Janaka Saman Kumara and Rev. Chandima (Chaminda Srinath Weerasinghe) I had two sons: Janaka Saman Kumara, my oldest, and Chaminda Srinath, my youngest. Chaminda was ordained as a monk and was called Chaminda Thero. Both of my sons were abducted from our house in Panvila, when they were 18 and 17. On 19 November 1989, at around 11 pm, two men knocked on our door claiming to be the police. When I opened the door, I found a mob outside. They barged into the house, grabbed both my sons, and took them away in a vehicle. They did not let us come out. A couple of minutes later, I heard a series of gunshots. I wondered if they had shot my sons. Later I learned that my sons were told to kneel in front of a neighbor’s house and were forced to reveal their friends’ names. That night, they abducted 5 more from our village. Out of the seven, only two came back after some time. Ten days after the abduction, a beheaded person’s carcass was left in front of our shop. The person was a father of a seven days old baby girl. Many people in my area were killed brutally like this. Some said it was the work of the JVP. I visited Panvila Police and several army camps but never got any information. The police only recorded my complaints in 1990. I heard that, before the abductions, Janaka had some argument with a bus conductor and had been threatened by the conductor that Janaka would live only for three days. On this incident, I thought JVP could have done this to take revenge as these sorts of things happened those days. On the other hand, taking 7 children from our village including my two sons, and taking them in a jeep, could it be done by the Police or Army?. I am still unsure if my sons are dead or alive. The government paid me Rs. 30,000 and provided Death Certificates for both of them. I donated this sum to a monk. Should we live in this country without knowing what happened to my two children?.

Testimony by Ashoka Weerasinghe, Mother of Janaka Saman Kumara and Chaminda Thero.