As conflict continues in Mannar, with ongoing clashes between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers, unofficial violence against civilians have also increased, with an increased rate of disappearances, with locals accusing government forces of having a hand in the abductions.
In the past three weeks, Mannar has witnessed the abduction of five Tamil civilians, including a leading businessman and a young mother, in broad daylight. In at least two of the cases, the victims had received mysterious phone calls asking them to come to an appointed place at a particular time.
Distraught families have been running from pillar to post to trace their missing relatives, but a hostile police force has ensured that they remain groping in the dark.
Leading businessman and social activist Soosaippillai Anton, 54, of Murungkan in Mannar has been reported missing since January 16. Anton, a father of three, owns a fuel station and a wine shop apart from running several successful business establishments in Mannar and Vavuniya. He was also a building contractor and owner of cultivable land.
His last known whereabouts are that he was travelling to Vavuniya on a motorbike. When he didn't return home on Wednesday night, his family attempted to trace him through relatives and business contacts in Vavuniya. As their efforts proved futile they lodged a complaint with the Mannar Police and ICRC officials.
In a similar incident, a young widow, Arulvaasagam Rosani, 31, was abducted in front of the Mannar St. Sebastian Cathedral on Friday. She had reportedly received a phone call asking her to come to the Church at 2:30 p.m. that day.
Rosani is the mother of a 9-year-old daughter. Having lost her parents early and her husband some years back, she had been living with her relatives.
Speaking on conditions of anonymity, an official of an international agency providing protection and assistance to conflict victims told TamilNet that the Mannar Police had refused to record Rosani's abduction when her relatives sought to lodge a complaint. He hinted that the inaction of the police revealed the active role played by the government forces in carrying out these abductions.
Likewise, two fishermen Charles Joseph Rosanraj, 24, and Masanat Gilbert Dharsan, 22, living in the Joseph Vaz settlement in Thoaddaveli near Erukkalampiddi, have been reported missing since December 15.
They were returning home from their jetty (Koanthaipiddi jetty in Uppukkulam) by cycle on the Mannar - Thalaimannar Road near the Youth Corps Centre, a Sri Lanka Navy camp, 2 km from Mannar city, an official who visited Vavuniya told TamilNet.
Both the fishermen had been displaced from Vidathaltheevu in 1999 and were living in the Thoaddaveli Joseph Vaz resettlement colony.
Yet another abduction occurred on December 24, 2007. Antony Thadcruze Christine, 26, a carpenter hailing from a poor family in Thoaaddaveli had received a telephone call asking him to come to Konnaiyan near Thaarapuram, a Tamil settlement 3 km away. He kept the appointment on Christmas Eve, but never returned.
