First it was a sob, then gradually a cry, then a wail, and within five seconds it was a shriek that ripped apart the Veeramylan Hall on Sri Kathiresan Street, Pettah.

S. Manivaran was among the thousands who had gone ‘missing’ in the last one and half years and his mother could not hold her anguish inside. Around her were hundreds of others, some intently looking at the stage, others looking at nowhere in particular, empty eyed, some others clutched photographs or extra large cutouts handed out by the organisers and cried.

The missing haunted the gathering organised by the Civil Monitoring Commission, part of a series of such meetings islandwide. At a time when the government is more concerned of deflecting bad press from the Amnesty International sponsored public advocacy campaign, the shrill of the mothers’ voices simply told the tale of helplessness.

The CMC had invited Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to the meeting. He pledged his party’s support to find the missing, but his pledge had come after thousands had gone missing.

"We have appealed to everyone — the police, the government, the NGOs, everyone, no one knows anything," Manivaran’s brother, Chandramohan said.

Dark ghost

The fear was palpable, it hung like a dark ghost over the dimly lit hall. One young lady distributed pictures of a holy sage in India. On the flip side of the picture was a manthra, "please keep saying it, my father will then come back," she said. "Put it in the paper, then everyone will see it," she pleaded. The girl would not give her name, through fear.

"We just want him back, we don’t want any more trouble, but we want him back," Chandramohan said.

They talk of white vans coming and taking their loved ones away. Pradeepan ‘disappeared’ just five days before the CMC meeting. A white van came and took him away, his father-in-law K Pakiyanadan said. He is 23, his wife is four months pregnant. "We want him back, why should my daughter give birth to a child like this, who is responsible?" Pakiyanadan demanded.

On the stage speaker after speaker pledged to join the fight to search for the disappeared. "If local means are not enough, we will have to enlist the support of international organisations," Wickremesinghe said. Minutes before a woman had walked up to the stage and began beating her chest.

The relatives of the missing are not too interested in the debate on the participation of international human rights monitors. After months of seeking redress where nothing has been forthcoming, they too now feel that international intervention may be inevitable.

"The international community should bring pressure, nothing gets done here without international involvement," Tambiah Sivaraja whose son Haran went missing last April in Jaffna observed.

That is not what the government thinks, it feels that the newly established Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry would do the job. But those searching for the missing are not so sure — "what has it done up to now," Sivaraja asked.

Same sentiment

For the record the commission would have to seek two new members to fill the vacancies left by the two who resigned citing personal reasons.

International watchdogs share the same sentiment. The UN Human Rights Council has been arguing for the induction of international human rights monitors for almost a year now. Others have called for witness protection.

"Amnesty International called on the President of Sri Lanka to add independent, impartial and competent international experts to the proposed Commission of Inquiry (CoI) and take other steps to ensure consultation with civil society in developing its work, access to relevant materials and persons, protection of witnesses appearing before it and that the CoI’s recommendations are carefully considered with a view to their full implementation.

"Amnesty believes that unless these requirements are met the CoI would not be able to function as an investigative body that would address violations of international law in a meaningful way, as required by international standards," Amnesty International said just four days before the CMC event.

AI’s argument as has been of others is that the mess is too large for the country to handle and too late for local remedies. They also feel that past experience in the country has not brought any satisfactory justice to the victims.

"The aim of monitoring would be to address all serious violations of human rights, including extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, and all breaches of international humanitarian law whether committed by government forces, the LTTE, the Karuna group, or any other armed group or individuals operating on their behalf. Monitoring would consist of documenting and investigating the increasing number of abuses committed by the Sri Lankan security forces, LTTE and other armed groups; publicising their findings and identifying the perpetrators so they can be brought to justice," AI said.

"Today the alarm is sounding for Sri Lanka. It is on the brink of a crisis of major proportions. The practice, however, sometimes appears to be one of an alarm followed by silence, followed by disaster. The problem, of course, is when the alarm sounds. Governments and others can opt to simply put in their ear plugs, hope for the best, and express surprise when disaster strikes," Philip Alston, UN Secretary General’s Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions warned last October.

For the time being, the government says that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry with its international advisory panel is more than enough. It is more bent on knocking out AI from its current campaign.

For the disappeared the future looks gloomy, "I want my son back," Manivaran’s mother cried holding on to his picture, his brother tried but could not hold back the streaming tears, around them hundreds of others cried. But no one was listening, the tears of the disappeared were left to dry on their own cheeks.

