Sri Lankan police have arrested the head of the Association of Relatives of the Disappeared, Kasipillai Jayavanitha, for allegedly illegally obtaining electricity for the shed which has served as the base for their six-year-long protest.
Secretary of the association, K. Rajkumar told the press:
“We have been fighting for the last 2,210 days at this shed. A street was installed for electricity and was provided for by the electricity board during the last Northern Provincial assembly. Members of Sri Lanka’s electricity council have even visited and repaired the lamps. This arrest is unacceptable. We are not getting electricity illegally. This is a means of distracting from our struggle”.
The arrest follows years of intimidation, surveillance, and harassment by Sri Lanka security forces against the Tamil Families of the Disappeared.
At least 125 family members of the disappeared who have been active in Tamil protests have died without knowing what happened to their loved ones. They are calling for an independent and international investigation into the fate of their loved ones, many of whom were last seen in military custody.