94 persons missing since January this year

A monitoring activity by a deputy minister has revealed that some 94 persons, all of them ethnic Tamil, are reported missing during the period of January 2008 to date.

According to Deputy Minister of Vocational Training, P. Radhakrishnan, a total of 147 were reported missing while 38 have returned home subsequently. Some 15 are believed to be detained, he said.

The Deputy Minister who also took up the case of the Sea Street jewellery shop owners being extorted thereby forcing them to flee the country now claims that though the reasons and the parties that were involved in these enforced disappearances were unknown, it proved that the community was under threat.

"However, I must hasten to add that we don't hold the government responsible for these atrocities. We still have no information on the culprits."

Radhakrishnan added that all necessary steps should be taken to ensure the personal security of innocent civilian victims.

Meanwhile, Convenor, Civil Monitoring Mission (CMC), WPF Leader and Colombo District MP Mano Ganesan blamed the international community for failing to exert sufficient pressure on the government to ensure adherence to human rights and show respect to the law.

He added that the continued incidents showed that enforced disappeared still occur, and added that these incidents have given the lie to the government's claims and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe's rhetorical assurances to the international community.