By R. Sampanthan –
R. Sampanthan
It is reiterated that the building of confidence in the families of the “Missing persons” is fundamental to the success of this whole process, and genuine reconciliation.
Release of relevant information which only the Government possesses and has the Capacity to officially release, should be a first step in the commencement of the process relating to the implementation of the law on the office of Mission persons.
Adjournment motion moved in Parliament yesterday by R. Sampanthan on the issue of missing persons:
24th July 2017
Adjournment Motion –I.T.A.K/T.N.A
Hon Speaker
Parliament of Sri Lanka
I give notice that I shall on the adjournment of Parliament on 25th July ,2017 move the following motion relating to a matter of urgent public importance.
Whereas the issue of “missing persons” particularly in the Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka has been a serious issue for some time.
And whereas families of missing persons have in the past several months been carrying on peaceful demonstrations in all Districts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces to highlight this issue, and to impress upon the Government the urgent need to bring this issue of “Missing persons” to a satisfactory closure.
And whereas these families of missing persons have been interacting with Government and have been assured that the following steps would be taken:-
1. the names of all persons who were in Custody at that time the present Government assumed office and the places in which they were held in custody, would be made public and
2. the names of persons now held in custody and the places in which they are now held in custody would be made public.
3. that representatives of families of missing persons would be enabled to visit ‘secret’ detention Camps, in which some persons have allegedly been held in custody, and which these families have become aware of ;
4. that the Office of Missing persons would be operationalized in terms of the law enacted in August last year, and that through this process, the families of these missing persons, would have the opportunity through various steps, that could be taken when the law becomes functional to bring this painful issue faced by the families, to some acceptable closure. This would bring to an end the trauma of uncertainty, and lack of any reliable information whatever, which the families currently face.
And whereas (iv) above has been initially fulfilled, and by the required notification, the Law relating to the office on missing persons enacted on 23rd August 2016,has been made operational .And whereas the Commitments made at (i) (ii) and (iii) above have not yet been fulfilled. And whereas the fulfilment of the Commitments at (i) (ii) and (iii) above are fundamental to the families of the missing persons, acquiring confidence in the whole process, which is critical to the success of the whole process, and genuine reconciliation.
It is reiterated that the building of confidence in the families of the “Missing persons” is fundamental to the success of this whole process, and genuine reconciliation.
Release of relevant information which only the Government possesses and has the Capacity to officially release, should be a first step in the commencement of the process relating to the implementation of the law on the office of Mission persons.
This Motion urges the Government as a matter of urgency to fulfill the Government’s commitments stipulated at (i), (ii) and (iii) above, and without delay commence the process at (iv) above.
*R. Sampanthan MP, Leader of the Opposition
K A Sumanasekera / July 26, 2017
Fair enough….. .Why doesn’t the Yahapalalana PM orders his Ministers to give Sambnadan the list of all the detainees , who were in custody on 15 Jan 2017…… And let them free ……………… I am sure they are not going to do any more harm , even if they have done any harm before………Look what non missing Selvarasa did to a Sinhala Buddhist Cop ………. And what Swiss Kumar and his mates did to a poor Tamil Girl………On the latter, Hon Yahapalana Minister of State , Mrs Wijekala Maheswaran apparently tried her best to get Swiss Kumar off………..This was disclosed to the Kyts courts, by the lawyers of Dr Ranil’s Yahapalana
DIGP……….How cool…….Is this Swiss Kumar such big wig to have such heavy duty connections ? Who is Wijekala a ?… Is she one of Sambanda’s TNA Members?………
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Arun / July 30, 2017
Opposition leader for Tamil community only……..(Voice of LTTE).
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Jim Softy / July 26, 2017
Why should sampanthan should receive information on missing persons as no Tamils are missing so far. Tamils who had been abducted and killed my the triforces is to protect the country and Buddhism. Therefore we don’t have a case to answer to Sampathan.
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Burning Issue / July 26, 2017
Brillant Jim; you are a genius!
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Jim Softy / July 27, 2017
You are the smartest person in this forum after me.
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Katul Eshap / July 26, 2017
No need to do this. USA kept thousands of young people arrested for just being in the vicinity of battles in the failed Christian Invasion of the predominantly white army in Iraq. Do as we do. Have secret sites for rendition. Pay poor nations like Romania or Palau to have secret torture centers like we do. Or sometimes our allies help us like Poland does to keep bad very bad evil people and we do tricks on them. Thousands of Iraqis were held without any rights. That is how to fight terrorism.
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Champa / July 26, 2017
Shall we start from the beginning, not from the end, Mr. Opposition Leader?
The Government should FIRST make a formal request to all countries to provide details of all Sri Lankan Tamils living overseas for the last 35 years who received citizenship, permanent residence and refugee status, especially those who claimed that their passports and birth certificates were missing.
99 percent of “missing persons” are living abroad with defferent identities, including exiled LTTE cadre. The government has a right to make this request and more than the government, Sinhalese have a right to seek the government to make this information available.
When finding missing persons, both Tamils and Sinhalese should be treated equally. The complainant and the accused both have similar rights for justice, fairness and equality. Therefore, the government should respect the rights of armed forces and their families too.
All Sinhalse and especially family members of tri forces who are now subject to punishment purely based on statements made by Tamils, have a legitimate right to seek this information from the government.
Sinhalese don’t have a habit of fighting for their rights and now we are going to pay for it. Let’s rectify the error and fight for our legal rights too.
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Champa / July 27, 2017
Quote: “3. that representatives of families of missing persons would be enabled to visit ‘secret’ detention Camps, in which some persons have allegedly been held in custody, and which these families have become aware of ; “ Unquote:
This is absurd even in its written format. If “the families have become aware of the camps”, then they can’t be “secret” detention camps. This notion was implanted by LTTE diaspora to “excite” international community.
On other hand, there were missing soldiers, too. Many families of soldiers whose loved ones were regarded as dead did not actually saw their dead bodies. Given the noble services rendered by our troops in eradicating terrorism, these names should top the Missing Persons list. This is really necessary as the Opposition Leader, in his own words, only interested in “missing persons particularly in the Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka”.
Sampanthan says “building confidence in the families of missing persons will strengthen (reiterate) genuine reconciliation.” Reconciliation, my foot! The OMP will no doubt create fresh animosity between Sinhalese and Tamils as Tamil politicians seek preferental treatment for Tamils to punish our tri forces personnel based on assumptions, hearsay and downright lies.
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John / July 27, 2017
Hide-and-seek is a very popular game among Eelamist Tamils.
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Since 1948, all Eelamist Tamils have been playing silly games which cost billions of dollars, lost so many native Sinhalese’ lives, and tarnished Sri Lanka’s good name.
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No Tamil is missing. So called “missing Tamils” live in Europe, Canada and in their native country India. And LTTE the terrorist invaders killed so many Tamils as well.
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These ‘so called missing Tamils’ attempted to invade Sri Lanka, they failed, now they should accepted the consequences.
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srinath gunaratne / July 27, 2017
Grandpa
You are the opposition to the whole country!
What the XXXX are you doing?
We need people like the Tamil judge to rule this country, still with a heart and an integrity!
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Bensen Berner / July 27, 2017
A very reasonable plea. Bensen
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Eusense / July 28, 2017
First we have to get a list of Tiger terrorists from their next of kin. For some reason I am yet to see a single Tamil person or family coming forward to say my next of kin was a Tiger terrorist. Shouldn’t they be proud to do so?
Seriously, Who and from where were those Tiger terrorists fighting us?
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