Colombo panel on 'war missing' gets 18,000 complaints

A special commission appointed to investigate thousands of people who went missing during Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict has got about 18,000 complaints, an official said Thursday.

In February, President Mahinda Rajapaksa extended the mandate issued to the special commission tasked with investigating thousands who disappeared during the three-decade war that ended in 2009, reports Xinhua.

"During the hearings held in the northern and eastern provinces in the last six months, the commission received additional complaints, bringing the total to about 18,000," said Maxwell Paranagama, chairman of the Presidential Commission inquiring into missing people.

As many as 397 new complaints were made last week in Mullaitivu district alone. Mullaitivu saw some of the worst fighting.

Conducting investigations into the large number of missing people will require more time, Paranagama said, indicating the commission will have to seek more time from the president.

Rajapaksa appointed the Presidential Commission to probe the war missing ahead of a visit by UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay in 2013.

Some 16,000 applications were received by the commission initially from the families of people who disappeared during the war.

The three-member commission is mandated to inquire into and report on alleged abductions or disappearances during the period from June 10, 1990, when the war resumed after the return of Indian troops deployed in Sri Lanka, to May 19, 2009 when the Tamil Tigers were militarily crushed.

The commission's work continues as the Sri Lankan government faces a UN investigation into allegations of rights abuses including war crimes during the last seven years of the conflict.

The Sri Lankan government has rejected the probe and insisted domestic mechanisms such as the commission on missing persons will adequately pave the way for reconciliation.