Interviews of the abducted Premkumar Gunarathnam's mother and his sister

( April 08, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Earlier, we reported about the abduction of Premakumar Gunarathnam and Dimuthu Attigala. Both remain missing up to now. We reproduce below the pleas of the mother of Premakumar Gunarathnam and his sister, in Sinhala, Tamil and English.

V. R. Gunaratnam, mother of Premakumar, the leader of the JVP rebel faction missing since last Friday, yesterday said that if the government felt that her son had done something wrong he should have been produced in a court of law.

Addressing the media at the group’s head office at Madiwela, Mrs. Gunaratnam said that her eldest son, Ranjitham, too, was abducted in 1989 during the JVP second uprising. Although the family believed Ranjitham would be released he never came back, she said, adding her remaining son, Premakumar, too, had now been taken away.

She appealed to those holding Premakumar to give her an opportunity to see him.

The missing JVPer’s sister, Niranjani alleged that the government was responsible for the abduction. Premkumar’s biggest crime was his love for the motherland, she said, alleging that those opposed to his political vision could be behind the abduction.

"My elder brother was tortured in 1989 in our presence. We are scared Premkumar, too, would face the same experience at the hands of the abductors. His two children want to know where their father is. We don’t know what to say."

JVP dissident spokesman Chameera Koswatte said that the government had been pursuing Gunaratnam for over six months. Koswatte alleged that the government was making an attempt to disrupt their first convention scheduled to be held today at the Sugathadara Indoor Stadium. Whatever the obstacles, the progressive youth would continue their struggle and wouldn’t be intimidated by the UPFA’s actions, he said.

The mother of Premakumar Gunarathnam- Speak in Sinhala

The mother of Premakumar Gunarathnam- Speak in English

The mother of Premakumar Gunarathnam- Speak in Sinhala