MPGA picketing cripples Jaffna civil administration fourth day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 December 2002, 16:28 GMT]
The picketing by the members of the Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA) crippled Jaffna District Secretariat, the main administrative centre in the northern province for the fourth day Wednesday. The MPGA members demand the government expedite the investigation into the disappearance of hundreds of youths after being arrested by the Sri Lankan government troops, in Jaffna peninsula in 1996 and 1997.

The Government Agent Mr.S.Pathmanathan who was away in Colombo since Monday returned to Jaffna Wednesday. On his arrival District Secretariat officials briefed him of the situation closure of the secretariat and the worsening administrative situation that has arisen due to the picketing campaign.

Secretariat sources said the Government Agent Mr.Pathmanathan is scheduled to meet the members of the MPGA Thursday and to discuss matters related to the continuance of the picketing.

However, the management of the MGPA said it would continue the picketing campaign until a satisfactory reply is received from the authorities concerned regarding their demand.

Amnesty International said in 1997 that as many as 600 people who "disappeared" in the Jaffna peninsula after the Sri Lankan Army moved into the area in 1996, "died under torture or been deliberately killed."