidential commission of inquiry. A local Roman Catholic priest, Mary Bastian who was a member of the Presidential commission was later killed in January 1985. A Methodist minister George Jeyarajasingham, who was a witness to the incident, was also killed in December 1984.
Mannar District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is Mannar, which is located on Mannar Island.
Sexual violence against Tamils in Sri Lanka has occurred repeatedly during the island's long ethnic conflict. The first instances of rape of Tamil women by Sinhalese mobs were documented during the 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom. This continued in the 1960s with the deployment of the Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna, who were reported to have molested and occasionally raped Tamil women.
The Kurukkalmadam massacre was a massacre of Sri Lankan Muslims in Kurukkalmadam by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The number of casualties is estimated to be 60-168.
Rev. Father Edwin Savundra was a Sri Lankan Catholic priest known for his contributions. He founded the English Language Campus, a project dedicated to enhancing English education in the remote villages of Vanni and Mannar, Sri Lanka. Beyond his pastoral role, he also expressed his ideas through several authored books, including the philosophy work titled "The Philosophy of Form and the Human Person".
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