Who are Sri Lanka's disappeared?

Sri Lanka's civil war is officially over, but people are still being "disappeared" - vanishing without a trace, often, allegedly, in the state's unmarked "white vans "

!fter "ra#, Sri Lanka has the highest number of enforced disappearances in the world, the $nited %ations has said &he latest report from the $%'s working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, set up in '()*, says that there are +,,-, outstanding cases of enforced disappearances, though the actual number of disappeared could be much higher &he ma.ority of cases date back to Sri Lanka's civil war between the

government and the L&&/, commonly known as the &amil &igers, which ended in 0**( 1owever, enforced disappearances in the country continue to be reported !mnesty "nternational said that during 0*'0 there were reports of more than 0* alleged enforced disappearances 2ictims included political activists, business people and suspected criminals White vans 3n &hursday night, 4hannel 5 %ews will air a documentary, White 2an Stories, which e6plores the phenomenon of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka and the fear it instils in the population Leena 7animekalai, director of White 2ans, said there is "absolutely no news" of people ever returning once they have been "disappeared " &he families of the disappeared face the torture of "not knowing" what has happened to their loved ones - and also further alleged harassment from the state 8isappearances have been a feature of Sri Lankan life since the 9anatha 2imukthi :eramuna insurgency of the '()*s - when many young Sinhalese men were allegedly abducted &he practice continued during the Sri Lankan civil war, and has been attributed to both government forces and the &amil &igers &he Sri Lankan government consistently denies any allegations of war crimes or human rights abuses &he disappeared

Prageeth Eknaligoda &he .ournalist and cartoonist disappeared whilst going home from his office on 05 9anuary 0*'* near Sri Lanka's capital, 4olombo &he alleged abduction took place two days before Sri Lanka's presidential elections /knaligoda worked for a website that supported the opposition candidate to :resident 7ahinda ;a.apaksa Local residents reported seeing a white van without number plates close to his house around this time Sivasooriyakumar Sanara. ! '+-year-old &amil boy went missing after leaving home in the morning on '< 9une, 0*'<, in northern Sri Lanka to go to school 1is aunt went to the local police to file a report, but the police refused to take the case seriously !round midnight on 0) 9une, a family friend was waiting at a bus stop and saw an auto-rickshaw drive by carrying three men and a young boy in the back with his hands tied behind his back 1e called Sanara.'s father to meet him and together they waited for the rickshaw to return ! little while later it did, but it was carrying only one of the men &he auto-rickshaw stopped, dropped the man off and left &he family friend and Sanara.'s father grabbed the man and took him to the police 3n the way to the station, the man boasted of his connections to senior police officials &he police turned them all away, saying it was too

late at night for them to deal with the matter &he family friend and Sanara.'s father #uestioned the man themselves= the man described the boy as having a red scar on his ear and lip, .ust like Sanara. 8espite having identified this man as a suspected abductor, the police have not called him in for #uestioning and have failed to conduct any investigation to date Lalith Weeraraja and Kugan Muruganandan Weerara.a and 7uruganandan were allegedly arrested by members of the Sri Lankan army on ( 8ecember 0*'' Weerara.a was the coordinator of the 9ana !ragalaya>:eople's Struggle? movement in the northern city of 9affna, and was an e6ecutive committee member of We !re Sri Lankans, a student-based organisation which works to defend the rights of &amil people in Sri Lanka "n the past, Weerara.a had been threatened several times by the army and police in relation to his protests against enforced disappearances and illegal detention, and had been taken into military custody in early 0*'' where he was allegedly threatened and interrogated ;amasamy :rabaharan ! &amil businessman of "ndian origin, :rabaharan was allegedly abducted by seven men in civilian clothing, thought to be security forces agents, in

@ebruary 0*'0 1e was reported to have been grabbed around the neck by the men, who were hiding at his home, and thrown into the back of a white van "t has been reported that at the time of his alleged abduction, :rabaharan had filed a case against the police in the Supreme 4ourt of Sri Lanka for alleged torture and unlawful arrest 1e had been detained by police between 7ay 0**( and September 0*'' on suspicion of being a member of the &amil &igers 2asanthamala :athmanathan &he woman was allegedly arrested at a bank near 2avuniya, in Sri LankaAs northern province, by agents of the feared 4riminal "nvestigation 8epartment >4"8? of the police on 0' !ugust 0*'0 Watch an e6clusive preview clip of White 2an Stories, below &he documentary will be shown on &hursday night, at seven, on 5 Article Tags 413B7 0*'<C Spotlight on Sri Lanka, 4hannel 5 %ews, Sri Lanka, Sri LankaC special report, World