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[[File:Duraiappa stadium.JPG|thumb|Duraiappa stadium]]
The '''Duraiappa stadium mass grave''' (also spelled Duraiyappah or Thuraiappa) was discovered and excavated at the Duraiappah Sports Stadium (named after [[Alfred Duraiappah]]) in the formerly embattled northern city of [[Jaffna]], [[Sri Lanka]], during a period of relative calm between civil conflicts. The [[mass grave]] was unearthed in stages between April 4 and 10 of 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.sundaytimes.lk/990328/news3.html
|title= Chemmani a non starter|access-date=2007-12-28
|work=Chris Kamalendran}}</ref><ref name="monitor">{{cite web |url= http://brcslproject.gn.apc.org/slmonitor/march99/skel.html |title= Mass graves in Sri Lanka |date= 2007-05-04 |work= Sri Lankan monitor |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070802000555/http://brcslproject.gn.apc.org/slmonitor/march99/skel.html |archive-date= 2007-08-02 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990621/ige21036.html|title= Skeletons keep fear alive in Jaffna|access-date= 2007-12-28|work= Amal Jayasinghe}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url = http://sundaytimes.lk/990411/newsm.html#2LABEL11
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080112192430/http://www.sundaytimes.lk/990411/newsm.html#2LABEL11
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = 2008-01-12
|title = 23 skeletons in stadium
|access-date = 2007-12-28
}} </ref>

==Discovery==
Renovation of the stadium, which was damaged and neglected during the course of the various phases of the [[Sri Lankan civil war]], began in 1999. The attempt was hailed as a sign that normalcy had returned to the Jaffna peninsula, the battle-scarred heartland of the Tamils by the then government. Instead, it exposed one of the many secret mass graves created during the conflict between the [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] majority dominated military forces and the [[minority group|minority]] [[Sri Lankan Tamil]] dominated rebel group the [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]],<ref name="monitor"/> a conflict that has claimed more than 65,000 lives by 2007.

As workers sank the foundations for new changing rooms at the Duraiyappah stadium in northern Sri Lanka, their spades struck bones. Eventually 25 skeletons, including those of two children,<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.epidemio-ufpel.org.br/proesf/Anaclaudia/Somasundaram.pdf
|title = Child soldiers:Understanding the context
|date = 2007-05-06
|work = BMJ.com
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071010083955/http://www.epidemio-ufpel.org.br/proesf/Anaclaudia/Somasundaram.pdf
|archive-date = 2007-10-10
}}</ref> were unearthed. As the battered skins of six oil drums were pulled back to reveal a pit a few feet across, horrified villagers clutching the identity cards of missing sons and husbands came forward to witness the layers of [[Human skull|skulls]] and broken [[vertebrae]] crushed into hardened clay 3 feet below the turf.<ref name="monitor"/><ref name="times">
{{Cite news | last1 = Scott-Clark | first1 = Cathy
| last2 = Levy | first2 = Adrian | title = Mass graves found at Stadium in Jaffna | newspaper = The Times | date = 1999-04-11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990621/ige21036.html|title= Experts summoned|access-date= 2007-12-28|work= Chris Kamalendran}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Eye witness==
Paramanthan Selvarajah was one of the witnesses to the unearthing of the mass graves. He was quoted as looking for his son, Pirapakaran, who disappeared in July 1996, age 24, after being taken by the [[Sri Lankan army]] as he rode home past a checkpoint in Jaffna. "I saw his bike lying behind a [[bunker]] and heard him crying inside," he said. "We never saw him again."

