Campaigners have written to the UN over the fate of two missing activists, who disappeared en route to a protest organised in Jaffna last month.

The two activists, Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan were organising protests on behalf of families who have had relatives gone missing. Supporters maintain that Sri Lankan Security forces are responsible for their disappearances, due to the heavy militarisation that Jaffna is under and as one of the victims motorbikes were later spotted in a police compound.

A spokesman for the group said,

"We have written to all the authorities but so far they have not even responded to us. We still believe they are in military custody."

Mr Murugunanthan’s wife made a passionate plea to authorities, saying,

"Please allow me at least to talk to him."

Mr Murugunanthan, a former member of the LTTE, is just one of over 5,000 cases of unresolved disappearances according to UN statistics. Following a recent spate of abductions, the number has now begun to rise yet again.

According to a 1999 UN Study Sri Lanka then already had the world's second highest rate of disappearances - the overwhelming majority of victims since 1990 being Tamils.  In the decade since thousands more, again mainly Tamils, have vanished since being taken into government custody.

See our earlier posts:

The logic in Sri Lanka's disappearances (29 Dec 2010)

Tamil protest against disappearances in Colombo (13 Dec 2011)

Resurgence of ‘white van’ abductions (12 Dec 2011)

Tamils protest in Jaffna against disappearances (11 Dec 2011)