From checkpoints to surrender lists, mandamus litigation has pierced the fog of impunity—but only if Tamil communities use it to build a global legal case.

By: Wimal Navaratnam, Human Rights Activist, July 08, 2025

The Road to Accountability Begins in Court

Decades after the war that ravaged Sri Lanka’s Tamil population, justice for the tens of thousands of disappeared civilians remains elusive. Whether abducted in white vans, vanished after military surrender, or buried secretly in places like Chemmani, Tamil victims have been trapped in a silence engineered by the state.

But the silence is not total. In dusty courthouses across the North, families and lawyers have carved a path—a legal insurgency of truth—through mandamus litigation. It’s a path every Tamil activist, lawyer, and politician must now walk to preserve truth, secure evidence, and internationalize justice before it’s buried for good.

What Is a Mandamus—and Why Does It Matter?

A writ of mandamus is a court order compelling a government agency to do its legal duty. In cases of enforced disappearance, it has been used to:

Force the military to disclose surrender registers
Order police and forensic teams to investigate mass graves
Demand action from the Office on Missing Persons and other oversight bodies

In a country where disappearance often leads to denial, mandamus shifts the power dynamic: it turns state silence into a legal liability.

Case Studies: When Mandamus Made the Wall Crack

🔹 Vavuniya Surrender Cases (2009–2023)

Over 600 Tamils surrendered to Sri Lankan troops in May 2009. They never returned. In 2013, families filed habeas corpus and mandamus applications. The Jaffna and Mullaitivu courts ordered inquiries. In a pivotal moment, the Army admitted to holding a surrender list—but later backtracked. Despite delays, the High Court validated families’ accounts, declaring the military responsible for several disappearances. The case helped create a judicial record for future international referrals.

🔹 Omanthai Checkpoint – The Ilamaran Case (2006–2024)

In 2006, 25-year-old Ilamaran crossed the military checkpoint at Omanthai—and disappeared. His mother fought for answers until 2024, when the Vavuniya High Court ruled that Army officers were liable for his disappearance. The verdict ordered compensation and criminal investigation—the first time named security officials were judicially blamed for a wartime disappearance.

🔹 RTI Mandamus Action – The Surrender List Battle (2019–Present)

A journalist filed a Right to Information request for the names of LTTE cadres who surrendered in 2009. The Army stonewalled. In 2024, the Court of Appeal issued notice for intentional concealment, pushing the case toward full disclosure. This litigation builds the evidentiary spine of an international war crimes case.

🔹 Chemmani Mass Graves (1998–2025)

After 27 years of stalling, current excavations at Chemmani have yielded 42 skeletons, including children. Mandamus actions are underway to compel forensic transparency, preserve evidence, and consolidate the gravesite findings into judicial proceedings. Without such legal push, Chemmani risks becoming another buried truth.

✅ What Mandamus Has Achieved:

The Pros

✨ Achievement	📌 Description
Evidence Disclosure	Court-ordered surrender lists, checkpoint logs, and military registers have surfaced.
State Accountability	Courts ruled security officers responsible for specific disappearances—an unprecedented shift.
Survivor Validation	Judicial recognition of Tamil families’ testimony affirms their decades-long truth campaign.
International Leverage	Case findings feed into UN reports and ICC referral campaigns.
Legal Precedents	Judicial principles now exist: custody equals accountability unless otherwise proved.

⚠️ What Mandamus Still Struggles With:

The Cons

🚧 Challenge	🧭 Consequences
Delayed Justice	Legal cases drag on for years, risking attrition of evidence and energy.
Non-Enforcement	Even after verdicts, authorities ignore or resist compliance.
Limited Scope	Most actions address individual cases; systemic prosecution is rare.
Political Fragility	Gains can be reversed under regimes hostile to truth and accountability.
Burden on Families	Survivors carry the financial and emotional cost of litigation, unsupported.

🗣️ A Call to Tamil Activists and Politicians:

Use the Law as a Shield and a Sword

Let it be stated clearly: The Tamil struggle for justice will not survive on slogans alone. It must be documented, litigated, and internationalized. Legal wins do not replace political advocacy—but without them, our fight loses its proof.

Mandamus actions create court-certified facts. They generate public records. They force perpetrators to speak or be exposed. They build the scaffold on which international cases can stand—at the ICC, the UN Human Rights Council, or future transitional justice tribunals.

We urge Tamil activists, legal professionals, and political leaders to:

Prioritize strategic mandamus cases across regions
Protect and support families seeking justice
Fund and build legal aid networks in the North and East
Press for international forensic oversight of sites like Chemmani
Consolidate all court verdicts into an archival legal brief for global use

This is not a time for hesitation. The soil in Jaffna has spoken. The mothers at Chemmani are still waiting. The surrender lists are half-lit in bureaucratic shadows.

If Tamil voices do not rise in courtrooms now, there may be no records left to speak later.

Final Words: Justice Must Be Constructed, Not Waited For

One Tamil mother said it best:
"I am not asking for money. I am asking—where did you take my son? Show me the list."

Mandamus cannot heal her pain. But it can make her question a matter of law, a matter of record, and a matter of global reckoning. And that is how justice begins.

Now is the time to fight—not just with memory, but with mandates.

In solidarity,

Wimal Navaratnam

Human Rights Advocate | ABC Tamil Oli (ECOSOC)

#UnquenchableLamp #ChemmaniTruth #JusticeForTheDisappeared #SriLanka #HumanRights

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Mandamus and the Missing: Why Sri Lanka’s Disappeared Tamils Deserve Legal Justice, Not Silence