Sri Lanka govt slams efforts to stop disappearances bill

The Sri Lankan government today blamed the "political ghosts with double standards" for opposing its efforts to enact a bill to criminalise enforced disappearance as the country still grapples with the legacy of people missing following the three-decade-long civil war.
Information Minister Mangala Samaraweera in a statement blame former president Mahinda Rajapaksa for his double standards on the bill, the presentation of which has to be postponed.
The draft will ensure basic human right of every citizen in a just, free and civilized society, Samaraweera said.
"The Rajapaksa loyalists have told the media that the draft act will harm war heroes which is an admission that the military was responsible for all the disappearances, abductions and murders during their regime and to brand the war hero a criminal," he said.

Samaraweera argued that the draft bill will cover only the future to stop disappearances and will not be retrospective.
A disappearance panel appointed by Rajapaksa in 2013 has reported that around 19,000 have disappeared since the 1990s. The International Committee of the Red Cross has put the figure over 24,000 since the late 1980s.
Sri Lanka faced criticism at the UN Human Rights Council for its rights record under Rajapaksa regime. Three resolutions since 2013 have resulted in a demand to have an international probe on alleged war crimes committed by both government troops and the LTTE.
The Rajapaksa-led opposition has dubbed the bill as a betrayal to the government troops which defeated the LTTE, ending their separatist campaign in 2009.