Tamil families affected by enforced disappearances rejected proposals for a domestic inquiry at a vigil for the disappeared in Mannar.

Emphasising the need for an international investigations into disappearances and abductions during the war and its aftermath, hundreds of relatives of missing persons marked the International Day of the Disappeared with an emotional vigil in Mannar on Sunday.

photograph IBCTamil.com

The vigil was organised by the Organisation for the Families of Forcibly Disappeared Persons - North and East Provinces, with the Mannar Citizens Committee.

The event’s chief guest, Reverend Father Elil Rajan, representing the Tamil Civil Society Forum, emphasised the Tamil people’s disappointment in the international push for domestic investigations.

In his speech Father Elil stressed that an international investigation was crucial, since the culture of abducting and causing the disappearance of Tamils has been carried out methodically by all Sri Lankan regimes, regardless of party.

“Enforced disappearances have been staged throughout Sri Lankan political history at different levels to achieve various goals,” Father Elil said.

“None of the governments that have assumed power have proved an exception to this. To this day, there is no history of any single government acting on behalf of those missing people with any sincerity. All the governments have been arduous in protecting the culprits. From the beginning we have stressed that an international investigation is the only way to resolve the problems of those affected by enforced disappearances.”