Missing persons' families vow to step up protests in North-East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 11:28 GMT]
Carrying the clothes and photographs of the Tamil youth, who are reported missing after arrest or abductions by the occupying Sri Lankan forces in Batticaloa district, the family members of the missing persons staged a day-long fast in front of Gandhi park in Batticaloa city on Monday. After the entire district of Batticaloa was brought under the control of the Sri Lankan military in 2007, around 300 Tamil youth have been reported missing till 2010, the organisers said. The white-van squads operated by the genocidal military occupying the Tamil homeland have been behind most of the abductions.



Around 300 family members of the missing persons, most of them women, took part in the protest.

This is the second protest to be organised in Batticaloa in February.

Earlier, on 03 February, demonstrations were organised in Trincomalee and Batticaloa by Naangka'l movement in collaboration with the missing persons associations of Batticaloa and Trincomalee. The federation of women groups in Trincomalee also took part in the protest.

In the meantime, missing persons organisations in Jaffna have also called for protests with mass participation.

The organisers said they are demanding immediate answers from the Sri Lankan government on the fate of missing persons before the Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva in March.