Sri Lankan court orders war-missing kin held

Colombo: A Sri Lankan court today ordered the detention and questioning of a woman who has been searching for a 15-year-old son who is among the country`s war missing, a rights activist said. Her 13-year-old daughter was referred to child care officials.

Human rights activists say the arrest of Balendran Jeyakumari and her daughter Vithushaini yesterday is part of the government`s continuing efforts to intimidate families of the country`s civil war-missing into silence. Jeyakumari was ordered to be detained for 16 days under the country`s tough anti-terrorism law and her daughter was kept in the care of probation officials, according to a rights activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing military reprisals. The two were arrested in the northern Kilinochchi district yesterday night after hundreds of military and police held them house-bound for hours. Jeyakumari had been vocal in calling for the release of her 15-year-old son, a child recruit of the Tamil Tiger rebels whom she had handed to the military as fighting ended in 2009. Both the mother and daughter have been in the forefront of protests demanding details of war missing and were prominently featured in media photographs and videos including when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the country last year.