By Thangamuthu Jayasingam –

We commemorate events of significance as a mark of respect, but to those families where someone has gone missing, it is neither a memorial nor a commemoration, but a painful year ahead, waiting for the missing, to hear or not to hear about those who went missing. A very traumatic and painful sequence to manage. I know it, as 158 were taken by the armed forces from the Eastern University Refugee Camp at Vantharumoolai on 5th September 1990, and 36 years later, we are still waiting to hear about them. The families meet annually, share grief, experience and follow-up action for the answer on their status, 36 years to now. They wait and wait to hear from anyone. But those who went missing are missing, also missing in the agenda, and the answer, wherever it may be, in a democratic state where the Judiciary is an arm of governance, justice also seems to be missing in this regard.

The Mothers’ Association for the Missing has now, for almost 6 years, continued their struggle for the missing in Jaffna, and national-level organisations have also been following various incidents and collectively, as a principle that needs to be answered in a democratic state. But little seems to be happening. Recent issues in Jaffna, where these persons who had demonstrated over this had been ‘ill-handled’ by the authorities. Is it just an issue of crowd management or an indication of frustration over an issue that they wish to be forgotten, but the people tend to remember? A state that could take financial irregularities, frauds, mismanagement as serious offences and also ‘non-action’ as a serious offence in terms of the previous IGP is unable to consider the fate of the missing people and their families as an issue of significance.

Can the state or members of it be considered responsible for non-action? It is also noted that even names/titles of persons who had been associated with the missing (e.g. Presidential Commission of the Missing in the East) have been mentioned, but none had ever been questioned or summoned for any trial, to our knowledge. What does this implicate? Acceptance or rejection, and both are of significance to these citizens who query the missing citizens, their relatives. The present government is well aware of the missing people during conflicts and would have faced such in many areas during their struggle, and such an ignoring of the missing people’s issues seems merely opportunistic rather than realistic.

The words that echo in my ears are, ‘They are all LTTE, do not ask about them’, by the former Eastern Command General Gerry De Silva in my office at the Eastern University Vantharumoolai Refugee Camp on 8th September 1990. Unfortunately, even he had never been summoned to give evidence or a statement on the mission, even though his name had been listed in the Presidential Commission report on the missing people in the Eastern Province, led by Hon. Justice Palakidner. Hundreds were seen to surrender in 2008/9, and many jubilees were seen over the TVs and documents of those in prison, custody, etc., but now no one seems to even accept they were ever held. Ms Ananthy Sasitharan is one who had challenged the missing of her husband after arrest and continues to be on the trail. Hundreds are unable to do that but gather in front of the office of the OMP and state offices, seeking answers, still believing in democracy.

When an ARAGALAYA was staged in this country for many issues, which was well received to the point of leveraging the change in government, including the President himself. However, those who rose from the ashes of those events find it difficult to recognise the struggle of those seeking the missing people, as witnessed well in Jaffna recently, where Police were used to evacuate them. What a different approach or scenario to two groups seeking answers for queries to their issues from the elected democratic government, especially from those who rose from the graves of the first protest Aragalaya. But history has been very consistent, the real atrocities and crimes have been answered over time, some even making new nations across the globe, when populations and nations have been denied their rights or failed to answer queries of concern by such ‘citizens’, whoever they may be. It is essential and urgent for the state and the government to address the issue of the missing persons rather than expect it to wither off with the winds, but history has shown that the winds become cyclones over years to remove the dust and expose the real ground.

Accommodating the belief of those many who feel that the missing are alive in some part of the globe and also wishing the same, the time may be right to be looking for any signs of burial around the places of last seen, the Paper Factory Camp and Navalady Army Post, from sources unknown yet informed, of the cry of the people in those places around the date of arrest. The many people from that time may be able to shed light more than any other, at least to redeem their subconscious mind of the commitment of a crime to humanity, if any. We are awaiting and shall wait, as the end would be positive for an answer even if it takes decades, maybe long after we are gone. Modern technologies are able to detect large burials from the surface, even from the air, with limited certainty, which is an option that the diaspora would be able to take as a venture to undertake to provide technical and financial assistance, if the state is unwilling to provide these by themselves, as no follow-ups have been seen on the Presidential Commission report on these MISSINGS. A waste of the initiative of the Commission, if not followed.

I am aware that scattered compilations of many documents, interviews and even court proceedings have been made on these, on the missing at Vantharumoolai. It needs to be elevated to a point where it becomes a marker for those who went missing without an option to say ‘yes/no’ in reference to their guilt, if any. It is also a solace to those who have painfully paddled 36 years with hope and grief, awaiting the return of their loved ones, an incredible journey of belief.

It is an etched trust that ‘the truth will emerge one day whether anyone likes it or not and it will change history’, that accounts for the suffering of nations across time. Bowing to all those who have shown tremendous courage in search of their loved ones and are willing to further await the event, and all those who have shared their grief in whatever way they could……I do not know how long I would be there to share their grief, but my wishes will remain forever, even after generations, if that be it.

*Jayasingam, T, OIC of the Vantharumoolai Refugee Camp on 5.9.1990