Still Searching For Answers

By Waruni Karunarathne- Sunday, May 03, 2015

Andhoni Ravidha and Mrs. J. Najendran

Even after many years of search, families of those who are missing, especially during the last phase of the war, have not given up their search in hope to find their kith and kin. Most of them carry evidence of as to how their family members went missing and as to who abducted them or arrested them. There are also women who have proof to say some of those reported missing are still alive and are detained either in prisons or camps which they are eager to find out. Several women from North and East with clear evidence of those who are disappeared met the Presidential Commission to investigate into cases of missing persons to present their cases last Thursday.

Among them there was Andhoni Ravidha from Batticaloa who alleged that her husband was kidnapped by the Special Task Force (STF) on the 02.12.2008. “My husband’s name is Kandaya Andhoni and he was a fisherman. His age is now 46. On the day of the incident, he left home to go for fishing. There were four others who used to work with him. That day evening, those four people came rushing to my house to inform that my husband was arrested by the STF and those people were in uniform,” she alleged. She added that she has four children – two sons of age 20 and 18 and two daughters of age 25 and 23. “The eldest boy is now working as a carpenter and the youngest boy has left school without completing his education as we have financial difficulties. My elder daughter is a teacher and the other one does not have a job. I am maintaining a small grocery shop to meet the family needs,” she explained her difficulties.

She is also in possession of solid evidence to say that her husband is still alive as on 26th September 2011, Veerakesari newspaper carried a news item with a photo of several people who had been released from a prison and her husband was among them. Showing the photo she obtained from the newspaper, Ravidha added that even though there is a photo evidence of him being released he has not made his way home. She questioned as to what actually happened to him.

Mrs. J. Najendran, a mother of a son who was disappeared alleged that her son was abducted on 27.05.2008 by someone attached to the Navy Intelligence. She is from the Trincomalee district and her son’s name is Najendran Pradeeban. “Now he should be 30 years old. After finishing his A/L in Anuradhapura, he wanted to go overseas for a job. I paid an agent Rs. 100,000/- but the agent deceived us. My son was sent to various countries and was shifted from place to place for about 2 years but without a job – so I thought it was best for him to come back home. My son arrived in Sri Lanka on 02.01.2008. After he got back, he wanted to pick up his hobby of playing Cricket and he went to the Play ground Ahambram in Trincomalee. At that point, he was questioned by a person called Robert attached to the Navy Intelligence. He had shown my son his ID,” she added.

According to her, Robert from the Navy Intelligence had questioned her son as to why he had not been to the playground before and as to where he was during the last couple of years. “After this incident, my son refused to go to play with the others. However, my son had a friend called Rama Krishnan Jayadeepan and Robert from the Navy Intelligence unit had asked him to bring my son to play Cricket with them and Jayadeepan convinced my son to accompany him. But later that day Jayadeepan came back to my house and claimed that my son was kidnapped by Robert in a white van as they went to meet him. According to Jayadeepan, my son was hand cuffed from behind and was blindfolded. Jayadeepan insisted me not to call the police or talk to anybody about the incident as Robert had threatened to kill him and my family, if I do so. Before I could do anything I received a call from a person called Siripala asking me to come to 59th mile post at Kandalai with Rs. 150,000/- and he would release my son. I knew it was Robert. But i did as I was told without questioning in fear of my son’s life. I went there and handed over the money but he did not send my son home, ” she said.

She added that afterwards she filed a case in the Trincomalee court regarding this matter on 20.05.2008. According to Mrs. Nagendran, later, the court had issued an order to arrest Jayadeepan and Robert but they were released one year after saying that there were no valid evidence against them. She also suspected that Jayadeepan was also involved in the abduction.

Daniel Valanteena, another woman from Vavuniya claimed that she handed over her mother, Daniel Victoria Rani to the military on the 17. 05.2009 as her mother sustained a minor injury in her stomach due to a shell attack during the last phase of the war. “We were coming from Mullaithivu to Vavuniya and my mother was injured in Mullivaika – so I handed her over to the military for treatment. Last time I saw her she was taken away in a tractor. I wanted to go along with her but I was taken to the Chettikulam camp. At that point my mother was 66 years old but she was healthy. I was in the Zone 4 Chettikulam IDP camp till September 2010. Once I was out of the camp, I started looking for her. I wrote to the former President, the military, ICRC and various other place in search of her. I received a response letter from the Presidential Secretariat dated 06.01.2011 saying that my letter was forwarded to the Secretary, Ministry of Defence and Urban Development and they would take the necessary actions – but I did not receive any other response from them to date. ICRC also responded with a letter dated 19.01.2010 saying that due to restricted access to certain places including hospitals, they could not curry out the search. However, I am still searching with the hope to find her somewhere alive,” Valanteen added with perseverance.

Meantime, Chairman of the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate into cases of missing persons Maxwell Paranagama admitted that some people who presented their cases to the commission on last Thursday had first hand information in their possession. According to him, the Commission had invited these civil society members and families of the missing persons for a discussion as those groups had been protesting during some of the public hearings that the commission conducted. “These groups have been protesting out side holding various placards asking for an international inquiry during some of our public sittings and we invited them for a discussion to Colombo to sort out this problem. The group of Civil Society members presented certain shortcomings of the commission based on their view. They handed over to us a document in writing with all their concerns and shortcomings insisting on as to how we can address those,” he added.

According to him, some families of the missing persons produced some documents including photos as evidence saying that those people who are reported missing are still in certain prisons and various other places. “They gave us first hand information. We will take measures to check in prisons and various other places by next week as to whether they are still in those places,” he added. According to Mr. Paranagama, the commission had met the Secretary to the Ministry of Justice recently and requested a list of persons who are in prisons all over the island – in order to cross check with that list as to whether these people who are reported to be missing are in prisons.