100th day protest demanding answers on enforced disappeared shocks Colombo, Sirisena exposed
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 May 2017, 23:04 GMT]
The 100th day of continues protests by the families of enforced
disappeared Tamils was marked at Ki'linochchi on Tuesday with more than
1,000 people attending the protest. The protesters were blocking the A9
Highway demanding SL President Maithiripala Sirisena to come and meet
them in person with a time-bound answer on the whereabouts of their kith
and kin, who were handed over to the occupying Sinhala military of
genocidal Sri Lanka at the final days of the onslaught in May 2009. The
SL Establishment caught in shock has asked for 2 weeks of time for a
meeting through SL Governor Reginald Cooray in North. But, the hidden
agenda of Colombo was again exposed as Mr Cooray went on record at a
press conference stating there will be no response other than the offer
of ‘certificate of missing person’ and monetary assistance to the
families.
“What can President Maithiripala say to [the families of enforced disappeared] regardless of the timeframe ultimatums given to him, be it one hour, two hour or 24 hour? He has only one and the same answer: There will be a committee appointed to issue certificates to the missing persons. If the families are prepared to receive such certificates, they would qualify for assistance. [...] There is no answer to un-answerable questions on tracing the whereabouts of the missing,” said the Governor of Northern Province Reginald Cooray. He was addressing journalists in Jaffna after attending a phone call from the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena on Tuesday in response to the big protest that has shaken the SL police establishment in Vanni.
Many of the families, now searching for their loved ones, either handed their kith and kin to the SL military and witnessed the SL military taking their family members away from them in buses at the end of genocidal onslaught in May 2009. The SL military had also filtered away the family members on their way to barbed-wire internment camps in Vavuniyaa at that time.
Eight years have elapsed - almost none them have returned. The families that have been waging the protest for the past 99 days at several places in the North-East, on Tuesday came together with grassroots activists, civil society activists, religious dignitaries and supporters from solidarity groups in South giving a morale boost to the families of the enforced disappeared.
The SL Police was initially attempting to secure an interim order against blocking the road. However, the court has declined to issue a such order this time.
The protest was staged from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The protesters started blocking the A9 Highway in front of Ki'linochchi Kandaswamy temple and they were demanding answer from Colombo. When SL officials came with the offer of arranging a meeting with SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, the protesters refused and demanded SL President Maithiripala Sirisena to come and meet them in person.
Later, in a move to quench the escalation of the protest, the Governor to Northern Province Reginald Cooray came with a promise of arranging a meeting with SL President within two weeks.
Following the promise extended by the SL Governor, the protesters said they would continue their protest at the temple site as before and wait and see the direct response from SL President within the next 14 days.
The SL judiciary has totally failed to deliver justice as habeas corpus cases filed by the lawyer of NPC Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan and other victims, the protesters said.
All the political parties among Tamils attended the protest. The TNA was widely condemned for its inaction by the protesters.
The International Community was condemned for providing time and space through the Office of the UN Human Rights High Commissioner in Geneva and the UNHRC.
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