By Baazir Kaleelur Rahman –

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“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” –  Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate

This 12 July marks 35 years since one of the most harrowing and overlooked atrocities in Sri Lanka’s history: the abduction and killing of 72 innocent people – including Hajj pilgrimage returnees – as they travelled to Kattankudy from Colombo and various other places via Kalmunai. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave in Kurukkalmadam.

Despite the continued unearthing of mass graves in the north – and the return of some remains to grieving families – the victims of Kurukkalmadam remain forgotten. Their families still wait for answers. Still wait for justice. Still wait for accountability.

While the Tamil struggle for independence has rightly gained international attention and sympathy, the suffering endured by Eastern Muslims during the same period has largely been erased from national memory and justice processes. For decades, the Muslim community has grieved in silence, denied recognition and redress.

The world remembers the Kattankudy Mosque massacre, where 103 Muslims were brutally gunned down by the LTTE while in prayer. Eravur, too, witnessed unspeakable violence. Thousands of acres of land were seized from Muslim families, while abductions, robberies, and targeted killings became tragically routine. Yet among the darkest and most neglected atrocities of that era remains the Kurukkalmadam massacre of July 1990.

A total of 167 people are believed to be buried in Kurukkalmadam. Eyewitnesses and a few survivors say the victims were heavily tortured and buried in shallow graves by the beach, where a military camp is now situated. Although various NGOs conducted inquiries, to this day no proper investigation has taken place. No adequate compensation has been given to the families who lost their breadwinners. No arrests. No accountability. No closure for the families who still grieve in silence.

In fact, over 340 Muslims are believed to have gone missing from the Kattankudy area during the same period. The full scale of the violence remains unknown.

Shibly Farook, a former member of the Eastern Provincial Council, has been one of the few voices consistently calling for justice. He raised a critical question in a Tamil newspaper:

“If mass graves like Chemmani are being exhumed, why is Kurukkalmadam still ignored? Are Muslim lives worth less?” His question deserves serious reflection.

In 1998, the Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna was uncovered. Just last month, second-phase excavation work at the Chemmani site led to the recovery of more victims, fuelling calls for international oversight of the process of exhuming mass graves on the island. Court-ordered excavation efforts have so far uncovered 19 human skeletons, including those of three babies.

Yet Kurukkalmadam – reported to the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons in 2014 – remains a silent scar. A court order to excavate the site was granted in Kaluwanchikudy in 2014, but political interference and lack of funding halted the process, according to former Kattankudy Urban Council member Rauf A. Majeed, who lost two uncles in the incident.

Why the double standards? Why does one atrocity receive global attention while another is buried – literally and figuratively?

Fithouse Naleemi, former NPP parliamentary candidate, stated in a newspaper:

“Kurukkalmadam is not just a forgotten incident. It is a wound that festers in silence. As Muslims, we must not stay silent. We must demand justice with dignity and determination.”

Justice is not a zero-sum game. Calling for justice for Kurukkalmadam does not undermine Chemmani or the Tamil cause. On the contrary, it affirms the principle that all victims of atrocity – regardless of ethnicity or religion – deserve truth, recognition, and justice.

The Muslim community in Sri Lanka and beyond must now demand that the Sri Lankan government officially recognises the Kurukkalmadam massacre as a war crime and ensures it is included in any truth and reconciliation process, both domestic and international.

This is not a call for confrontation, not a call for separatism or revenge. It is purely a call for truth, a call to honour the dead, and a call to restore dignity to the living.

For years, the Muslim community lacked the global platforms or political networks needed to pursue justice. That time is over. We must speak up – not just for our own, but for all communities who have suffered during Sri Lanka’s long conflict.

We must tell history boldly and clearly. Now is the time to learn from our past and educate the next generation about the importance of active political participation.

Kurukkalmadam must not remain a silent grave. It must become a historic symbol – not just of pain – but of our collective resolve to seek justice, however long it takes.