<nowiki> </nowiki>Pirapakaran, a tailor, is among more than 12,000 predominantly Tamil civilians believed to have disappeared since the war began.<ref name="times"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ictj.org/static/Asia/SriLanka/facade.eng.pdf|title=Façade of accountability: Disappearances in Sri Lanka|publisher=Third World Law Journal: Boston College Vo l23:115|date=15 February 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928105338/http://www.ictj.org/static/Asia/SriLanka/facade.eng.pdf|archive-date=28 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://brcslproject.gn.apc.org/slmonitor/december2000/miru.html|title= Mirusuvil mass grave|publisher= Sri Lanka Monitor:British refugee council|date= 15 February 2006|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081006081536/http://www.brcslproject.gn.apc.org/slmonitor/December2000/miru.html|archive-date= 6 October 2008}}</ref>

Jaffna Additional [[magistrate]] S. A. E. Ekanathan sought assistance from [[forensic]] experts, [[Ruhuna University]]’s [[Professor]] N. Chandrasiri declared that proper scientific methods were not used in the excavation and vital evidence may have been destroyed. Preliminary reports suggest that the site may be around ten years old, placing the suspicion on the [[Indian Peace Keeping Force]] or the rebel [[LTTE]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.dailynews.lk/2003/08/15/fea02.html |title= Mass graves in Sri Lanka |date= 2007-05-04 |work= Daily News.lk |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930031924/http://www.dailynews.lk/2003/08/15/fea02.html |archive-date= 2007-09-30 }}</ref>

==UTHR==
According to a local [[human rights]] group [[UTHR]] the bodies could hardly have been buried there before late 1987. The Indian Army or the [[IPKF]] was there until the end of 1989. The LTTE was in control of the area from September 1990 to October 1995. Since then the Sri Lankan Army has been in control.<ref name="uthr">{{cite web |url=http://www.uthr.org/SpecialReports/spreport12.htm#_Toc515700090|title= UTHR Report 12|date =2007-05-04 |work=[[UTHR]].org}}</ref>

According to UTHR the age of the victims had not been ascertained, which would allow the forensic experts to determine as to when they might have died. The organization demanded that an impartial investigation must be conducted and the Magistrate allow exhumations. It was noted that the basic step of issuing a public notice calling upon persons who have reason to believe, or even suspect, that the graves may contain the remains of persons in whom they have an interest, to come forward was not done, and because of this error the field has been left open to interested speculators. The forensic tests alone will not be satisfactory since the gaps between the departure of one armed party and the arrival of the next are small. It demanded that only a public testimony that will be the determining factor. The report concluded that at that time the excavations at Duraiappah Stadium are neither satisfactory nor professional.<ref name="uthr"/>

A local newspaper demanded that as they are several more mass graves in the North-East of the country and they should be investigated impartially as well.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://sundaytimes.lk/990418/news5.html |title= Mass graves: importance of looking good |date =2007-05-04 |work=Sunday Times.lk}}</ref> Although news agencies reported that the skeletons were sent to capital [[Colombo]] for further [[forensic]] analysis there is no further information on this mass grave.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abooda.com/News/WEnd010303.asp|title=Will justice prevail in the Trinco graves issue ?|date=2007-05-04|work=Abooda.com|access-date=2007-05-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404022548/http://www.abooda.com/News/WEnd010303.asp|archive-date=2007-04-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Mirusuvil mass grave|Mass grave at Mirusuvil]]
*[[Chemmani mass graves|Mass grave at Chemmani]]
*[[Sooriyakanda mass grave|Mass grave at Sooriyakanda]]

==Notes==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cnote|name|Duraiappah Stadium is named after [[Alfred Duraiappah]], a former [[mayor]] of Jaffna city. He was [[assassinated]] by the rebel [[LTTE]] leader [[Velupillai Prabhakaran]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://sangam.org/Sabaratnam/PirapaharanChap8.htm
|title=Pirapaharan:First Military Operation |date =2007-05-06 |work=sangam.org}}</ref>}}
{{refend}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140013/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1607/16070590.htm A death plot in Sri Lanka]}}
*[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmordbk1/90430w01.htm UK parliament question and answer secession]

{{Sri Lankan Civil War}}
{{coord missing|Sri Lanka}}

[[Category:Mass graves in Sri Lanka]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses in Sri Lanka]]
[[Category:Massacres in Sri Lanka]]
[[Category:Mass murder of Sri Lankan Tamils]]
[[Category:Indian Peace Keeping Force]]

Duraiappa stadium mass grave - Revision history

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