What Happened
Othiyamalai is a remote village on the border of Mullaithivu district. More or less the entire population worked in their own paddy fields.
From 29th November 1984 until 2nd December 1984 the SLAFs declared a curfew. A SLAFs regiment moved from Pathaviya to Othiyamalai on 1st December 1984. The SLAFs rounded up the people of Othiyamalai village. When the villagers opened their door at 5:00 am, they saw the Sri Lankan soldiers standing in green attire.
The soldiers spoke fluent Tamil and asked for all the men in the village to come to the Development Society building, and demanded that they assist the struggle waged by the LTTE. Deceived by the pretension of the Sri Lankan army soldiers, 32 men went.
Eyewitness account: "On 2nd December 1984, 32 people were massacred here. My father and five of my uncles were killed. They caught our uncle at our house, tore up his shirt in front of us and tied his hands. They put everyone they had brought on a tractor, tied up everyone's hands and eyes. They shot everyone whilst the men remained still tied. The watching villagers told us they put five people, all over fifty years old, in the back of a tractor and the soldiers stood on top of the men singing and dancing as they drove away."
Perpetrators
Sri Lankan Army
Sources & References
- NESOHR - Lest We Forget Volume I