Sri Lanka marks 16th anniversary of victory over Tamil separatist movement of LTTE

Colombo, May 18 (PTI) Sunday marked the 16th anniversary of the Sri Lankan military victory over the Tamil separatist movement of the LTTE.

On 18 May 2009, the Sri Lankan Army declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which for three decades had run a parallel administration in the northern and eastern part of the country in their quest to set up a separate Tamil homeland.

The grieving relatives of Tamil civilians gathered at the site of the final battle at Mullaivaikkal in the northeastern Mullaithivu district.

Several hundreds of them gathered at the site lighting lamps in their memory calling it the ‘Tamil Genocide Day’.

In the capital Colombo at the Tamil-dominated city ward, a small ceremony was held amidst demonstration by a small number of Sinhala majority protesters.

The state ceremony to pay tribute to government troops will take place at the war hero memorial near parliament here on Monday at 4 pm local time.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who was initially to skip the ceremony, will take part, his office said.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in a statement said all those who had sacrificed their lives for the victory need commemorating.

Some 27,000 troops lost their lives over the three decades out of which over 6,200 soldiers and 22,000 LTTE cadres died in the final phase which began in July 2006.

Indian Peace Keeping force, which was deployed as India’s direct intervention in the Sri Lankan conflict between 1987-1990, saw over 1,100 Indian soldiers dying and over 3000 injured. PTI CORR GSP GSP