Missing 'cannot be traced'

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 1999, 18:55 GMT]
Letters of regret from Defense Ministry officials have been sent to 355 parents and relatives of persons who disappeared in the Jaffna district after the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)'s operation to capture the northern peninsula in 1995, human rights sources said.

A bag containing 355 letters sent by the Defense Ministry officials were handed over to the Human Rights Commission branch in Jaffna today evening for distribution, sources said.

Sources further said the defense ministry officials have in those letters expressed regret that they were unable to trace their relatives or children disappeared during the military operation.

These 355 persons are members of an association of relatives and parents of persons missing in Jaffna peninsula, sources said.

These letters are to be delivered shortly, sources added.