Number of Jaffna students abducted Friday rises to four

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 May 2007, 15:35 GMT]
Jaffna offices of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) said Sunday that the number of students abducted by 'white van' armed men has increased to four. R. Ramanendran, 18, a Commerce student at the Jaffna Hindu College has also been reported as the fourth student forcibly abducted by armed men Friday night, HRC sources said citing complaints by Ramendran's parents. Earlier reports said two students from Jaffna Hindu College, and one from St. John's College were abducted.

Law enforcement authorities have not taken any concrete steps to trace the whereabouts of the abducted, HRC sources said. HRC officials added that they are making efforts to appeal to the abductors to release the students.

Meanwhile, the consortium of private educational institutions in Jaffna, in a memorandum released Sunday, urged the abductors to immediately set free the abducted students. The consortium accused the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for complicity in the abductions, and urged all concerned and the civil society to work together to obtain the students' release.

The memorandum said that the Jaffna student body will organize peninsula-wide demonstrations and boycott of schools to protest the abductions.

Suntharalingam Yasotharan, 17, from Kokuvil East, and Nagarajah Venukanthan, 18, from Brown Road Jaffna attending Jaffna Hindu College, and Kugarajan Kannan, 17, attending St. John's College were earlier reported abducted Friday.

In earlier incidents in January, Paramananthan, a student at Hartley College, Point Pedro disappeared on 17 January, and Thananjayan, a student at Velayutham Boys’ School in Point Pedro had gone missing from 12 January. Parents of Paramananthan and students at Velayutham High School said they suspect the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to be behind the disappearance of the two students.

Chronology: