Fishermen shot, refugee disappears

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 February 1999, 22:37 GMT]
The Forum for Dignity has brought to the notice of the Anti-Harassment Committee the disappearance of a displaced person residing at Valaichchenai refugee camp. In a letter to the Secretary of the government appointed committee, the Secretary of the Forum for Dignity said that on 27 February 1999, three persons namely Vaithilingam Paramanathan, Sinnathamby Sivasubramaniam and Joseph Marcellin went to the Vadamunai Road pond, which is at the border of Batticaloa to catch fish.

Paramanathan and Sivasubramaniam returned with gunshot injuries. Joseph Marcellin did not come back with them.

It is feared that Marcellin may have been taken into custody by the Welikanda Police or killed.

The Anti-Harassment Committee has been asked to trace the whereabouts of Joseph Marcellin or to investigate into his disappearance, by the Forum for Human Dignity.

Meanwhile a 28 year-old fisherman Ahilesapillai Kamalanathan was killed when Sri Lankan navy gun boats fired at a fishing boat on Saturday night (February 6), said sources in Muttur.

Three fishermen from Kadatkaraichchenai, twenty-two kilometers south of Trincomalee, in Muttur division went for fishing. On Sunday morning two of the fishermen returned to the village with the body of Kamalanathan, hospital sources said.