Wednesday, 11th June 2014
By Sandun A. Jayasekera
While UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Navi Pillai was busy nominating a panel to probe Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes during the final phase of the Humanitarian Operation in May 2009, the Commission appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to inquire into missing persons had already completed a bulk of its work, the Daily Mirror learns.
"The ‘Presidential Commission to Investigate Complaints Regarding Missing Persons’ had received 18,590 complaints on missing persons from their next of kin, inclusive of approximately 5,000 from relatives of missing security forces personnel up to last Monday," a Commission spokesman said yesterday (10).
The Commission had thus far inquired i nto 462 complaints, which were being slated for further investigations by an independent investigation team, the spokesman said.
The Commission had concluded its fourth round of public sittings in Batticaloa on Monday (9) with 195 people making submissions and 216 new complaints registered during the four-day period, the spokesman added. The Commission also recorded evidence in relation to the Kurukkalmadam massacre where the LTTE allegedly killed 163 Muslims in the 1990s. The sittings were held at the Kattankudy Divisional Secretariat on June 6-7 and at t he Manmunaipattu Divisional Secretariat on June 8-9, he said. The Commission had previously conducted public sittings in January, February and March this year in Killinochchi, Jaffna and Batticaloa respectively.
The Commission appointed by the President on Aug. 14, 2013, was initially mandated to inquire into and report on alleged abductions or disappearances during the period of 1990 to May 19, 2009. In March this year, the years of reference of the Commission was amended to cover the period from 1983 to 2009, upon the request of the Commission.
The work of the Missing Persons Commission addresses recommendation 9.51 of the LLRC which recommends the appointment of a Special Commissioner t o investigate alleged disappearances and provide material to the Attorney General to initiate criminal proceedings as appropriate and to provide the Office of the Commissioner with experienced investigators to collect and process information.The Commission will hold its next round of sittings in Mullaitivu shortly.
The three-member-committee comprising former High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama (Chairman) D.B. Priyanthi, S u r a n j a n a Vi d y a r a t n e and Mano Ramanathan was tasked with inquiring into the alleged disappearances, killings and other war crimes purported to have been committed during the last stages of the war in the North or immediately before and after the humanitarian operation.
From : http://epaper.dailymirror.lk/epaper/viewer.aspx
