Kuala Lampur, Sept. 2 -- From the pogroms of 1956 and Black July to Mullivaikkal and Chemmani, Sri Lanka's history is not merely scarred by atrocities. It is defined by governments that promised investigations, protected institutions and waited for witnesses to die.

The earth at Chemmani is doing what the Sri Lankan state has refused to do: it is giving evidence.

By August 2026, more than 530 sets of human remains had been located at the site outside Jaffna. From the soil came children's footwear, schoolbags, a doll, a baby's milk bottle and coins. Yet according to Human Rights Watch, the authorities have made little effort to establish who these people were or how they died. Families who have searched for their disappeared relatives fo...