Sri Lankans Remember Their Missing Family 10 Years After The Civil War

MULLAITIVU, SRI LANKA - MAY 13: Patmanathan Kokilavani holds a photo of her two children at a protest site for loved ones of the disappeared on May 13, 2019 in Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka. Patmanathan Kokilavani is missing her two children, Patmanthan Piratheepan and Patmanathan Tharsika. They were separated in a chaos of a bombing May 17 2009. She was detained in a refugee camp after the attack and was released September 2009, and then checked everywhere for them. She got confirmation that they were at one military camp but was denied access to see them. In 2016 a person from the military came to her home and told her that they were going to be released, but it didn't happen. "Just show me my son and daughter once. You can keep them but just let me see them once and give me some peace. I'm spending all my money to find them, I can't sleep, I'm crying every day. I have no strength left. Keep them but please just show me their faces once time." Sri Lanka commemorated 10 years since the end of a 26-year-long civil war on Saturday which killed at least 100,000 people while many thousands remain missing since the late 1980s, including government troops, children and civilians. Based on Amnesty International, the island has one of the world’s highest number of disappearances as thousands of war widows continue their struggle to find out the fate of their loved ones after Sri Lankan government declared an end to the armed conflict on May 18, 2009. Sri Lanka has since continued its struggle for peace as the country is still reeling from the Islamic State-connected bombings on Easter Sunday as well as recent ethnic tensions across the country. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
MULLAITIVU, SRI LANKA - MAY 13: Patmanathan Kokilavani holds a photo of her two children at a protest site for loved ones of the disappeared on May 13, 2019 in Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka. Patmanathan Kokilavani is missing her two children, Patmanthan Piratheepan and Patmanathan Tharsika. They were separated in a chaos of a bombing May 17 2009. She was detained in a refugee camp after the attack and was released September 2009, and then checked everywhere for them. She got confirmation that they were at one military camp but was denied access to see them. In 2016 a person from the military came to her home and told her that they were going to be released, but it didn't happen. "Just show me my son and daughter once. You can keep them but just let me see them once and give me some peace. I'm spending all my money to find them, I can't sleep, I'm crying every day. I have no strength left. Keep them but please just show me their faces once time." Sri Lanka commemorated 10 years since the end of a 26-year-long civil war on Saturday which killed at least 100,000 people while many thousands remain missing since the late 1980s, including government troops, children and civilians. Based on Amnesty International, the island has one of the world’s highest number of disappearances as thousands of war widows continue their struggle to find out the fate of their loved ones after Sri Lankan government declared an end to the armed conflict on May 18, 2009. Sri Lanka has since continued its struggle for peace as the country is still reeling from the Islamic State-connected bombings on Easter Sunday as well as recent ethnic tensions across the country. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
Sri Lankans Remember Their Missing Family 10 Years After The Civil War
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Allison Joyce / Stringer
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Getty Images News
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May 13, 2019
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