Sri Lanka: Disappearance is common | Sri Lanka |
Guest Opinion
by Jim McDonald
You could be taken at any time, day or night - at home, at work, while walking on the street.
Your captors, in uniform or civilian clothes, could forcibly take you away, providing no reason or legal warrant. When relatives ask about your whereabouts, the same officials deny having arrested you or knowing your fate. You are now a victim of enforced disappearance.
This happened to Sivasubramanium Raveendranath, Vice-Chancellor of Eastern University in Sri Lanka. He "disappeared" while at a science conference Dec. 15, 2006, and has not been heard from since.
A few months before Raveendranath's "disappearance," the kidnappers demanded his immediate resignation in exchange for the release of his colleague, Dr. Bala Sugamar. Raveendranath resigned, and Sugamar was released. The university, however, wouldn't accept his resignation.
Working from the major Sri Lankan city of Colombo - because it wasn't safe enough at the university - he received several threats before his "disappearance," although it is still not clear from whom.
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by Jim McDonald
You could be taken at any time, day or night - at home, at work, while walking on the street.
Your captors, in uniform or civilian clothes, could forcibly take you away, providing no reason or legal warrant. When relatives ask about your whereabouts, the same officials deny having arrested you or knowing your fate. You are now a victim of enforced disappearance.
This happened to Sivasubramanium Raveendranath, Vice-Chancellor of Eastern University in Sri Lanka. He "disappeared" while at a science conference Dec. 15, 2006, and has not been heard from since.
A few months before Raveendranath's "disappearance," the kidnappers demanded his immediate resignation in exchange for the release of his colleague, Dr. Bala Sugamar. Raveendranath resigned, and Sugamar was released. The university, however, wouldn't accept his resignation.
Working from the major Sri Lankan city of Colombo - because it wasn't safe enough at the university - he received several threats before his "disappearance," although it is still not clear from whom.
More
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