COLOMBO, Jan 22: A three-member panel appointed to probe disappearances during Sri Lanka’s three-decade-long civil war will hear more cases in Tamil-dominated northern areas.
The panel had received some 13,000 complaints of disappearances when it began their Kilinochchi hearings.
Commission’s H W Gunadasa said that the panel would now sit in Mullaithivu, the former LTTE military headquarters.
Gunadasa said some 440 people appeared before the Commission during the four days of sittings which concluded yesterday in the district of Kilinochchi.
“Having investigated the complaints we have handed over to the Attorney General’s Department some 162 cases for further action,” Gunadasa said.
The deadline to receive complaints ended on December 31. Gunadasa, however, said the panel was open to entertaining complaints of disappearances beyond its deadline.
This includes complaints from parents and relatives of those who had disappeared from the former conflict zones of north and east and from the families of the Government troops.
The Commission was appointed in August last year to gather details of disappearances between 1990 and 2009.
A panel to probe disappearances was a key recommendation in the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)
A Government census in the former northern battle zones last year said that over 8,000 people were killed while another 6,350 had gone missing during the conflict. (AGENCIES)
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