3RD LEAD (UPDATE)

Mobile phone saves 30 abductees in Vanni from being taken to South

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2011, 22:34 GMT]
A 20-year-old student, Gajeevan Puvanendran, who was being abducted by men in green uniform in a vehicle Saturday morning around 5:30 in Ki'linochchi, alerted his parents and relatives through SMS and phone conversation that he was being taken away on A9 highway towards South. Later, Mr. Gajeevan was saved with around 4 others in Vavuniyaa. The Sri Lankan Police has not revealed the details of the abductors or other abductees. Informed sources close to the police in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet that a squad operated by Sri Lankan military was taking away the abductees to South. However, latest information from Vavuniyaa from reliable sources said there were around 30 young boys and at least one of them was taken by an intelligence squad.

Armed men in green uniform, who were waiting in a bus-like vehicle in Ki’linochchi town, abducted Mr. Gajeevan Puvanendran, while he was on his way from his village Iraththinapuram to Ki’linohchi town to attend morning tuition classes.

The international agencies, that once operated in all civilian areas in both Sri Lanka Army and former LTTE controlled areas, have now very limited access in monitoring human rights violations in the North and East.

At a time when UN and ICRC operations were being wound-up at the orders of Colombo government, the increasing extra-judicial disappearances and the hidden hand of Sri Lankan intelligence in abductions, evoke serious concern among local human rights activists in Tamil areas.

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