Tamils in Sri Lanka yearn for answers on relatives who disappeared in civil war

Arumuga Lakshmi holds a photograph of her son, who went missing during Sri Lanka's civil war, on her lap, in Vavuniya, Northern Province, Sri Lanka, August 11, 2022. REUTERS/Joseph Campbell

KILINOCHCHI (Reuters) -Arumuga Lakshmi, tormented by questions about the fate of her two children, missing for years, marched through a town in northern Sri Lanka with a group of women, many holding up photographs, black flags and burning torches.

During a brutal 26-year civil war between the Sri Lankan government and a militant group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Lakshmi's daughter Ranjinithervy went missing in 2004, followed three years later by her son Sivakumar.