“The exact number of missing persons cannot be stated. Each one counts one by one. We acknowledge that large numbers of people disappeared during the war. We can’t give them back their lives. That is why we are trying to find a solution, ” Justice Minister Ali Sabri told Weerakesariya.
According to the Minister, 4,000 members of the government security forces went missing during the war. He also says that there are documents to prove it. He does not rule out the possibility of the disappearance of a large number of LTTE cadres but denies reports that the government forces have committed crimes against civilians and acknowledges that the death of the LTTE leader is a matter of grief and sorrow to his family.
Since 2009, Tamil relatives have insisted that if anyone was involved with the LTTE, they were handed over to the army at the end of the war. They also say that many of them would have disappeared if they had been handed over to the army at the behest of the government. According to the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP), that number is around 20,000.
Relatives of the disappeared, who have demanded that they reveal what happened to their loved ones who were forcibly taken away by government forces and handed over to government forces, are adamantly refusing to accept the government’s proposed compensation and death certificates and abandon the protests. Here ‘We are not asking about the dead. We want to know what happened to those who believed their word and surrendered in the last days of the war, ”Leela Devi Anandarajah, leader of the Association of Relatives of the Disappeared, told the BBC in response to the Justice Minister.
Meanwhile, TNA MP Selvaraja Gajendran says that if those in the custody of the army are killed, those responsible for their deaths should be exposed and punished according to international law. Despite this situation, the Minister of Justice who had gone to the North had gone to Colombo without meeting the relatives of the victims of the enforced disappearance who had come to meet him and raise the issue.
Yogarasa Kanagaranjani, the Kilinochchi District Leader of the Association of Relatives of the Disappeared, said at a media briefing over the weekend that a massive demonstration would be held on February 20 to mark the fifth anniversary of the ongoing struggle of the relatives of the disappeared. There she says .. ‘For five years we demanded justice from the Sri Lankan government for our children. We look forward to hearing from the international community as to why this is not the case. ”
A special discussion on Sri Lanka’s human rights record will be held at the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva from February 28 to April 1. It is also expected to reveal information gathered by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on war crimes.