Sri Lanka: Relatives of the disappeared protest

Many people have been disappeared in Sri Lanka since the end of the conflict with the Tamil Tigers, human rights activists say.

Convenor of Committee for the Investigation of Disappearances (CID) Chamil Jayanetti told BBC Sandeshaya that the government should reveal the names of nearly 12,000 suspected LTTE members currently detained.

"We don't know what the fate of these disappeared people are. They may be detained, killed of disappeared. If the government announce the names of those detained then the relatives would have a clue," he said.

Mr. Jayanetti was commenting as a group of relatives of the disappeared protested in Vavuniya, displaying the photographs of the victims, calling for the authorities to reveal what happened to their loved ones.

"My husband was kidnapped when he went to the shop. The people at the shop said they didn't know who the kidnappers were," a woman said.

Another woman said: "He was taken when he was on his way to the temple. We don't know whether he is still alive or dead."

Former Jaffna parliamentarian MK Sivajilingam who attended the protest said that the government should come under international pressure as a result of similar protests.

© BBC Sinhala