The 5.56mm bullet is used in US-made M-16 assault rifles, carried by some members of Sri Lankan security forces, though such a weapon could just as easily have been stolen by the rebels or someone else. It is a mystery why that evidence was only belatedly revealed to the court.
The government, apparently to deflect calls for an international human-rights mission, has appointed a panel to conduct an independent investigation of the massacre and several other prominent human rights crimes.
The inquiry is separate from the criminal case, and it has not satisfied many here or abroad. The Center for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based advocacy group, said the official commission was no substitute for an international mission.
In a statement on June 11, the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons, a government-appointed panel called in to observe the work of the presidential commission, said the measures taken by the commission "do not satisfy international norms and standards."
The uncertainties surrounding the investigations have only compounded the mourning of the victims' families.
The last time that Ganesh Sivaneshwari heard from her daughter, Kavitha, 27, was Thursday night, Aug. 3. Kavitha, also a hygiene promoter, had taken the Tuesday morning ferry to the aid office in Mutur.
Her father, Selaiah Ganesh, 54, a driver for Action Against Hunger, was already there.
It gave Ganesh Sivaneshwari strength that week, knowing that her husband and daughter were together. She trusted her husband's judgment. He was able and well connected, she said, and he would know how to keep everyone safe or get them out.
What is left of father and daughter are pictures on the family altar. On one afternoon, Ganesh sat on the unswept floor and wept.
Her husband's death has deepened her fear. Only reluctantly does she allow her son Gajan to work, so the family can eat. She has sent another son out of the country.
Without Selaiah Ganesh, they no longer know how to keep safe in the madness of this war.
"If my father were here, I wouldn't be afraid," Gajan, 24, said. "I am afraid now."
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