Last week marked the 15th year since seven workers of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Sri Lankan government-backed paramilitaries in Batticaloa.
The paramilitary Karuna group was allegedly responsible for the attack.
Although TRO was seen as being closely affiliated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), it was a legally registered charitable organisation that, during the period between 2002 to 2005, operated from offices across Sri Lanka in both Government and LTTE controlled areas. The organisation provided relief including post-tsunami to the Tamil community.
At two separate incidents between 29 - 30 January 2006, the seven TRO staffs were blocked from travelling by white vans. According to TRO workers who were also abducted and later released, they were stopped and subjected to checks at the Sri Lanka Army checkpoints and were assaulted and dragged into the white vans. The released staffs were threatened not to speak to anyone about what had occurred.
No credible investigation was undertaken and the fate of the seven staffs remains unsolved to date. This is despite TRO officials having reported the disappearances with the Batticaloa Police Station and engaged with authorities during the initial investigation process which did not proceed further. Human rights organisations have raised continuously raised alarm over this case.
As the abductions took place as the LTTE were preparing to engage in negotiations with the Sri Lankan Government to discuss the implementation of the cease-fire in Geneva, many interpreted the abductions as an attempt to derail this renewed effort to put the peace process back on track.
Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has dismissed accusations that he had played a role in the thousands of abductions that took place through infamous ‘white vans’, claiming that they were all “bogus allegations”.
