Saturday, 24th May 2014
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons has received a complaint pertaining to a mass grave alongside the Batticaloa-Kalmunai road recently.
Having examined available information, the commission has decided to visit the site early next month to begin investigations. The commission’s chairman, Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama yesterday told The Island that he had received information regarding the mass grave from a delegation of Muslims during a recent visit to Batticaloa. The delegation alleged that the perpetrators were members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The retired High Court Judge Paranagama said the commission had received an assurance from Muslims that they could point out the place, where bodies of 167 persons slaughtered on July 12, 1990 were buried.
Maxwell Parakrama
The Presidential Commission consists of Commissioners Priyanthi Suranjana Vidyaratne and Mano Ramanathan. The latter was also a member of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) that was chaired by late Attorney General C.R. De Silva.
The Muslims have alleged that the massacre was one of the worst carried out at the onset of the eelam war II during Ranasinghe Premadasa’s tenure as the President. The eelam war II erupted on the night of June 10, 1990 with coordinated attacks on police and army positions in the Ampara and Batticaloa regions.
Responding to a query, Paranagama said the site would have to be exhumed depending on the evidence. The commission intended to visit the site on June 6.
Asked whether the commission had categorised bodies of those who had been buried alongside the Batticaloa-Kalmunai road together with the missing during the conflict, Paranagama said that it would be a painstaking task to establish the circumstances under which disappearances took place during different periods. "Although my commission was meant to investigate disappearances from June 10, 1990 to May 19, 2009, there were complaints pertaining to incidents during 1980s. In fact, there were complaints regarding atrocities allegedly committed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force."
Paranagama said that Tamil speaking people had expressed their confidence in the commission; though the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) led five-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) wasn’t supportive of its efforts. According to him, thousands of families wouldn’t have complained to the commission if they didn’t have faith in it. The official regretted that the TNA in spite of demanding to know the whereabouts of the missing weren’t helpful.
Responding to another query, Paranagama said that they were in a dilemma over the refusal on the part of some countries, including the US and UK to share information pertaining to Sri Lankans securing foreign citizenship, in some instances under new identities. The commission’s efforts to locate those who had left the country illegally during as well as after the war were badly hampered by Western countries’ refusal, he said. The appeal made through the External Affairs Ministry failed to produce the desired results, he said.
The recent arrest in South India of a person, identified as Kathiravel Thayapararajah missing since September 2009 highlighted the need for a thorough examination of those given asylum status overseas, Paranagama said. He recalled the circumstances under which a woman who complained to the commission about disappearance of his husband later came to know he was living in South India.
Asked whether he would appeal to the international community to review its stand, Paranagama said that those demanding Sri Lanka to address accountability issues should help the country to establish the truth. If they were genuinely concerned, they would help Sri Lanka verify missing persons list/lists, he said.
The commission has received 13,000 complaints from Tamil speaking people and 5,000 complaints from families of armed forces.
From : http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=103808
