Unidentified persons coming in a white van abducted a youth in Urumpiraay, Jaffna, in broad daylight and in public, while he was riding a bicycle Thursday. When contacted by media over the incident, Sri Lanka’s colonial commander in Jaffna, Maj. Gen Hathurusinghe not only denied any knowledge of it, but also said that there are no chances for such abductions since the LTTE doesn’t exist now. When it was pointed out that public had witnessed the abduction and that the bicycle and slippers of the victim had been remaining on the street, the ‘Asian Nobel laureate’ General replied that the police would investigate into that matter. However, the police that picked up the evidence also denied any abduction. Meanwhile, irresponsible reporting of the happenings in Jaffna by some in the diaspora affects the credibility of even bona fide news, commented media circles in Jaffna.
Chunnaakam Police first took the bicycle and the slippers from the site, but later denied any knowledge of the abduction that had taken place very near to the locality where Deputy Education Director Mr. Sivalingam was slain Sunday.
Public suspects the hand of military intelligence in the series of abductions that are taking place in Jaffna in recent times, because they remind them of the situation in 2007–2008 when many such abductions took place in similar ways involving military intelligence and paramilitary operatives.
Meanwhile, cursory explanations and wrong reporting that confuses suicides and killings in the peninsula by sections of the diaspora media provide excuses for the justification of the culprits and cause negative impact in pinning them down, said media circles in Jaffna.
Major General Hathurusinghe of the war-crimes accused military of Sri Lanka that occupies Jaffna was recently awarded with Guci Peace Price in Philippines, which SL military-run websites described as the Asian equivalent of Nobel Peace Price.
The winding-up of ICRC, UN operations in North and East at a time when killings and abductions escalate, cause much concern and apprehension in the minds of the people.
Even the few individuals among the people, who because of personal bias were prepared to tolerate SL military in Jaffna earlier, are now worried, anticipating more oppression to follow.
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