‘No Fire Zone’ Massacres, Mullivaikkal

The last days of the war were played out in the ‘No Fire Zone’ resulting in the deaths of thousands of Tamil civilians as well as LTTE cadre (the final count is still disputed and ranges from 7,000 to 70,000) who were trapped in a tiny sliver of land.

The memorial that was constructed in 2016 to capture the suffering of Tamil civilians during this period became the site of controversy on May 17th 2017 when a simple commemorative ceremony involving the placement of stones inscribed with the names and dates of those who had died there was blocked with a stay order issued by the Mullaitivu courts, at the request of the Mullaitivu police, on the grounds that this event would pose a threat to national security.