INDIA-SRILANKA-MALDIVES

Protest in Jaffna over disappearances

Forced disappearances was a phenomenon that was a regular occurrence through out the North and Eastern Sri Lanka during the three decade long Eelam War. These disappearances became more pronounced during the ‘battle’ President Rajapakse had fought against the LTTE with Gen Fonseka leading the army from the front

About 200 women and their relatives held a noisy demonstration in Jaffna on Dec 10. ‘We demand information about our loved ones who have disappeared,’ read a banner at the demo. The demonstrators came from Jaffna Peninsula, Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and Vavuniya, Colombo and several other places. Police and the army literally barricaded Jaffna. And had set up eight check posts between Point Pedro and Jaffna, a distance of some 20 miles in a bid to discourage the gathering.  There were also reports of police intimidation to prevent the protest march.

There was no need for the official agencies to go into overdrive to break or stall the protest.  It was a peaceful gathering, and as a welfare state, Sri Lanka government should have come forward with a suo-moto action to assuage the feelings of these women. Such an action could have certainly helped President Rajapakse in warding off fresh trouble at the UN human rights forum in Geneva.

The response of the forces to the protests shows that the authorities did not look at the big picture. They appeared to be swayed by the fear that the resentment generated by army camps in the Tamil belt could be a new rallying point. Because, recent weeks saw Jaffna has become a protestors’ outpost.

Displaying the photos of disappeared persons, the demonstrators chanted: “Release our children, Release our loved ones. Where have they gone?”

Wives and mothers were in the forefront of the demonstration for which several organizations took the initiative.  Right to Life and the International Movement against Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) and others mobilized the protestors, who wanted the UN to take cognizance of the missing /disappeared persons’ problem in Sri Lanka.

One of their key demands, as articulated by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) secretary Mavai Senathirajah that a transparent public inquiry to unravel the truth and bring the guilty to book.  The protestors want the world to see the forced disappearances as a human rights violation and hold an inquiry under the UN aegis.

Forced disappearances was a phenomenon that was a regular occurrence through out the North and Eastern Sri Lanka during the three decade long Eelam War, separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as Tamil Tigers had waged with the security forces.

These disappearances became more pronounced during the ‘battle’ President Rajapakse fought with Gen Fonseka leading the army from the front.  Officially army and police have always denied their role in the ‘disappearances’ but these denials never carried conviction.

Local media reports said at the height of the War that  ‘disappearances’ had taken place even in Colombo with officially patronized white van borne squads of thugs picking up mostly Tamils at random. Such acts were always met with protests which were never loud given the atmosphere of a police state. These squads were part of the police/army network but were able to give the forces deniability to the dismay of families’ of victims.


The surmise then and even now after the Jafna protest is that these squads were specially deployed on purpose.

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