21-year-old Tharsan Kannuchamy, who was earlier released after detention by the Sri Lanka Army following Vanni war, has been reported missing since Monday this week, according to a complaint lodged by his family with the SL Police in Chu’n’naakam in Jaffna. Mr. Tharsan was last seen leaving for work to a shop in Jaffna from Uduvil, where his family has recently settled after living in the nearby town of Chu’n’naakam.
SL Police and Red Cross declining to take complaints, helpless human rights workers now advise family members of the abducted to report matters to the Ambassadors of the Co-Chair countries that are accountable to the war and post-war in the island.
In the meantime, another youth abducted from Mu’l’liyava’lai earlier this week on Tuesday, was taken to the Vanni headquarters of the occupying SL military, a police source in Vavuniyaa said. However, the military officials at the camp, formerly known as Joint Operations Security Forces Headquarters (JOSFH) camp declined to verify the custody of Mr. Rathan Ganeshamoorthy. The JOSFH camp has been a notorious place for abuses of political prisoners.
Catholic priests in Jaffna, frustrated with the lack of mechanism to safeguard the interests of the youth reunited with their families, have urged the families of persons being abducted or harassed to make complaints directly with the Co-Chair Ambassadors in Colombo, as these Ambassadors were in good terms with the occupying SL commanders in all the districts of the Tamil country.
Commenting on the suggestion by the priests, human rights activists pointed out to the statements made by the Co-Chair countries during the war, asking the people of Vanni to move into the hands of the SLA in Vavuniyaa.
Now, when people are abducted silently, one by one, and there is no presence of independent international monitoring agencies, the only parties who could can have any influence on the SL military seem to be the ambassadors of USA, Japan, Norway and EU, according to the priests in Jaffna.
Visiting Jaffna a few months ago, the US Asst. Secretary of State spoke against the ‘grease devils’ and the menace stopped. Recently, when a Jaffna University student was abducted, he was released at the intervention of some Western embassies in Colombo. USA and Britain had scheduled their delegations to visit the occupying SL commander in Jaffna during that week.
When exposed, genocidal Sri Lanka has expertise in withdrawing one atrocity and then bringing in ten new atrocities, observers watching the pattern said.
Many Eezham Tamils have now started thinking that the continued genocide throughout the country of Eezham Tamils is a premeditated affair agreed upon by the same forces that abetted Sri Lanka’s genocidal war in Vanni.
In the meantime, ex-LTTE members are told by the SL military officials not to seek employment outside the island. If they get caught at the airport for trying to leave the country, their lives are not guaranteed, they were told.
TN