A solemn commemoration was held on Wednesday (11) at the Ranaviru Memorial Monument at the Ampara Superintendent of Police’s Office to mark the 35th anniversary of the brutal massacre of nearly 600 Sri Lankan police officers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on June 11, 1990.
The officers, who had surrendered to the LTTE following orders issued during the ceasefire agreement between then-President Ranasinghe Premadasa and the militant group, were blindfolded, had their hands tied behind their backs, and were executed en masse in the Rupas Kulam forest in Thirukovil.
In one of the darkest chapters of Sri Lanka’s civil conflict, 899 police personnel surrendered after President Premadasa instructed them to comply with the LTTE’s demand. Of those, between 600 and 774 officers were summarily executed. Many Muslim officers from Kalmunai, Pottuvil, Akkaraipattu, and Sammanthurai stations in Ampara were among the victims.
The attack was reported to have been orchestrated by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, known as Karuna Amman, then the LTTE’s Eastern Province commander. Years later, Karuna Amman defected from the LTTE and was controversially appointed Deputy Minister under President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Yesterday’s remembrance event was attended by Eastern Province Senior DIG and Attorney-at-Law Varuna Jayasundara, other senior police officers, retired personnel, and members of the public. The police flag was flown at half-mast, and a moment of silence was observed in memory of the fallen.
In addition to floral tributes, learning materials were distributed to children of police families affected by the war, including those whose parents were among the officers killed in the 1990 massacre.
The event served as a poignant reminder of the immense human cost of the decades-long civil conflict and the enduring sacrifices made by the Sri Lankan police service.
