Sri Lanka: 4 civilians disappear in Jaffna, 4 seek protections with HRC

Wednesday, 09 January 2008

Four Tamils, including youths and young married men, disappeared in Jaffna peninsula within the one week period ending Monday, according to reports lodged at the Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), sources said. Three of the disappearances took place on Jananuary 05, while the fourth civilian went missing on the previous day.

Vinayagamoorthy Thusyanthan, 18, of Meesaalai East disappeared January 04.

The following day two youths and a married man went missing, according to their relatives.

Pooplasingham Pratheepan, 22, a farmer from Meesaalai, Kachchaay South in Thenmaraadchi area disappeared on his way to Chaavakachcheari hospital .

On the same day another youth Mahendiran Sujeevan, 19, of Chankaanai, Valigaamam disappeared without any trace.

In another incident Nagarajah Anishraj, 33, father of two children and a resident of Kankesanturai, internally displaced and residing in Chunnakam, went missing under mysterious circumstances.

The four civilians disappeared while either attending to various errands or going to work.

Meanwhile, four other civilians have sought protection with HRC due to death threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) backed paramilitaries. On the first three days of this year three civilians surrendered at the HRC office and a fourth person, a 24 year old farmer from Maasiyapiddi, surrendered himself Monday.

The abductions and death threats have once again increased in the peninsula, civil society sources in Jaffna said.

Sri Lanka has come under close scrutiny by the international community, including the US, as palpable sense of terror pervades Jaffna district with increasing disappearances, killings and abductions.

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