Trader abducted, goldsmith seeks protection with HRC, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2008, 12:17 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in civil clothes arriving on motorbikes, forcibly abducted a trader from his shop Tuesday around 11:00 a.m at Navaali in Valikaamam, according to the complaint registered by his wife with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office. Meanwhile, a 23-year-old goldsmith from Kachchaay in Thenmaraadchi sought protection with HRC Jaffna office due to death threat by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), according to his written complaint lodged with HRC.

The trader abducted was Murugesu Chandrakumar, 31, a father of two children and a resident of Vaddukkoaddai.

Chandrakumar was attending to his routine activities in his shop when the armed men forcibly took him away in the presence of many customers, eye witnesses to the incident said.

Meanwhile, the young goldsmith from Kachchaay said in his complaint to HRC that he was summoned Tuesday to the SLA civil administration office in Kodikaamam where his National Identity Card was confiscated.

The SLA authorities then had compelled him to come again alone to their office.

HRC officials took the necessary steps to place the goldsmith in the protective custody of Jaffna Prison through Jaffna Court.

Many persons who had been summoned to the SLA camps and civil administrative offices in Thenmaraadchi for interrogation have been shot and killed by unidentified gunmen while returning after the interrogations, in the past.