Govt committed to ensuring justice for enforced disappearances – PM Harini

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the government is committed to ensuring justice for the victims affected by the injustices related to enforced disappearances.

The Prime Minister made these remarks on Wednesday (09) in Parliament while responding to a question raised by Member of Parliament Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, the PM’s Media Division said in a statement.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya further stated:

“The government is committed to delivering the justice to those who have been affected by the issue of disappearances. However, we cannot conduct these investigations on a personal basis and such matters must be addressed legally and institutionally.

The institutional and systemic failures in the past years mainly caused the delays in these matters. Therefore, such issues are needed to be addressed.

This is not about gaining popularity, instead it is necessary to establish institutions and environment to ensure that such incidents do not recur, while addressing the existing injustices.

The public has lost their trust in the Office for Reparations and the Office on Missing Persons because they were merely established in name and lacked adequate strength and were largely ineffective.

This is what happened in the past, and that is what expected to be corrected. Hence, it must be ensured that the right individuals are placed in positions, that sufficient resources are allocated, and that the institutions are capable of fulfilling their responsibilities.

There are still pending legal disputes related to the missing persons. Some of these cases have been under disputed for the past 16 years. It is not an easy task, but the government is committed to ensuring justice.”

Additionally, the Prime Minister stated that the Cabinet has approved the proposal submitted by the Ministry of Justice to appoint a committee to provide recommendations to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).