White van abductions escalate in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2008, 17:33 GMT]
Threatened by increasing number of abductions in the area, members of 40 families residing in a refugee camp located in Thaalikulam, Vavuniyaa handed over a written appeal Saturday to the officials of Vavuniyaa Human Rights Commission (HRC) requesting them to take immediate action to provide protection and relocate them to a safer location, civil society sources in Vavuniya said.

The residents in the camp have pointed out that on 9th January early morning at 3:00 a.m. unidentified men abducted a resident from the camp and they fear additional incidents occuring at the camp which has minimal security.

In another incident, an employee of the Pulenthiran fueling station located near Mannar junction opposite Vavuniyaa Kachcheri along Jaffna-Vavuniyaa road was abducted by unidentified armed men operating in a white van, residents said.

The officials of Vavuniyaa HRC have already notified Vavuniyaa police officials and Vavuniyaa Government Agent (GA) regarding the current situation prevailing in the area.

The number of abductions in Vavuniyaa is on the increase recently, and based on the complaints at least 12 civilians in the area have been abducted from the beginning of the year, HRC officials said.

They added that since insufficient information has been provided to them they are unable to take any action regarding these complaints. HRC unable to obtain any details regarding the unidentified armed operating in white vans and are also unaware whereabouts of the abducted civilians.