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Seven TRO workers still missing as abduction saga continues
By Dilmini Samaranayake
Seven Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) aid workers remained missing almost a week after they were allegedly kidnapped in two incidents, even as the government cast serious doubts over the incident and the LTTE threatened to pull out of the Geneva talks.

The TRO workers - largely considered the LTTE's aid arm - were reported to have been abducted by "unidentified gunmen," in two separate incidents on Sunday and Monday.

The TRO reported the incidents on Tuesday, and simultaneously launched an extensive international awareness campaign long before even the police were informed.

The LTTE was also swift to threaten a pull-out from the mid-February Geneva talks over the kidnappings allegedly taken place close to an army post at Welikanda in Batticaloa.

"It will damage the atmosphere of negotiations and make it difficult to resume talks in Geneva," said Tiger spokesman Daya Master, from Kilinochchi. "They should be released immediately," he said, blaming the abductions on para-militaries supported by the Sri Lankan Army.

The Tiger threat came barely a week after Norway's special peace envoy Erik Solheim broke an almost three year deadlock to resume stalled peace talks between the government and the guerrillas amid fears that the island was on the brink of war.

The Tamil National Alliance also jumped on the band-wagon and joined the LTTE in accusing para-militaries supported by the government for the abductions despite the TRO being reluctant to point a finger.
The military vouched that no such incident had taken place at the location specified by the TRO.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission members who visited the scene with the "released abductees," said the incident had allegedly taken place at least two kilometers away from the army post.

The government's skepticism over the incident was exemplified when Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera told reporters that the entire incident was a "mystery," but stopped short of calling it a hoax. "The government is conducting a full-scale investigation into the mystery," Mr. Samaraweera told a media conference on Thursday. "The investigations raise more questions than answers."

He accused the TRO of not cooperating with the police even after reporting the incident some 30 hours after it allegedly took place. The TRO refutes the allegation.

IGP Chandra Fernando was made aware about the incident only at a conference on the cease-fire agreement organized by the Foundation for Co-Existence on January 31.

In the middle of session, Arjunan Ethirveerasingam, a project consultant with the TRO, got up and announced that five of its members had been abducted. He had also gone on to distribute a press release on the incident among the diplomats and parliamentarians gathered at the JAIC Hilton for the conference.
Subsequently, two females of the alleged group abducted on Sunday, were apparently freed a day later and had returned to their homes. This was reported by the TRO only late Tuesday, saying the females testified that they didn't contact anyone as they were threatened by their abductors against any such move.

It was only after the TRO office in Colombo published their names on Tuesday as among those abducted, that they came forward to account for their presence, the aid group said. The alleged kidnappers had released another female on Friday, the aid group said.

"We are happy that three have been released. But there are seven still out there and we are very concerned," Ethiriveerasingam said. Many foreign missions including the United States and Britain were flooded with e-mails about the alleged abductions prompting the U.S. embassy in Colombo, to issue a statement expressing concern and urged authorities to "rapidly investigate," the allegations, while appealing to "all parties to exercise restraint and calm." The statement rattled the government which had recently concluded a trip to the U.S. seeking to clamp-down on LTTE funding organizations, specifically the TRO.

Foreign staff based in the north and east were also flooded with sms text messages about the incident. The government said two DIG's, four ASP's and a 20-member police team including intelligence officers had been put on the job.

"We are continuing with our investigations," Fernando said. He said the accounts from those released about what exactly happened "were very weak."
The SLMM too had spoken to the three released. "It's too soon to establish with certainty what exactly happened," SLMM spokeswoman Helen Olofsdottier said.

"I am not saying that it is a hoax... but there are conflicting and contradictory statements," Samaraweera said. "I hope the TRO will cooperate with the police to get to the bottom of this incident in the same vigor as it informed the international community."

‘Paramilitary’ behind abductions, says TRO
By Asif Fuard
Many questions have arisen after 10 TRO aid workers were allegedly abducted at Welikanda last week. Later three of them were released.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the TRO Administrative Officer for Colombo N. Sivagurunadan says that although they have no evidence, they strongly believe that the abduction was carried out by a paramilitary group. Excerpts:

Does the TRO have any views on what happened on Monday?
Fifteen TRO members were travelling from Batticaloa to Vavuniya in a hired van and at Welikanda the van had not gone beyond 100 metres passing an Army checkpoint when a white van overtook the TRO vehicle and forced it to stop.

Five armed men had got down from the vehicle and three of them had assaulted the men in the team before abducting four men and a woman. The remaining 10 are in hiding as they fear for their lives.

Do you have any idea where they could be hiding?
We assume most of them would have fled to LTTE controlled areas. Only a few TRO members are remaining in Batticaloa, after this incident.

The first TRO press release said the abduction had been carried out by paramilitary personnel. How did you come to that conclusion?
We later identified the abductors as unidentified gunmen as we had insufficient evidence. But we strongly believe that the abductors were paramilitary personnel because one of the girls who escaped informed our office that the attack was carried out by the paramilitary. They could have been from the Karuna group, PLOTE, EPDP or even the Razik faction, all of whom operate in the government-controlled areas. We only reported what the girl said.

How could the TRO have come to a concrete conclusion that it was a paramilitary group based on what was merely reported to the TRO office.
We merely expressed an opinion. We only reported what the girl said. After all we are not going to courts over this.

So the TRO has turned a mere speculation to fact.
We do not consider it as speculation but as a fact.

Isn’t there a possibility that the abduction may have been carried out by a gang of robbers or even the LTTE?
Why do you think it was the LTTE? Why would they want to harm us?

Why not the LTTE? It could be that they wanted to blame this abduction on the paramilitary too as they have done in the past.
If it was the LTTE it would have been suicidal on its part, as the incident occurred in a government-controlled area. They could have been shot by the Army. We have done a lot of humanitarian work both in LTTE-controlled areas as well as in government-controlled areas, so there was no reason for the LTTE to abduct TRO members.

The press release stated that there had been an army checkpoint 100m away from where the incident took place. Why didn’t those who escaped inform the army about the incident?
They didn’t inform the Army since they were not sure whether the men were from the Army itself or whether it was a paramilitary group, as some of these groups work with the Army and some even wear the same uniform.

The government press release stated that the TRO members who escaped didn’t even lodge a verbal complaint at the local police station. Why didn’t they?
Because they feared for their lives. However the TRO Batticaloa office made a complaint on their behalf.

Does this mean that no verbal complaint was made by any of the witnesses?
No. They recounted the incident to the TRO. And we made a statement as they were afraid to go to a police station. But I believe some of them had made individual complaints.

Are you aware that the LTTE is threatening to pull-out of the Geneva talks because of this alleged abduction?
I think what their grouse is that even after the LTTE and the government had agreed on holding talks, Tamil civilians are being harassed.

Tamil civilians are even being harmed by the LTTE who sometimes gun down those who defy it. There is a belief in some quarters that the whole abduction had been planned by the LTTE in collaboration with the TRO to prove the existence of paramilitary activities. Any comment?
The TRO has nothing to do with the LTTE. Anyone can link the two groups together but there is no connection.

Are there LTTE sympathizers working for the TRO?
Sympathizer is a wrong word. I would not use that word. Our workers do not sympathise with the LTTE. But some of them understand its cause.

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