Why do some abductions raise concern while others don’t?

For quite some time now, it has been known that disappearances and abductions - mostly of Tamil people - have been taking place in and around Colombo at a terrifying rate. The MTV News often gave publicity to this fact, but the print media, on the whole, didn't seem to pay too much attention to the deplorable situation and it appeared as if the Govt. was quite indifferent to it.

When, however, three Sinhalese citizens described as "a journalist, a trade union activist and a graphic designer", were reported to have been abducted, that apathy vanished. I was astounded to read in The Sunday Times of 11/2/07, in a report by Asif Fuard to the effect that "around midnight that day, President Mahinda Rajapaksa was woken up to be told by a Minister that the trio had gone missing, causing serious anxiety to family and friends. The President immediately rang Police Chief Victor Perera and ordered an investigation. The latter in turn was waking up other sernior police officers in search of the missing trio. The next day there were protests over what was reported as the latest abduction”.

Fine! But surely ALL citizens of this country are of equal worth and don't the families of ALL the disappeared experience anguish and anxiety?
Aren't we all equally under the protection of the law?

Shouldn't the authorities be equally concerned about every single abduction or disappearance?

By Anne Abayasekara, Colombo 6.