Commandos kill aid worker priest

by admin
Oct 9, 2007
Thousands attended the funeral of Father Packiaranjith, an aid
workers priest, in Mannar. Protests were also held. Photos TamilNet
 
Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith was killed 26 September, when his van was blown up by Sri Lankan commandos using a claymore mine as he was delivering aid to displaced people and orphans.
 
As a local coordinator for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Mannar District, Fr Packiaranjith lived and worked in a war zone.
 
The 40-year-old priest was killed by a Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit at Kalvilaan on the Vellankulam Road near Thunukkai, while he was engaged in providing humanitarian relief assistance to the recently displaced people in the Manner.
 
He had baby milk and essential humanitarian supplies for displaced children in his vehicle at the time of the attack.
 
And in so dying, he became the 59th aid worker since September 2005 allegedly killed by the Sri Lanka Security Forces or paramilitaries affiliated with them..
 
“These killings of humanitarian workers appear to be aimed at limiting or ending the humanitarian work that local and international NGOs are engaged in and creating a climate of fear within the humanitarian community and the IDPs that they serve,” the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation said in a press release to mark the killing.
 
“If this situation prevails any longer, there is a real danger of the affected populations being deprived of any and all assistance from humanitarian organizations and being subjected to untold sufferings” the release noted.
 
The Caritas Confederation strongly condemned “the brutal attack” and called on all sides to safeguard the security of aid workers.
 
More than 10,000 people attended the funeral of Fr Packiaranjith on 29 September. Photos Tamilnet
The Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph, said in a press statement that Fr Packiaranjith served with 'exemplary dedication' and was 'deeply committed to the poor and the marginalised', which made his murder all the more heinous.
 
More than 10,000 people attended the funeral of Fr Packiaranjith on 29 September, while Another 2,500 gathered on 1 October to protest at the killing of yet another aid worker.
 
Several Christian and Hindu priests participated in the mile long procession. Catholic priests participating in the rally carried life sized photographs of Fr. Pakiyaranjith as well those of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, who disappeared allegedly in military custody last year.
 
Others carried life sized photographs of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) volunteers abducted and killed while serving the affected Tamil civilians in Batticaloa and also of the TRO volunteers killed by claymore attack while serving the displaced people in Mannar.

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