More assassinations of NGO workers in Sri Lanka

More assassinations of NGO workers in Sri Lanka’s Northeast

On 24th March 2007 humanitarian worker Muthuraja Aruleswaran was killed by a Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit Claymore mine. This occurred while Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) directors were returning after monitoring the relief assistance to displaced civilians, following the Sri Lanka Army operation in Mannar-Vavuniya border. Three TRO directors, including the Assistant Executive Director of the TRO Vadivel Ravichandran, were wounded in the attack.

The deceased, Mr. Muthuraja Aruleswaran, is a father of a 1-year-old child, TRO officials said. Aruleswaran, an Emergency Assistance worker, was driving the TRO vehicle when the attack took place.

Soon after the attack there was a large scale civilian protest by Kilinochchi residents against the targeting of NGO workers by the Sri Lankan armed forces and their proxies.

In a separate incident one week later, the offices of White Pigeon in the Mullaitivu District were bombed by the Sri Lanka Air Force MiGs. Two civilians were killed and four injured, White Pigeon said in a press release issued from the United Kingdom.

White Pigeon is an NGO that provides prosthetic limbs, rehabilitation, counselling, and vocational training for those who have been disabled by landmines or war in Sri Lanka. The White Pigeon office that was bombed is well known to the Government Agent, UN, ICRC, and international humanitarian organizations. This site houses the lab that constructs the prosthetic limbs and co-ordinates the Mine Awareness Programs in the area.

In the opinion of COTANZ (Consortium of Tamil Association in New Zealand), these attacks on NGOs is one of the clear indications that the government of Sri Lanka values the Tamils of the Northeast less that other groups within Sri Lanka.

ENDS

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