Remembering The Abduction Of TRO Staff On 29 & 30 January, 2006
January 29 and 30 (Wednesday and Thursday) mark eight years since the abduction and execution of seven humanitarian staff of the Tamil’s Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO). The abductions occurred in two separate incidents.
The seven TRO staff were travelling from Batticaloa to the TRO Headquarters in Kilinochchi for training on 29 and 30 January, 2006 when they were forced to stopped, in full view of a Sri Lanka Army checkpoint at Welikande on the Batticaloa – Polonnaruwa border, by a ‘white van’ without license plates. The TRO van travelling on the 29th contained five persons and the van on the 30th had 15. The other 13 staff members were released. The seven have never been heard from again and media reports state that they were raped, tortured, and executed. They were:
Abducted on 29 January 2006:
Mr. KASINATHAR GANESHALINGAM (53 years old)
Mr. THANGARASA KATHIRKAMAR (43 years old)
Abducted on 29 January 2006:
Ms THANUSHKODI PREMINI (25 years old)
Mr. ARULTHAVARASA SATHEESKARAN (23 years old)
Mr. SHANMUGANATHAN SUJENDRAN (24 years old)
Mr. THAMIRAJA VASANTHARAJAN (24 years old)
Mr. KAILASAPILLAI RAVINTHIRAN (26 years old)
Thangarasa’s Family at the TRO Kilinochchi Office after hearing the news of his abduction
All of the TRO staff were humanitarian workers: Mr. Ganeshalingam was a member of the TRO Board of Directors, Coordinator of Pre School Education Development Centre (PSEDC) and was married with two young children; Ms. Premini was the Chief Accountant of the TRO Batticaloa Office and a student at Eastern University; Mr. Thangarasa, the driver of the van on the 29th, was the father of 5; the other four young men were accountants or trainee accountants at TRO Children’s Homes (orphanages) who were going to Kilinochchi for in-service training. (For extended profiles and photographs of the TRO staff please click here )
