What Happened
Xavierpuram, Amparai is the name of the settlement where the 'Kurawar' tribe lived from 1950.
On the 7th of August 1990, the community of Kurawar were attacked, their homes burnt and their youths shot dead. Men and women were tortured and the church, school and community hall were burnt. There was no provocation for such an attack. Later the attackers were identified as Muslim home guards.
Eyewitness Miniakkah: "It was about 11 o'clock when 18 tractors came one behind the other, carrying a large number of people armed with guns, knives, sticks, clubs and axes. They stopped at the centre of the village and called out the people to assemble.
They seized my only son and began torturing him. My husband sprang up and protested. One of them dealt a blow on the chest of my husband with a wooden pestle and he fell down unconscious. Another person struck me on my head with a weapon. I fell unconscious.
They later attacked with knives the men seated on the ground. I found several of my people dead among those killed was not only men but also women and children.
After homes were lost and lives brutally taken, some survivors could not bear to live with what they had seen and later committed suicide."
Perpetrators
Sri Lankan Army
Sources & References
- NESOHR - Lest We Forget Volume I