Norwegian Tamil reported missing in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 May 2007, 06:43 GMT]
A 31-year old Norwegian citizen of Tamil origin has been reported missing since March 31, after he was questioned by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniyaa. Sounthararajan Thambirajah who has lived in Norway for 13 years since 1993 had come to Sri Lanka last year to get married but was trapped in Ki'linochchi as violence broke out in August 2006. Mr. Sounthararajan crossed into the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) controlled territory at the end of March this year, a Norwegian daily reported Saturday.

Sounthararajan has family members in Norway and they have been in continuous communication with the Norwegian mission in Sri Lanka, Klassekampen, the first media to break the story, reported.

The family and the Norwegian embassy officials have been working hard to find out the whereabouts of Sounthararajan.

There were traces of arrest by Sri Lankan authorites til April 12, according to the family, the paper said.

The family was tight-lipped till they allowed the Tamil activists in Norway to go public as their repeated attempts to secure the release of their brother had failed, informed sources in Norway told TamilNet.

There has been no official documentation of the arrest.



The paper, quoted Norwegian Foreign Ministry official, Kristin Melsom, as saying that the Norwegian authorities were monitoring the case of dissappearance closely. However, the Embassy had refused to go into details "due to the nature of the case," the paper said. The case was a "serious issue" for the Norwegian Embassy and the Embassy officials were continously briefing the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

It was after a long period of time that a Norwegian national was reported missing in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Oslo has also been approached by the Norwegian authorities two weeks ago, the Klassekampen reported.

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