Only an international investigation would establish truth on enforced disappeared
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 June 2018, 20:03 GMT]
The Tamil families in the eight districts across the North-East have thoroughly denounced the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP) as just another false move by the SL State. The families have democratically rejected it with majority Tamils opposing it than those attending its sittings. Further, the OMP is unable to stand the two tests placed by the district organisations of the families of enforced disappeared, Eeswary Mariyathas, the head of Mullaiththeevu district organisation for enforced disappeared, told TamilNet on Thursday. Her opinion comes as the uprooted people in Trincomalee followed the trend in Mannaar, Vavuniyaa and Mullaiththeevu in staging protests against the deceptive OMP.
The families of the enforced disappeared have already exhausted all avenues within the unitary State mechanisms, Easwary said adding that the families of Eezham Tamils, subjected to enforced disappearances, have now democratically proved that they were rejecting the OMP through massive participation against it.
“We have already had direct meetings with the executive president of the unitary State, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. What was his response? He has gone on record publicly stating that he would not be allowing anyone to tarnish the image of the military by subjecting its commanders to criminal investigations.
“We have also exhausted the Justice system of the unitary State through Habeas corpus writs, and the courts have not been able to establish the whereabouts of our loved ones.
“So, there is practically nothing more this OMP could do to produce, specifically those we handed over to the SL military at Vadduvaakal, Oamanthai and in Vavuniyaa at the end of the war,” she told TamilNet.
“Even though those who head the OMP did not object our democratic right of expressing our distrust in the OMP, they were also sophisticatedly telling us that a democratically elected government mandated the OMP.
“But, when we specified two tests, demanding the OMP to either bring at least 100 of our kith and kin whom we handed over to the SL military or to relese the details of all of them handed over to them, to prove their sincerity, they had no proper answers. They also know it very well that all avenues have been exhausted,” she further said.
“Now, what we need is a proper international investigation to establish the truth. Only then those who are still held in undeclared detention would be released,” Easwary said.
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