Trinco remembers disappeared social worker

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2003, 00:05 GMT]
Dr S.Gnanasekaram, a leading social worker and popularly known as "Gnani" in Trincomalee, who was abducted and disappeared in 1989, was remembered in the east port town Wednesday by Trincomalee residents, sources said. Scholarships, named after Dr. Gnanasekaram were awarded to fifteen poor students of Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College, during the rememberance ceremony.

The Canadian branch of the Trincomalee Koneswara Hindu College Old Boys' Association sponsored this project through Dr.Gnani Education Fund, sources said.

Unidentified persons abducted Dr.Gnani in 1989 when he was on his way home from his work as a medical officer at the Trincomalee General hospital. At that time of abduction Dr Gnani was closely associated with several international non-governmental organizations, sources said.

North East Provincial Council in Trincomalee was under the control of Eelam People Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) during the time of his abduction.

Presiding over the scholarship-awarding event at Trincomalee Koneswara Hindu College, Principal Mr.S.Thandauthapani recalled the services rendered by Dr.Gnani for the people in the area in education and in safeguarding human rights.

As an old boy of the Koneswara Hindu College, Dr.Gnani, spent many hours attending to the needs of the institution, the principal said.

The Principal reminded the audience that soon after the abduction of Dr Gnani, people of Trincomalee held a demonstration demanding his release. Although Dr. Gnani has gone missing, his name and his services to the people of Trincomalee are remembered, he said.


 


Dr.K.Hemachandra, A former President of the Koneswara Hindu College Old Boys' Association, presented the scholarships to the selected fifteen students.