Abducted TRO officials remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 08:40 GMT]
The one-year remembrance of the abducted seven employees of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) was observed in front of the TRO head office in Kilinochchi Tuesday. The relatives of the abducted and the employees of TRO gathered around 9:00 a.m. and remembered the persons abducted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Karuna Group at Welikanda one year ago while they were traveling to Vavuniya from Batticaloa. The President of TRO, V. Sivanadiyar, read a memorandum addressed to the Commissioner of Human Rights for United Nations to secure the release of the persons.



The mother of Miss Thanuskody, Mrs. Parames Thanuskody said, "Preminy worked with TRO and studied at the Eastern University of Sri Lanka in parallel, to help our family to survive financially. She was the sole breadwinner to the family and had never had any connections with any armed groups.

"I have appealed to every humanitarian organization and so far, my daughter is not released. My other children and I are longing to see her again and I plead with the abductors to release her without further delay."

The abducted driver Thangarajah's wife Kumuthiny said: "My husband initially worked as a daily paid worker. When he fell ill and was unable to do manual work, he opted to work as a driver with TRO. He had worked at TRO only a few months before he was abducted."

"Everyone knows who the abductors are. We have tried everywhere and even the ICRC said they are unable to help us. Everyone comforts me saying that my husband would be released, but when? I still believe that my husband is alive. Therefore, I request all the international humanitarian agencies to secure the release of my husband and others. Presently, TRO pays the salary of my husband to me and our family is able to survive," she further said.