There has been “zero progress” on the cases of tens of thousands of disappeared people in Sri Lanka, said human rights activist Ruki Fernando, days after Sri Lanka’s prime minister stated all the missing were probably dead.
Stating that the prime minister’s comments had caused anguish amongst relatives of the missing, Mr Fernando said, “[It] brings out the question: ‘what is the purpose of the proposed office of missing persons if the prime minister already knows what happened to them?”.
Writing in The Guardian, Amantha Perera spoke to the wife of disappeared Sinhalese journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda as she continued to search for her missing husband. “I will go anywhere, any time to get information on Prageeth,” said Sandhya Eknaligoda.
She spoke on how she was threatened last week by a Buddhist monk who heads Bodu Bala Sena, who said she had tarnished the name of Sri Lanka’s armed forces with reports that her husband was investigating the use of chemical weapons by the army in the North-East during the armed conflict, prior to his abduction in 2010.
“[This government] has to prove that it is different from the one it replaced,” said Ms Eknaligoda. “It has to show that it treats all citizens equally, and at least tell us why our husbands, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters were snatched away like this.”
“Despite some progress on the disappearance of journalist Prageeth, there has been zero progress on tens of thousands of others – despite compelling evidence in some cases,” said Mr Fernando.
Vallipuram Amalanayagi, a woman searching for her husband since February 2009, also spoke of the difficulties faced by the relatives of the disappeared. “There was a time when looking for my husband was a far greater crime than his abduction,” she said.
On Wednesday, US Ambassador Samantha Power also told the UN Security Council of how relatives of the disappeared faced threats and discouragement from authorities, stating that “the lack of proper investigations doesn’t just hurt families – it also sends a message to perpetrators that they can continue to disappear people with impunity”.
See our earlier post: Authorities in Sri Lanka 'discourage and threaten' relatives of the disappeared says US Ambassador (28 Jan 2016)
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