-By A Staff Writer
(Lanka-e-News - 20.Sep.2025, 11.10 PM) A court in Sri Lanka has ordered the excavation of a site in the Eastern Province believed to be a mass grave containing the remains of more than 150 Muslims killed over three decades ago.
The Kaluwanchikudy Magistrate’s Court granted approval to begin excavations in Kurukkalmadam, Batticaloa District, where survivors and relatives claim that armed groups massacred Muslim pilgrims in 1990 before burying them in shallow graves.
The killings are alleged to have been carried out by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) following the end of the Hajj pilgrimage that year. According to testimony, a group of 168 Muslims travelling through Kalmunai to Kattankudy were abducted, killed and buried.
Although initial court orders to investigate were issued in 2014, no excavation work took place. The case was revived in July 2025, when complainant Abdul Majeed Abdul Rauf petitioned the court through his lawyers, arguing that justice had been delayed for too long.
On 25 August, Magistrate J.P.A. Ranjithkumar directed government officials to begin preliminary preparations for excavations. He also instructed Colombo’s Chief Judicial Medical Officer to present a detailed plan for the excavation. The case is due to be heard again on 23 September.
Court officials, police, lawyers, representatives from the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and families of victims have twice inspected the suspected mass grave site in recent weeks. Archaeology Department staff and local administrators were also present.
Magistrate Ranjithkumar ordered police protection for the area near the Kurukkalmadam beach, where the suspected grave has been identified.
The OMP confirmed that it had already recommended excavations in a 2020 report, but authorities had not acted. Families of the missing, who have waited more than three decades, say they hope the excavations will finally provide clarity and justice.
Local reporters noted that this is the first time in Sri Lanka’s history that an excavation of a suspected mass grave will be carried out without prior discovery of skeletal remains — underscoring the sensitivity and scale of the case.
-By A Staff Writer
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by (2025-09-20 18:19:23)
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