By Elmo Fernando BBC Sinhala Service, Colombo

Disabled people say they are continuously suffering as a result of war and there will be more disabled if the war continues

Nine organisations representing disabled people have gathered at the National Youth Services Council in Maharagama on Monday.

V Subramanium, Vavuniya district chairman of the Organisation for Rehabilitating Disabled (OSD) said the disabled people are continuously suffering as a result of war.

There will be more disabled people in Sri Lanka if the war is to continue V Subramanium

"There will be more disabled people in Sri Lanka if the war is to continue," he said.

SL Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of National Council for Blind, was awarded with a special prize for his services to the disabled.

"The award is a part of a wider programme that gets disabled involved in a peace initiative," he told BBC Sandeshaya.

Devadasa Edin Figuraso, who lives in Mannar, is suffering from polio since he was three years.

	Disabled contributing their feelings towards peace

He is married a to a Sinhala woman, Sagarika, who hails from Negombo.

"I did not see my child until the baby was nine months. For a disabled person, it is very difficult to travel that far changing few busses and passing security check points," he said.

He said that he is subjected to special checks on his way to Negombo from Mannar because he is a Tamil.

Disabled 'by IPKF'

"I can't walk. Even if I go there, the police are suspicious and make me travel around," Devadasa said.

"That is why we cry for peace".

Kanapathipillai Thurairaja, 44, says he was made disabled by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF).

The IPKF was sent to Sri Lanka after the Indo-Lanka accord in 1987.

"The IPKF soldiers came and asked for a goat from my herd. When I refused to give the goat, they took me to the camp and attached a grenade to my hand and exploded it," Thurairaja who had lost his hand and was disfigured as a result of the attack told BBCSinhala.com.