Hundreds Missing in Sri Lanka
Pastor Dale Morgan
*
Hundreds Missing in Sri Lanka*
Thursday August 2, 2007 5:46 AM
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
Associated Press Writer
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Hundreds of Sri Lankans, many carrying photos
of their abducted relatives, tearfully demanded Wednesday that the
government investigate the fates of scores of minority Tamils who have
``disappeared'' across the country in recent months.
Civil rights groups say more than 100 ethnic Tamils have been kidnapped
amid the new wave of fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and the
government, which is controlled by the majority Sinhalese community. The
fighting has plunged parts of the country into chaos and displaced tens
of thousands of people.
Shaking with emotion, Thevani Yogarajan, 50, said her husband and two
sons, both in their 20s, have not been heard from since they went to the
capital, Colombo, in March to get passports so they could travel to
India and escape the fighting.
``Give me my innocent children. They haven't harmed anyone. Please give
them back,'' she wailed to the crowd at the rally in Colombo organized
by the Civil Monitoring Commission, a group that campaigns against
abductions.
``How can I live when three members of my family have gone missing?''
she asked before fainting.
Sirithunga Jayasuriya, chairman of the group, blamed the government for
the abductions. He said most of those taken attended Tamil Tiger
rallies, and the kidnappings were the government's retribution.
Other rights groups have accused the government of summarily executing
those suspected of links to the Tamil separatists.
Several spokesmen for the government and police declined to comment on
the allegations when asked by The Associated Press. Government officials
have repeatedly denied such accusations in the past.
A total of 155 people have been kidnapped in the Colombo area since last
year, Jayasuriya said. Of those, 16 were released after their families
paid a ransom, he said. Only five of those kidnapped were Sinhalese, he
said.
``The government must take speedy action to investigate the abductions,
otherwise we will have reasonable doubt about the government's
complicity in them,'' said Ranil Wickremesinghe, the opposition leader
in Parliament.
Badra Ruhunage, 37, said men in a white van snatched her husband,
Vairamuttu Varadarasan, 40, in January and she has heard nothing about
his fate.
``It ruined our lives,'' she said. ``I have five children and how can I
feed them?''
Violence has soared between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels
since December 2005, killing more than 5,000 people in clashes,
assassinations and air attacks, despite a Norway-brokered 2002 cease-fire.