Culprits in abduction cases will be brought to book soon - Minister Samarasinghe

by Shanika Sriyananda

Despite the nature of complexity of some cases of human rights violations, the culprits, including those who are suspected in disappearances and abductions would be brought under the law soon following final investigations which are now nearing completion, Minister of Human Rights and Disaster Management Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

Minister Samarasinghe told the 'Sunday Observer' that as a responsible government, it is making every effort for justice to prevail and several commissions have been appointed to look into these cases of HR violations.

"The Commission of Inquiries headed by the Inspector General of Police is looking into 16 cases and they are progressing well at the moment. The Government intends to complete some of these cases early next year. Then the one man commission on disappearances and abductions headed by Mahanama Thilakaratne has submitted their initial report and now involving in the second report. The CID has also carried out various investigations into some other HR cases", he said.

Though the Government is facing several complex challenges in concluding investigations, according to Minister Samarasinghe, the Government has recognised the urgency to safeguard the rights of the ordinary people and is committed to create a safe and peaceful environment for them to live. He said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had laid down specific guidelines for the Police and Security Forces to follow in their search operations especially in arresting and detaining people on suspicion", he said.

Two committees - the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights and the Advisory Body to the Minister of Human Rights function under Minister Samarasinghe have taken steps to ensure uniform and fair practices in the registration of households and residents by the Police.

"What the Government wants is to conclude the pending HR cases soon. I personally feel that we have taken a long time in solving these cases mainly due to some practical problems. We want to bring the culprits of these cases to book and tell the world that we are not going to tolerate HR violations in fact we are committed to prevent HR violations they are being perpetrated without Government's knowledge. While, taking immediate measures to guarantee safety of those who have been arrested during last week the Ministry has set up a help desk which functions round the clock with officials who can convey information in three languages." There were political statements and also from various interested parties on the number of persons taken into custody by the Police and the security forces. They have put forward various contradictory figures and most of them are not accurate statistics. Some are exaggerated figures. Therefore under the instructions of President Rajapaksa we have set up this help desk which received complementary opinion from four corners of the country", Minister Samarasinghe said.

According to Minister Samarasinghe, all the people who have been taken into custody have been listed at the centres. "The kith and kin who want information of anyone who is in custody can obtain them from the desk through phone, fax or email", he said adding that the Ministry will provide this service continuously to help the relatives and friends of those who have been taken into custody.

When asked whether the UN High Commission for Human Rights would be allowed to open an office here, Minister Samarasinghe reiterated that the Government did not see any necessity for such an office here but would continue to have a dialogue with the Commission. He said that the Government would strongly consider the High Commissioner Louise Arbour's suggestion to implement an appropriate independent mechanism to gather information on HR violations. "Their opinion is that then the policy-makers can use accurate information to plan a strategy to address the HR issues in the country. But the Government suggested the Commission that we are interested in having a national structure and invited the High Commissioner's office to work with us in an advisory capacity", he said.

- Pic: Kavindra Perera