SLA arrests 6 Tamil youths in Muthur welfare center

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 April 2007, 00:20 GMT]
Six youths staying at the St. Antony's Church Welfare Centre in Muthur in Trincomalee district were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on 31 March midnight, civil society sources in Mannar said. Although the SLA told the parents that that the youths are being taken for interrogation, the youths have not been released yet. The parents of the arrested appealed to the human rights organizations to obtain their sons release.

The arrested youths were identified as Arulnayagam Joseph Jesuthasan, 25, Sebastian Joseph Jebatheepan, 28, Pushparajah Pushpakanthan, 20, Muharasa Murali, 22, Prakash Sripaskaran, 28, and Selvanayagam Amalraj, 25.

Muthur residents who fled their homes due to fresh violence erupted in the area in August, stayed in Welfare Centers in Trincomalee town. Later, some people moved to Muthur town.

Many stay at Catholic churches during nights as a safety measure.

Meanwhile, a young family man from Kankuveli in Muthur was abducted by two persons who came in a motorbike on 28 March afternoon. They blindfolded Munusamy Kalirasa, 34, and took him in the motorbike towards Thehiyaththakandiya, a neighboring Sinhala village. His whereabouts are not yet known, relatives said.

Furthermore, two more civilians arrested by the armed forces at Alankerny in Kinniya Police division too were not released so far, there relatives complained. Both persons were arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted last week.

A person from Anpuvalipuram and another from Ilinganagar in Uppuveli Police division were taken away forcefully by unidentified persons came in a van on 2 April. Their whereabouts too were not yet known, relatives said.

Chronology: