Tamil women gathered outside the Jaffna district secretariat in protest where ministers Harshana Nanayakkara and Ramalingam Chandrasekar led an event to mark international day of victims of enforced disappearances on 25 August.
Police harassed those who tried to enter the secretariat premises, correspondents reported.
Secretary of the association of relatives of missing persons in the north-east Sivanandan Jenita accused head of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Mahesh Katulanda of deceiving them by declining information about 31 missing persons, he claims, are still living.
Even at a workshop two weeks ago, they were told 27 missing persons have been found, without identifying them, she said.
Concealing identities of 31 “living” missing persons condemned
After having inquired into an estimated 22,000 missing persons in an eight-year duration, Katulanda said to the media that 31 of them have been found to be living, of whom three have died recently due to natural causes.
No to compensation, justice demanded
Jenita questioned as to what sort of justice they could expect from the OMP, and asked if it can adequately compensate for a missing son.
Govt.’s claim of ensuring privacy of “found” missing persons
On the sideline of the event, a camp to provide medical and other mobile services was organized for the families of the missing persons, and the OMP claimed nearly 352 families sought services with 217 attending the medical camp and spectacles provided for the needy.
Minister Chandrasekar said on the occasion the identities of the 31 persons found have been revealed to their families only, in order to ensure their privacy.
With 1,594 cases referred for further investigation, certificates of absence and death have been issued for 2,719 and 409 cases respectively by 31 July to resolve legal and administrative issues of their families, he said.
Further, the OMP has been recommended to pay compensation to 5,427 persons, said the minister.
An attempt to deceive the world
On 24 August, the association of the district’s families of missing persons spoke to the media at the Mannar Media Club and objected to the OMP’s plan to hold the commemorative event in Jaffna on the following day.
A participant alleged the aim of the programme would be to show to the world the matter of missing persons could be resolved through a domestic mechanism without outside involvement.
We want out children back, not compensation, or else admit before the world that they had been abducted and murdered, she said.