Jaffna hospital massacre

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Jaffna hospital massacre
LocationSriLanka.png
Location of Sri Lanka
Location Jaffna, Sri Lanka
DateOctober 21–22, 1987 (+6 GMT)
Target Sri Lankan Tamil patients, nurses, doctors and staff of the hospital [1] [2]
Attack type
Shooting, grenade explosion [2] [3]
WeaponsFirearms, grenades
Deaths60 [4] –70 [2]
Injured50+ (estimated)
Perpetrators Indian Peace Keeping Force soldiers deployed in Sri Lanka [2] [5] [6]

The Jaffna hospital massacre occurred on October 21 and 22, 1987, during the Sri Lankan Civil War, when troops of the Indian Peace Keeping Force entered the premises of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, an island nation in South Asia, and killed between 60 and 70 patients and staff. [4] The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, [7] the government of Sri Lanka, [1] and independent observers such as the University Teachers for Human Rights [3] and others [2] [5] [6] [8] have called it a massacre of civilians.

Contents

However, the Indian Army maintains that the soldiers were fired upon [9] and the Indian army officer in charge of the military operations, Lt. Gen. Depinder Singh, claimed that these civilians were killed in a crossfire between soldiers and rebels. [10] Soldiers responsible for this massacre were not prosecuted by the Indian government. [3]

Background information

During the 1950s, around 50% of civil service jobs in Ceylon were held by the Tamil minority, who comprised approximately 23% of the population. This was enabled partly because of the availability of western-style education provided by American missionaries and others in the Tamil-dominant Jaffna peninsula. The preponderance of Tamils over their proportionate share of the population was an issue for populist majority Sinhalese politicians, who came to political power by promising to elevate the Sinhalese people. The resultant discriminative measures such as the Sinhala Only Act and the policy of standardisation, as well as riots and pogroms that targeted the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, led to the formation of a number of rebel groups advocating independence for Sri Lankan Tamils. Following the 1983 Black July pogrom full-scale civil war began between the government and rebel groups.

In 1987 the governments of Sri Lanka and India entered into an agreement and invited the Indian Army to be used as peacekeepers. Eventually the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) came into conflict with one of the rebel groups, namely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). By October 1987 Indian forces were trying to wrest control of the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE. [3]

Attack

The Jaffna hospital, also known as the Jaffna Teaching Hospital and Jaffna General Hospital, is the premier healthcare providing institution within the densely populated Jaffna peninsula, situated in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It had functioned throughout the period of civil war as a sanctuary that was out of bounds for combatants. After the deterioration of the relationship between the rebel LTTE and the IPKF, an attempt by the IPKF to capture Jaffna town was expected. Because of fears of a military operation by the Indian Army, some staff of the hospital had kept away from duty, but others had reported to work assuming that the Indian Army would be considerate because of assurances provided by the Indian Embassy in Colombo to a group of prominent Jaffna citizens that a major military action was not imminent. By October 21, 1987, which was Diwali, a high Hindu holiday, over 70 dead bodies had accumulated in the mortuary as a result of shelling and other military activities. [3]

Eyewitness accounts

One eyewitness recalled the following:

"The Indian Army came firing into the Radiology Block and fired indiscriminately at this whole mass of people huddled together. We saw patients dying. We lay there without moving a finger pretending to be dead. We were wondering all the time whether we would be burnt or shot when the bodies of the dead were collected." [11]

Another eyewitness, Mr Sivagurunathan, recounted the following:

"I was in Ward 8, where my wife was, when they came in shooting at random into the hospital from behind.

Some employees ran in the direction of the X-ray room, and I followed them there with my wife. I was one of the first to reach it and went in with the rest. Soon the others ran into the room and the room got filled and we were pressed against the wall.

Then, the attackers, driving a group of people before them, arrived in front of the room. They pushed everybody inside. They threw grenades inside and started shooting. People were screaming and falling on each other." [12]

Timeline of events

October 21, 1987

October 22, 1987

Reactions

The Indian Army had maintained that it was fired upon from inside the hospital and people were caught in a crossfire. [9] This was reiterated by Lt. Gen. Depinder Singh. [10] The rebel LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka have maintained that it was an unprovoked massacre of civilians. The government of Sri Lanka in 2008 termed it a crime against humanity. [1] A number of independent observers such as University Teachers for Human Rights, a Human Rights organization from Sri Lanka, and western observers such Mr. John Richardson [6] and others [2] [5] [13] [12] maintain that it was a massacre of civilians.

The massacre and other alleged atrocities of the war are covered in the award-winning 2002 film In the Name of Buddha directed by Rajesh Touchriver.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Dayasri, Gomin (2008-04-26). "Eminent Persons' displayed lack of independence". Ministry of Defense, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2008-12-19. These crimes against humanity include the Mass Murders committed by the IPKF at the Jaffna Hospital on the 20th October 1987 when they entered the hospital and indiscriminately murdered patients, doctors, nurses and attendants by shooting and exploding grenades indiscriminately
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Krishna, Sankaran (2005). Postcolonial Insecurities: India, Sri Lanka, and the Question of Nationhood. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 190–2. ISBN   0-8166-3330-4.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hoole, Ranjan; Thiranagama, Ranjani (1992). "The Broken Palmyra, the Tamil Crisis in Sri Lanka, An Inside Account" (Document). The Sri Lanka Studies Institute. pp. 265–71. ASIN: B000OGS3MW.
  4. 1 2 Somasundaram, Daya; Jamunanantha, CS (2002). de Jong, Joop (ed.). Trauma, War, and Violence: Public Mental Health in Socio-Cultural Context. Springer. p. 213. ISBN   978-0-30646709-7.
  5. 1 2 3 De Jong, Joop, ed. (2002). Trauma, War, and Violence: Public Mental Health in Socio-Cultural Context. Springer. p. 213. ISBN   0-306-46709-7.
  6. 1 2 3 Richardson, John (2005). Paradise Poisoned: Learning About Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka's Civil Wars. International Centre for Ethnic Studies. p. 546. ISBN   955-580-094-4.
  7. ↑ "Jaffna Hospital massacre". LTTE peace secretariat. 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  8. ↑ International Committee of the Fourth International Fourth International Vol. 15 No. 1 (March 1988), Mass Murder in Jaffna, Rajiv Gandhi’s Dirty War Against Tamil Eelam https://www.wsws.org/en/special/library/fi-15-1/09.html
  9. 1 2 Pathak, Saroj (2005). War or Peace in Sri Lanka. India: Popular Prakashan. p. 122. ISBN   81-7991-199-3.
  10. 1 2 Ghosh, PA (1998). Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka and Role of Indian Peace Keeping Force. APH Publishing. ISBN   81-7648-107-6. p.125
  11. ↑ "LankaWeb – Indian War Crimes in Sri Lanka: IPKF Massacre of Tamil Doctors and Nurses inside Jaffna Hospital" . Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  12. 1 2 3 4 International Committee of the Fourth International Fourth International Vol. 15 No. 1 (March 1988), Mass Murder in Jaffna, Rajiv Gandhi’s Dirty War Against Tamil Eelam https://www.wsws.org/en/special/library/fi-15-1/09.html
  13. ↑ Somasundaram, D (1997). "Abandoning jaffna hospital: Ethical and moral dilemmas". Medicine, Conflict and Survival. 13 (4): 333–47. doi:10.1080/13623699708409357.

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