Matara (AsiaNews) – Women, children and parents are waiting for news about their husbands, fathers and sons who disappeared between the end of 1998 and the start of 1999. Hundreds of fishermen who were once active along the coast that runs from Trincomalee and Mullathivu, for years a war zone between Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan military, used to take to the sea until one day, they never came home. As a result of their disappearance their families were left in poverty, deprived of the only economic support they had, provided by the sea.

Now that the war is over wives and children want the government to look for their husbands and fathers in the refugee camps. When they went missing many thought they were captured by Tamil Tiger boats.

The families of the missing fishermen wrote to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 20 May, the day when the rebels’ defeat was officially announced. On Thursday june 25 they organised a press conference (pictured) to assert their rights.

They want the government to interrogate Karuna Amman, who once headed the LTTE naval force, to find out more about their men folk.

They also want the authorities to allow them to visit refugee camps to look for missing fishermen, or get a death certificate in case they are dead. This would enable them to apply for economic aid which is provided for those in need.

In order to achieve their goal they have banded together and set up the Organization of Disappeared Fishermen's Parents, Wives and Children, an association which includes 74 families who live in southern part of Trincomalee District and 73 who are in the north-eastern part.

L.H. Dayawathi, 60, told AsiaNews that her son-in-law disappeared on 15 January 1998 after he went to sea in front of Mullathivu.

“Since then I have worked hard with my daughter to support her and her four children,” she said. “We made food packages and clothes but now we are tired, old and sick. We want the government to take care of us as it does for soldiers, refugees and other victims of the war.”

Ten years after the fishermen disappeared, the situation of the poverty-stricken families is in fact going from bad to worse, for young and old alike.

J.H. Nimesha Madhumanthi is a young girl who has not yet completed his studies.

“I lost my father on 16 February 1999. He went out to fish off Trincomalee. My mother left us and my grandparents took care of me for all these years. Now they are old and cannot make it and I have a hard time keeping up with my studies.”

A.L. Ananda, a member of the Southern National Fisheries Solidarity (SFNAFSO), said that something should be done for these innocent people.

“They are also part of this society,” he explained. “They, too, have the same rights as others and should get assistance like other families who lost dear ones.”