Commission investigating missing persons: Deadline extended

The Presidential Commission investigating cases of persons who had gone missing during the period of terrorism has extended its deadline to accept complaints of disappearances in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

The three-member Presidential Commission on Enforced Disappearances and Missing Persons appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa initially had November 30 as the deadline to accept complaints. However, due to requests by many institutions and public representatives, the Commission has decided to accept complaints up to December 31.

The Commission will receive complaints of disappearances reported from June 10, 1990 to May 19, 2009 from the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

By the end of November, the Commission had reportedly received over 5,000 complaints of disappearances from the two provinces.

The Commission has reportedly received over 10,000 complaints of which 4,307 are from the families of Security Forces personnel.After the deadline, the Commission will hand over the complaints to the Attorney-General's Department for further action. Then, Commission members and officials from the Attorney-General's Department will visit the areas of the particular complainants and conduct investigations.

Establishment of a commission to investigate disappearances is one of the recommendations by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

The three-member Commission is headed by Attorney Maxwell Paranagama and and comprise former Director General of Census and Statistics, Priyanthi Suranjana Vidyaratne and former Deputy Legal Draftsman and former member of the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka, Manohari Ramanathan.

Both Paranagama and Ramanathan were members of the LLRC.