MoD 'disappeared' committee's last sitting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The committee appointed by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence (MoD) to inquire into complaints of disappearances in the peninsula heard evidence from 27 complainants at the Jaffna Kachcheri today. The committee was headed by Brigadier Bandula Kulatunga, who also announced that this would be the committee's last sitting.

The parents and relatives who had gathered in the Kachcheri today became distraught on hearing this, and several made tearful appeals to the Brigadier to locate their 'disappeared' kith and kin.

In response, the Brigadier said that the committee would hand over its reports to the Sri Lankan president by the end of this month and that the relatives would be informed of the findings of the committee in due course.

The relatives had made several earlier appeals to the Sri Lankan President to meet them to discuss the 'disappearances', with little success.

An Amnesty International report published last month stated that over 600 of Jaffna's disappeared had either been deliberately killed or had died under torture in Sri Lankan army custody.

Related Articles:
13.12.97   Disappearances committee in Palaly