Families of enforced disappeared mark 300 days of rotational protest in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2017, 18:46 GMT]
The kith and kin of enforced disappeared Tamils on Wednesday marked 300 days of their rotational protest, which they have been staging in front of Vavuniyaa Post Office with the demand of seeking answers from the SL State on the whereabouts of their family members who were handed over to the SL military in front of the families at the end of war in Vanni in 2009. The protesting mothers said they had been deceived by the SL State, particularly its president Mr Maithiripala Sirisena, who has been making public relations stunts aimed at international opinion through entertaining them with meetings in the past. None of the assurances given by Mr Maithiripala were fulfilled, they said.



The political hierarchy of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) which seeks to dominate the Tamil National Alliance has also miserably failed to address their concerns, they said.

The international community, particularly those who proposed the former Tamil combatants to carry white flags at the end of the genocidal onslaught and the countries like Norway, which were directly involved in the failed peace process, should take responsibility in addressing the plight of the families of the enforced disappeared rather than asking Tamils to trust the Colombo establishment, the mothers said.

The Office of the Missing Persons (OMP) and the attempt to issue certificates of missing status are a farce, they said.

After staging various protests during the times of Rajapaksa and Sirisena, the families of enforced disappeared launched continuous sit-in protest in Ki’linochchi in the beginning of 2017. Following the protest in Ki’linochchi, families of disappeared in Vavuniyaa launched their protest. Within a few days, rotational protests were also launched in Mullaiththeevu, Maruthangkea’ni of Vadamaraadchi East in Jaffna and in Trincomalee.

On the occasion of International Human Rights Day on 10 December, the families staged large protests in Jaffna and Batticaloa demanding the International Community and the UN to take direct responsibility in making the SL State to admit what had happened to their loved ones.

The families of enforced disappeared have also announced that they are going to boycott the elections in the future.



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