Personal data
Name
Paakiam Kandiah
Date of birth
1950
Age
40
Place of birth
Urumpirai, Jaffna
Biographical details
Paakiam was born in a poor family. She studied in the local school and married and had three children. Her alcoholic husband left her when the children were young and she brought up the children with the help of her mother. She supported the Tamil struggle and her home was a hive of activity as the place for distributing flyers. When war broke in 1987 between the Indian forces that had landed in the Tamil homeland and the LTTE, the Indian forces used many terror tactics to prevent the people from helping the LTTE. Paakiam was among a very few who dared to albeit secretly to help distribute flyers and cook food for the LTTE members. Indian forces once took her away and imprisoned her without any due legal process. She was released after a few months with the threat that she must stop helping the LTTE. Paakiam was not the one to be subdued by threats from the Indian forces and she continued what she felt was her moral duty.
Indcident
Date
06.01.1990
Location
Urumpirai, Jaffna
Description
A group with the support of the Indian forces arrived and abducted her in front of her children. She was taken a few streets away and shot. The family heard the shots and immediately knew what has happened to Paakiam.
Legal situation (investigation/criminal proceedings)
No legal action has been taken to date because the island of Sri Lanka is under a draconian law, Prevention of Terrorism Act, which permits security forces to murder and dispose the body without any due process.