Nothing done for families of victims – Sumanthiran

Enforced disappearances

By Dinasena Ratugamage

No government had taken steps to address the concerns of families of the victims of enforced disappearances, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran said addressing the media in Jaffna on Thursday.

A number of committees and commissions had been appointed to investigate enforced disappearances and other concerns of those affected by the war, but they had only wasted public funds, and time of those affected by the war, who had to travel long distances to testify and journalists who covered those sessions, he said.

“People have not received any benefits. In fact, we don’t even know how many people have disappeared. Whenever a government feels that it needs to pacify the people and international community, it appoints a commission. Maxwell Commission initially said 30,000 people had disappeared, but in the copy of its report presented to Parliament that number had come down to 19,000. Now, the government says only 3,000 have disappeared,” MP Sumanthiran said.

The TNA MP said that the main demand of the family members of those who had disappeared was not compensation. They wanted to know what happened to their family members.

“But, of course, most of those who disappeared were the breadwinners of the families. So, compensation should be a part of the restitution,” he said.