Getting Rid of a Troublesome Priest
Photo courtesy of Ruki Fernando
July 11, 2025 marks 35 years since the disappearance of Fr. Saverimuttu Selvarajah, a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Batticaloa. Known as Fr. Selva, he was 30 years at that time and serving as the parish priest and administrator of Holy Cross Shrine in the remote village of Sorikalmunai in the Ampara district.
A special memorial mass was held at the Holy Cross Shrine to commemorate the date with many villagers including school children attending. The statue of Fr. Selva within the church premises was garlanded and lamps were lit. An alms giving was done by the local Santa Cruz Sports Club. These are annual events that have been happening for a long time. A big event had been held for the 25th year of his disappearance with family members from far away also attending. Parish priests and administrators to the church in Sorikalmunai have come and gone but Fr. Selva will continue to hold a special place amongst in hearts and minds of villagers.
Sorikalmunai remains an isolated, remote village. In two days, I only saw a few four wheeled vehicles. Most villagers travel around on cycles, motorcycles and three wheelers. Buses from the village are only available three days a week at 8 am. Bullock carts are still used. The local school has classes up to A’ Level but only in the arts stream and students who want to do other streams of studies need to go out of the village. Most people are engaged in agriculture, with long stretches of paddy fields. Lack of livelihood opportunities and progress are pushing more and more people to go for overseas for work, especially to the Middle East.
Violence and tensions of 1990
Sorikalmunai is predominantly Tamil and villagers recall a climate of fear from the Army and tensions with Muslims in late 1980s reaching a peak in 1990, the time Fr. Selva disappeared. One man described how he was arrested by the Army with about 50 others, subjected to terrible torture, to extent he had felt he was dying and his release and survival was like a new birth. His brother was killed in front of him as were some others. His injuries due to torture were so bad that he is still unable to walk or get up from bed without any aid, unable to use one hand while the other hand is also very weak. He has been unable to do any work and is dependent on his wife and children for survival. He has not received any reparations and has given up taking further medication but said a specific type of wheelchair customised to his needs may help him in his last few years.
In the adjoining village of Veeramunai, hundreds of Tamils were arrested; a few survived after enduring torture, many were disappeared, killed and raped before and after Fr. Selva’s disappearance. Several homes have been burnt with eyewitness reports indicating the Army and Muslim “home guards” (an official armed state entity which had received basic training) being responsible.
In Sorikalmunai, many had disappeared without a trace, some after having being arrested and taken away by the Army. One woman described how her father and two brothers were taken away and never returned, mentioning that many families had lost several of their family members. She mentioned that even Tamil militants, specifically the LTTE, had harassed her father before he was taken away, asking why he was talking to the Army. Several villagers mentioned that young boys were rounded up and taken to an open playing field, lined up and paraded by the Army before a person whose had been arrested as a “terrorist” suspect before and whose face was covered with only eyes open. That person is likely to have been tortured and compelled to identify some in the village as “terrorists”, who would then be taken away, often never to return. Due to fear, many people had stayed in the church at night or hid in forests. Some men had even tried to dress up in sarees to protect themselves as men were the most vulnerable. Some women had also faced abuse including rape. A young man who was a child in the 1990s recalls hiding amidst layers of hay, which had been very uncomfortable. Villagers also recalled that it was a time the village were surrounded by the Army and were not allowed to go outside, which had also affected their livelihoods and made it difficult to obtain food.
Fr. Selva’s activism and what happened to him
It was in this context that Fr. Selva, as a community leader, had tried to monitor those being arrested, appealing to the Army not to abuse villagers. He had stopped the Army from coming inside the church. When villagers were restricted from going outside or were not stepping out due to fear, Fr. Selva had taken upon himself to visit nearby towns and get food provisions for the villagers. On July 11, 1990 he had been asking people about the food situation and was informed they had only rice. He had then decided to go to the nearby town of Kalmunai, about 10 kilometres away, to bring provisions despite some villagers advising him that it was not safe. He had left on his motorbike after having prayed. In Kalmunai, he had been advised to stay and not to travel to Sorikalmunai but he had said he had to take food back to his people and left Kalmunai. He never returned.
The villagers had assumed Fr. Selva had stayed in Kalmunai on the night of July 11. The next day a Catholic priest from Kalmunai had come to Sorikalmunai and only then had both villagers and the priest had realised Fr. Selva had disappeared.
An elderly villager recalls a conversation with another person who had told he had seen Fr. Selva coming towards Sorikalmunai near a bridge before an Army checkpoint in Chavalakadai. Unfortunately, this person had died. No one had heard from Fr. Selva again, neither had anyone heard about his whereabouts or seen his body. His motorbike had never been found either.
After Fr. Selva’s disappearance, the villagers had taken out a revered and historical statue of Jesus in the shrine and prayed earnestly for Fr. Selva’s safe return. But as more people were arrested and taken away by the Army and the priest not around, villagers had felt more insecure and abandoned the village. They had to live as displaced persons for about three years before returning to the village.
Memories of Fr. Selvarajah
The University Teachers for Human Rights – Jaffna (UTHR-J), in their report Number 8 of November 4, 1991 described Fr. Selva as a vulnerable priest, travelling long and lonely roads on motor cycle serving isolated communities.
His family remember him as being attached to the family and being on the verge of going for studies to India. Before coming to Sorikalmunai, he was assigned to a church in Trincomalee and he had been sharing with his family how he was protecting youth in fear of their lives. His family said he was very generous and always tried find money and materials to help people in need. In Sorikalmunai, a boy who had been with Fr. Selva had disappeared after being taken away by the Army and boy’s father had been inquiring about his son even from Fr. Selva’s family.
Middle aged men who had been children at the time Fr. Selva was around remember him as a friendly priest who used to play football with village youth. Several referred to him as a person who helped them at their most difficult times and risked his life to be with them and help them.
Killings and Disappearances of Troublesome Priests and a Sister
Fr. Selva is among several Tamil Catholic priests who disappeared or were killed amidst the war. In the diocese of Batticaloa, Fr. Chandra Fernando was killed in 1988 and few weeks after Fr. Selva disappeared, another Catholic priest Fr. Eugene John Herbier also disappeared. At least six other Catholic priests have been killed or disappeared from the North during the war. Two Sinhalese Catholic priests were also killed during the southern insurgency and a Catholic sister was killed in the aftermath of July 1983 pogrom. All of them, including Fr. Selva, are likely to have been killed in context of their human rights and humanitarian work. Some of these stories are not even known in church circles. Some have been labelled as “troublesome” religious and clergy meddling in matters that was “political” and not traditionally seen as work of priests and sisters although it was to protect, support and advocate for the oppressed. But they are warmly remembered by those they served. No one has been held accountable for any of these crimes. It’s late but never too late to remember and appreciate them and demand truth and accountability.
