Surrendered LTTE cadres missing

By Sutirtho Patranobis | Hindustan Times
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Many cadres and leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who surrendered to the forces at the end of the civil war in 2009 were still missing, a government panel looking into the war was told in Jaffna. The eight-member Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) held public sessions in and around the Jaffna peninsula over the weekend. It was set up in May 2009 by the government to look into the temporary ceasefire followed by the last years of civil war between the 2002 and 2009.

According to the Sunday Times newspaper, Jayavathi, wife of one time LTTE politburo member Yogaratnam Yogi, claimed that, her husband had surrendered to the military, along with several senior LTTE cadres, but they have not been heard of since then.

"My husband Yogi, Puthuvai Ratnadurai (in charge of the LTTE’s fine arts division) Lawrence Thilakar (in charge of the LTTE’s European division), Baby Subramanian and some others surrendered to the military at Vattuvahal on May 18, 2009…and they were all taken way in a bus. We have not heard from them since then," Jayavathi was quoted by the newspaper as having told the LLRC.

Diplomats from the US and Norway embassies were present during the Jaffna LLRC sessions.

Complaints were also made about missing women detained after being suspected of being Tiger cadres during the depositions.

More than 11000 LTTE cadres were taken into custody during the end of the war. The state-owned Daily News recently quoted the minister of rehabilitation and prison reform, D E W Gunesekara, saying 5819 out of 11,696 detainees had been released by October 23.

The LLRC took submissions from residents of Jaffna during four days and over 2000 made submissions. Around 400 made submissions at Kaytes, a small island in the peninsula, and the LLRC took oral submissions from around 30 individuals while others made written submissions to the LLRC Secretariat.

The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) and Centre for Human Rights - Sri Lanka (CHR) on Monday condemned the alleged systematic intimidation of those who wanted to make submissions to the LLRC in Kaytes Island.

© Hindustan Times