87 youths abducted or disappear in Jaffna in 2007

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 March 2007, 02:02 GMT]
87 youths have either been abducted or disappeared in the first 69 days of 2007, records at the office of the Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) said. 416 civilians disappeared in 2006, according to the same records. The escalating numbers have raised the spectre of disappearances of 1997, when Amnesty declared "600-odd people who have "disappeared" in the last 18 months after their arrest by the security forces, nearly all have died as a result of torture or been deliberately killed in detention." Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested 6 youths in Aanaikkodai during the Saturday funeral of fish trader who was shot dead Friday, sources in Jaffna said.

2007 figure of number of disappeared civilians in Jaffna includes, 37 in January, 35 in February and 15 in the first ten days in March. The number of disappearances is likely to exceed the 1997 figure, sources said.

Meanwhile, angry relatives of the murdered fish trader, Theiventhiram Shanmugarasa, in Aanaikoddai market, Friday had allegedly assaulted SLA intelligence operatives in civilian cloths after the killing, according to residents there.

The SLA soldiers, during the funeral of Mr Shanmugarasa, Saturday arrested six youths for assault, local residents said. However, no complaints have been registered with the HRC.

Chronology:


Related Articles:
09.03.07   Fish trader shot dead at Aanaikoddai
06.07.98   '300 to 400 bodies have been buried'


External Links:

Amnesty:

Sri Lanka: The continuing spectre of "disappearances"