The third regional office of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) opened in Jaffna yesterday (24) in a bid to make its services more accessible for families of the disappeared. The Office, located on No. 124, Adiyapatham Road, Jaffna, was declared open by the Chairperson of the OMP President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris.
Speaking at the event, Peiris said the OMP will be better able to conduct its investigations and protect the rights of families by establishing a regional office in the areas most directly affected. “The latest office was set up to enable greater access in Jaffna, than in Colombo. This must cater to the suffered families,” he said. He also acknowledged the distrust of state institutions among some families. Following the event, Commissioners of the OMP met with families of the disappeared at the Jaffna District Secretariat.
During the meeting, the pathetic plight, tearful and heart-breaking testimonials exposed the status-quo of the missing persons.
Amidst all of these overflowing emotions, a homeless, landless lady in pins, broke down in uncontrollable tears, imploring the President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris-led OMP to find the state of her missing three children.Vedharathnam Latchumy, a mother of eight, so debt-ridden having come to participate only through a loan, began to sob before could share her extreme agony.“I’m torn in between all this crisis. So was my husband, and as a result, despair destroyed the family. Observing my quest to locate my children from pillar-to-post, my husband, along with the 11-year-old daughter and three-year-old son, committed suicide. I’m ultimately left only with two sons. My daughter too, after giving birth to half-a-dozen children, died of asthma,” she said in her testimonial.
Latchumy went on to weep, she was struck with deep poverty and found it impossible to keep the fire burning. Her two remaining boys cannot work either, and her avenues of survival are exhausted.
The Chunnakam-based residents’ pleas were instantly answered, with a land offered.
That was only the tip-of-the-iceberg of the fate of the disappeared, whose kith and kin were present in scores.
In a rocking disclosure, a mother said, backed by proof of a front-page picture, published in the Jaffna-based Valampuri, showing her bare-bodied son with a group of men, harassed by the army that was leaked in the Channel 4 Sri Lanka’s Human Rights atrocity. She too, along with many, raised the question of the whereabouts of her son, longing for the long-overdue answers.
Peiris announced that Rs. 6,000 will be granted to each family, until justice is found, as compensation. He also pointed out the government’s progress in this has been progressing at a snail’s pace.
He said, in order to receive this amount, the affected will have to obtain a “Certificate of absence”. Once that is met, the Ministry of National Reconciliation will deposit the sum to the families directly.
“Certain sections of the members of missing persons have been unhappy with the progress and attempted to obstruct our efforts. Tracing and discovering is a complicated process and procedure,” he added.
Originally, the opening and the meeting with the members of the missing persons were supposed to be held simultaneously. However, the opening ceremony was held early at 6.45 in the morning, since a protest by a separate group of missing persons was planned to thwart the opening, citing distrust in the OMP’s work.
But, Peiris disclosed, the protest was eventually called off, though the early morning ceremony proceeded as planned. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, scheduled to grace the occasion as the chief guest and Minister Mano Ganeshan, had to skip, due to clash of commitments.