‘Jim Brown Memorial School’ for children opened in the islets of Jaffna

The parents of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown who had disappeared without trace in August 2006 after being taken away by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) paramilitary men in Allaippiddi in the islets of Jaffna, recently opened the ‘Jim Brown Memorial School’ built in the premises of St. Peter’s Church in Ma’ndaitheevu, sources in Jaffna said. The school was built by the HUDEC – Caritas Jaffna in remembrance of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, the parish priest of Ma’ndaitheevu St. Peters Church, who had strived to save the remaining residents of Allaippiddi massacred by Sri Lanka Armed forces in August 2006.

Hundreds of children and people of Ma’ndaitheevu participated in the opening ceremony along with the Catholic clergy of the islets of Jaffna.

The event began with the garlanding of the photograph of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown and the organizers of the event said that the shcool aims to develop educational standards of the children of the area.

Rev. Fr. Jim Brown who was taken away by SLN soldiers and EPDP paramilitary men operating with SLN on his way to Allaippiddi in August 2006 has disappeared since then and so far his fate remains unknown.

Amnesty International in May 2006 had slammed the Government of Sri Lanka as having a record of "disturbing pattern of incomplete or ineffective investigations" of the extrajudicial killings and said it has received credible reports that Sri Lanka Navy personnel and armed cadres affiliated with Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), were present at the massacre site on Kayts islet.

Thirteen civilians were massacred in three spots on the Kayts islet controlled by the Sri Lanka Navy. The EPDP, a paramilitary and a political party in the ruling UPFA alliance of the SL President Mahinda Rajapakse, had exercised tight control of the Jaffna islets before the Ceasefire Agreement.