The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) will make use of witness statements presented to the Maxwell Paranagamacommission.
OMP Chairman SaliyaPeiris said that the newly established office intends to make use of the statements when making inquiries into those reported missing.
On 15 August 2013, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, established the Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints regarding Missing Persons comprised of three members former Judge Maxwell P. Paranagama (Chairman), Mrs. Mano Ramanathan and Mrs. Suranjana Vidyaratne (‘Paranagama Commission’ or ‘PCICMP’).
The commission held several sittings and obtained written and oral statements from families of missing, both from the North and East and from families of missing soldiers.
The Maxwell Paranagama Commission report, officially known as the Presidential Commission of Inquiry ito Complaints of Abductions and Disappearances was later handed over to the current Government and was also tabled in Parliament.
President Maithripala Sirisena recently established the OMP chaired by President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris. Saliya Peiris said that it was too early for the OMP to set timelines.
Courtesy: Colombo Gazette
