groundviews » My abducted brother found in Colombo National Hospital

My abducted brother found in Colombo National Hospital

March 28, 2008 at 1:05 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Security, Mannar, Peace and Conflict | by CHA

An armed group abducted my younger brother this month. He was 25 years old. They came in a van in early February at around 8.30 in the night.

I am the eldest son in my family and I returned to Mannar after my marriage. After one year I told my parents to come down to Sri Lanka since a ceasefire agreement was signed between LTTE and the government. They returned to Mannar after 12 years from India.

As soon as he was abducted I informed the ICRC, FCE, Citizen Committees and CHA. My abducted brother is the youngest in our family. He neither knows nor has any connection with any militant group.

Yet he was abducted.

We searched all over but we could not find him. In early March I suddenly got an anonymous call. The person one who spoke to me over the phone did not tell me his name or address. He just said, “Your brother is in the Colombo National Hospital”.

The following day we went to the hospital where we found my brother, lying on a bed. He was senseless and restless. We could see that he had gone through a lot of pain.

The doctors advised us to not ask him anything until he fully recovers.

That may be a long wait.

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Joe said,

March 28, 2008 @ 6:05 pm

This story could be true or false. There is nothing in it that would assist a reader make a judgement on credibility.

groundviews said,

March 28, 2008 @ 6:11 pm

On request, the names and other markers of identification have been stripped from the original story that Groundviews received to protect the privacy and security of those mentioned in this article.

Dhammika Dharmawardhane said,

March 28, 2008 @ 6:45 pm

For the sense of journalism for what it is fair enough. Fair unbiased journalism is important. Usually this means you quote source or add quantitate information to justify publishing your story.

However, as a responsible journalist and a Sri Lankan, do you not feel that this little story has a sense of being what it probably is not; a piece of fiction.

And while you will feel obligated as a journalist to publish these stories, I beg you to also consider that as a Sri Lankan do you not damage Sri Lanka and our reputation internationally?

However the GOV of SL may or may not conduct themselves in a democratic or non-manner, I sure do hope you realise that these stories may do our country more harm than correct the situation.

Thanks.

groundviews said,

March 28, 2008 @ 7:06 pm

Some argue that this entire website and all human rights concerns articulated by NGOs and civil society are works of fiction.

As for the point about tarnishing Sri Lanka’s image and its reputation, I believe this Government does that with far more mindless alacrity than I or anyone else in NGOs and civil society could ever muster, or care to.

Hilal said,

March 28, 2008 @ 9:52 pm

If the authors wanted to give this piece a sense of credibility they would have waited for the “brother” to recover and got more details than the above. Even sensible moderates can be dumbfounded by brilliant propaganda, after 20+ years I can safely say that the LTTE propaganda machine has been more succesful than the Nazi’s propaganda arm run by Joseph Goebbels.

Ask yourself this, what justice am I doing to Sri Lanka and it’s people & what justice am I doing to ‘Groundviews’ by publishing stories based on hear say? Good journalist must investigate the story further and present the facts to a largely sceptical audience. And not just publish a statement and expect people to consider it gospel.

Bala said,

March 28, 2008 @ 10:35 pm

Unfortunately Tamils in Sri Lanka doesn’t have that luxury, as the other citizen, to go and report the abuses with proof to authorities, that includes murder, kidnaps and rape for obvious reasons. As the saying goes “ you can wake up a sleeping person but can’t wake up a person pretend to be sleeping”, same goes to people who tries to disregard some one real life story as fiction and false. I don’t think GOSL need anyone’s help to damage their reputation because so far they have done and doing a good job, to not only destroy the reputation also the whole country. Rope on the throat is getting tighter by the day for SRI LANKA and I hope Sri Lankan will wake up and see the self destructive path the GOSL taken.

groundviews said,

March 29, 2008 @ 4:18 am

Dear Bala, just to point out that our shared opprobrium of the incumbent regime must not blind us to the fact it is not the GOSL alone that is significantly responsible for the self-destructive path you point to in your comment.

The most recent article by Publius in this forum, ETHNOS OR DEMOS? - QUESTIONING TAMIL NATIONALISM is key reading in this regard.

Best,

Sanjana

NGO said,

March 29, 2008 @ 10:40 am

So, in brief, one abducted civilian is in the hospital.

When he is awake we can find why he was abducted.

Bala said,

March 29, 2008 @ 8:52 pm

Thank you for that link. I would like to know your view on if Tamils had any grievances before the creation of LTTE.

groundviews said,

March 30, 2008 @ 7:49 am

Bala, you ask a question which Publius in the article I have pointed to (and many others here) has already answered as have I in writing freely available on Groundviews and elsewhere on the web. What do others feel about this?

Justin said,

March 31, 2008 @ 6:45 pm

The hatred of Sinhalese is against those who report the truth or even an iota of it. They are taught to do this from their birth because Tamils are “nobody” in their logic. Their mass media twists information to satisfy their taste.

Truth may be annoying but it has its effect. That is why Mahatma Gandhi said in 1948 “Remember all through history the way of truth and love has won. there have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end they always fall- think of it always”

The Sinhalese always want their version of untruth and never the absolute truth or an iota of it. This is true of the GOSL and its tyranical and murderous ways. Sinhalese seem invincible. They and their cohorts they will surrely fall.

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