6 Jaffna residents, abducted within last seven days, still missing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 00:08 GMT]
Six civilians, arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) or abducted by SLA and SLA-backed paramilitaries between Wednesday 14th March to 21st, have disappeared without any trace, sources in Jaffna said. The disappearnces occured in Alvai, Kudathanai in Vadamaradchy, and Velanai, Punkankulam and Chulipuram in Valagamam.

Thiraviyam Susikumar, 32, of Muthumariaman Kovilady in Alvai was arrested by Navalady junction SLA camp troopers on 14th March, according to his wife who witnessed the troopers taking her husband's motorbike into the camp.

On the same day, Anantharasa Anton Mariagnanarasa, 35, a fisherman and a father of four children, from Kudathanai in Vadamaradchy east, was stopped at the SLA sentry post near Valipuram Temple while returning home from Point Pedro, and taken away in a Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier, according to Mariarasa's wife. She said relatives of her had seen her husband being taken away by the SLA soldiers.

On Sunday the 18th, Kopalapillai Rameshthasan, 30, a family man was abducted in Aanaikottai area around 11:00 a.m when he went to visit his family members in Velanai, according to his wife.

A trader named Vigneswaran and a student were abducted at Punkankulam in Ariyalai within Jaffna Municipal limits Sunday, according to media reports.

On Tuesday midnight, unidentified armed men abducted Mahalingam Baskaran, 34, a father of two at gunpoint from his house in Tholpuram, Chullipuram area, according to Chullipuram residents.

No details on the whereabouts of the six abductees are known.

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