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It is evident that many of the [disappearance] cases reported below
were clearly and intentionally manipulated, with the ulterior motive of
gaining some personal advantage. This was in some instances to gain
entry to a foreign land. In other instances, it was to avoid a Customs
penalty or a consequence of not adhering to a Court order. Other cases
reveal the negligence on the part of those who were allegedly
abducted, of not informing their parents or guardians about their fate
or whereabouts. Some others also show that underworld criminal
gangs have been conveniently mistaken to be armed groups
consisting of SL Army and Police personnel. 113
Three days later, on March 11, the president’s office shifted the blame for abductions
and “disappearances” back on the police. “President Rajapaksa expected
responsible intervention by the police to stem a wave of killings, abductions and
extortion rackets, some of which have been linked to police and troops,” the
president’s office said in a statement. “The President expects a more responsible
intervention from the police to prevent the current wave of crime, the violence,
extortion, human rights violations.” 114 (For the president’s April 2007 recirculation of
presidential directives on the arrest and detention of individuals, partly a response
to “disappearances” as well as to spiraling detentions, see Chapter VII, “Emergency
Regulations.”)
On June 18 Human Rights Watch asked the government how many people the police
had arrested over the previous year on charges of kidnapping or other involvement in
abductions or enforced disappearances, and the current status of those cases. The
government replied that this information was being tabulated by the police. 115 Again,
the government should be able to provide at least some information on this issue.
Local and international organizations have repeatedly criticized the ineffectiveness
of Sri Lanka’s existing national mechanisms and the government’s failure to address
113 SCOPP, “Baseless Allegations of Abductions and Disappearances.”
114 “Sri Lanka President blasts police dept for handling of abductions and killings,” ColomboPage, March 11, 2007,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_07/March11175225JV.html (accessed May 15, 2007).
115 Sri Lankan government response to Human Rights Watch, July 12, 2007.
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