Missing Persons Commission to continue probe

• No directive received from the President to stop investigations
• Commission maintained transparency well
• No other Commission can do better

By Shanika Sriyananda

The Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of Missing Persons (PCICMP) said that it will continue to investigate cases of alleged disappearances and abductions as the Commission has not received any directives from the President Maithripala Sirisena to abolish the Commission, so far.

The PCICMP Chairman, retired High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama told the Daily FT that the Commission is going ahead with the schedule activities in investigating over 23,000 complaints of missing persons from 1983 to 2009.

However, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told the media last week that government has decided to abolish the PCICMP. He was quoted saying that the PCICMP would be replaced with a new Commission or a system to continue to probe the allegations on missing persons.

 “Even locally, most of the people are not happy with the Commission and they have no faith in its process. However, we will not abandon its procedure. We will go ahead with a commission which will be more effective,” media quoted him saying. Paranagama refuting the allegation said that the Commission is doing its best to maintain transparency and the commission has been doing its mandate to a highly satisfactory level.

“We don’t accept this allegation. We have done our best and that is why still we get over five complaints weekly. People have lots of faith in the Commission,” Paranagama said.

He said with over 23,000 complaints and holding several public sittings to record statements from the complainants around the country, the Commission is still recording statements from complainants in Vavuniya, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu and Jaffna.

A five member team of well experienced police officers, supervised by a retired high court judge are now visiting 75-houses of complainants in the North to get more evidence on their complaints on missing relatives.

The PCICMP, which is  also known as the ‘Paranagama missing persons’ Commission are investigating over 18,000 complaints on disappearances lodged by the civilians and over 5,000 complaints of disappearances lodged by the relatives of security forces. 

It is headed by retired High Court Judge Maxwell Paranangama and comprises Suranjana Vidyaratne, Mano Ramanathan and two other additional commissioners – retired High Court Judge Tillekeratne Ratnayake and Retired Ministry Secretary, H. Sumanapala – who have been appointed by President Sirisena to expedite the investigation process.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, raising his concerns about the credibility and effectiveness of the PCICMP, said that the UNHRC believes that the Commission should be disbanded, and its pending cases transferred to a credible and independent institution established in consultation with families of the disappeared. Refuting the allegation leveled by the Human Rights Commissioner against the Commission, Paranagama said that the PCICMP did its best and no one could compare the hard work and genuine efforts of the Commission put in investigating the alleged cases of missing persons.

“I think no other Commission can carry out a better investigating process than this Commission,” he said adding that the Commission is also waiting a date from President Sirisena to present its two reports – the final report on violation of humanitarian law and human rights committed by the military and the LTTE during the last phase of the war and the first interim report on missing persons from 1983 to 2009.