As the traditional New Year approaches an uneasy calm has descended. Since the April 7 claymore attack on a bus at Pariayalankulam on the Mannar-Vavuniya Road, the north east has remained relatively clam, if the intermittent shell fire exchanged along the forward defence lines in the north and east are discounted. By mid week fighting north of Vavuniya had claimed the lives of more than 30 combatants.

In the east where fighting and attacks left more than 30 civilians killed in the last fortnight, hardly any similar attacks were reported after the devastating Ampara bus bomb. The government and the Tigers appear to have again returned to the cat and mouse game of long range fire. A 12 hour artillery duel was fought by the two sides on April 10 near Chenkalady.

Both sides exchanged heavy fire near the Black Bridge crossover point. The Tigers said that they had again prevented troops from breaking out of their defences and advance along the A5. On an earlier occasion also, on March 21 the Tigers attacked five camps in the area to prevent government forces from moving out.

Government troops have gained large stretches of land from Rukam to Pillumalai, on the south western side of the highway, that were formerly under the Tigers. "We are consolidating our positions," Military Spokesperson Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.

If troops succeed in breaking through from the Black Bride side, the Tigers would face severe logistical difficulties.

By April 11 the military said that the full length of the highway had fallen under its command. The Tigers did not elaborate but said that some parts had fallen.

"The military is in control of some parts," Tiger military spokesperson Rasiah Ilanthirayan said.

Most of the activity was near the FDL, especially at Omanthai north of Vavuniya and Muhamalai, south of Jaffna. Shell fire and artillery fire had been reported near the FDL in the last few weeks continuously.

On April, 10 the Omanthai crossover point was closed once again due to fighting. The military said that it was due to Tiger shell fire that left one soldier dead and three injured.

However the Tigers said that heavy confrontations had erupted at Palamuttai west of Omanthai on April 10 evening. "There is heavy fighting," Ilanthirayan said.

"They have been firing at troops and we have been compelled to fire back," Brig. Samarasinghe said.

The area saw heavy fighting two weeks back as well and according to truce monitors, the casualty figures were as high as 60.

The crossover point has been closed on several occasions in the past few weeks due to the exchanges. March 23 was one such occasion . The Tigers said that the military had forayed into their areas west of Omanthai and had in fact held villagers as human shields. The military reacted saying that the Tigers have been firing at the armed forces from the village. The monitors said that a large number of troops had been involved.

"There were two SLA led offensives into LTTE controlled areas in Wanni 25 kilometres west of Vavuniya. The first reportedly involved some 200 soldiers, the second comprised of more than 1000 soldiers according to the LTTE. The last confrontation lasted more than 12 hours and it is believed that more than 60 combatants died in the battle. The intention (according to the Defence Ministry) was to gain control over the Madhu area. However ground positions seem to have remained more or less the same," the monitors said.

It is in the same area that fighting was reported last week as well. The military said that an operation was launched to clear the Madhu area of the Tigers who had been harassing IDPs.

Artillery and shell fire were also reported at Muhamalai as well. "There were large confrontations in and around the Forward Defence Lines (FDL) in Jaffna including the Jaffna lagoon area. The situation however returned to the normal disturbance fire," the SLMM said of the last week of March.

It said that shell fire had abated in the ensuing days. The same pattern had been noticed in Batticaloa as well, where shelling from the government side fell after troops were able to bring areas under Tiger control under their command.

"In the beginning of this week the tension in Batticaloa was very high. Heavy and almost non stop shelling was reported from various STF camps in the district. Due to this, schools were closed and the general public was afraid. On March 28 the shelling abated from GOSL side after SLA declared they had taken control of the town of Kokkadicholai and surrounding areas," the monitors said.

The Media Center for National Security agreed with the assessment and said that troops had cleared the areas immediately west of Batticaloa after the diplomats came under shell fire on February 28.

Nevertheless both Omanthai and Muhamalai appear to be peppered with shell fire from both sides. On April 9, the military said that the Tigers had increased fire at Omanthai.

The SLMM reports also indicated that the air force had increased air raids since the attack on the Katunayake Air Base on March 26. Two days later the air force had carried out a night raid in Kilinochchi.

"A total of 10 aerial attacks took place in Wanni during last week. There are no reports of any civilian casualties. Targets have been LTTE military installations and predominantly the Iranamadu Air Strip. On March 28 at around 21.00 hrs the SLAF dropped bombs north east of Kilinochchi, showing for the first time their night time attack capabilities. The LTTE on the other hand reported that none of the bombs hit the target which was the above mentioned air strip," said the SLMM Situation Report on the week that followed the attack.

It also reported that there was one attack carried out by a deep penetration team of the military that killed two Tiger cadres. The attack had taken place on the A9 and just south of Kilinochchi town.