A 31-year old Norwegian citizen of Tamil origin has been reported missing since March 31, after he was questioned by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniya.
Sounthararajan Thambirajah, who has lived in Norway since 1993, had gone to Sri Lanka last year to get married but was trapped in Kilinochchi when violence broke out in August 2006.
Mr. Sounthararajan crossed into Sri Lankan government controlled territory at the end of March this year, a Norwegian daily reported on May 13.
Mr. Sounthararajan has family members in Norway and they have been in continuous communication with the Norwegian mission in Sri Lanka, Klassekampen, the first media to break the story, reported.
The family and Norwegian embassy officials have been working hard to discover Mr. Sounthararajan’s whereabouts, the paper said.
There were some indications that he had been arrested by Sri Lankan authorities until around April 12, the paper quoted the family as saying.
The family had remained tight-lipped until recently as they had been attempting to secure Mr. Sounthararajan’s release. It was only after the failure of all their efforts that the family allowed Tamil activists in Norway to go public, reports said.
There has been no official documentation of the arrest.
The Klassekampen paper quoted Norwegian Foreign Ministry official, Kristin Melsom, as saying that the Norwegian authorities were monitoring the disappearance closely.
However, the Embassy had refused to go into details "due to the nature of the case," the paper said.
The case was a "serious issue" for the Norwegian Embassy and the Embassy officials were continuously briefing the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, the paper reported.
The Sri Lankan Embassy in Oslo had also been approached by the Norwegian authorities two weeks ago, the Klassekampen reported.
This is the first report of a Norwegian national missing in Sri Lanka in a long time, the paper said.
Sounthararajan Thambirajah, who has lived in Norway since 1993, had gone to Sri Lanka last year to get married but was trapped in Kilinochchi when violence broke out in August 2006.
Mr. Sounthararajan crossed into Sri Lankan government controlled territory at the end of March this year, a Norwegian daily reported on May 13.
Mr. Sounthararajan has family members in Norway and they have been in continuous communication with the Norwegian mission in Sri Lanka, Klassekampen, the first media to break the story, reported.
The family and Norwegian embassy officials have been working hard to discover Mr. Sounthararajan’s whereabouts, the paper said.
There were some indications that he had been arrested by Sri Lankan authorities until around April 12, the paper quoted the family as saying.
The family had remained tight-lipped until recently as they had been attempting to secure Mr. Sounthararajan’s release. It was only after the failure of all their efforts that the family allowed Tamil activists in Norway to go public, reports said.
There has been no official documentation of the arrest.
The Klassekampen paper quoted Norwegian Foreign Ministry official, Kristin Melsom, as saying that the Norwegian authorities were monitoring the disappearance closely.
However, the Embassy had refused to go into details "due to the nature of the case," the paper said.
The case was a "serious issue" for the Norwegian Embassy and the Embassy officials were continuously briefing the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, the paper reported.
The Sri Lankan Embassy in Oslo had also been approached by the Norwegian authorities two weeks ago, the Klassekampen reported.
This is the first report of a Norwegian national missing in Sri Lanka in a long time, the paper said.
