By Ravi Ladduwahetty Courtesy Ceylon Today

Chairman of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Prof. G.L. Peris on 5 March alleged that the Government has appointed the Commissioners to the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP) even ahead of the debate on the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which is scheduled to be taken up in Parliament today (7).

This is one of the ways that the Government has bent backwards to appease the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of the sessions which will be held in Geneva on 16 March, Prof. Peiris told a news conference in Battaramulla on 5 March.

He also said that it was ludicrous for the Government to have appointed as an OMP Commissioner civil society activist Dr. Nimalka Fernando, who allegedly has a reputation for tarnishing Sri Lanka’s image overseas during all these years, being a beneficiary of Non-Governmental Organization funds.

He also said that the Government which should be using the Prevention of Terrorism Act to nab and punish the terrorists, is now using it in the reverse to attack the military sleuths.

He also said that this Government had compromised the interests of the Armed Forces and the Police in the most shameful manner.
Prof. Peiris also charged that the Government had not done anything to probe the revelations made by Lord Naseby to the House of Commons that the total casualties of the war were not more than 7,000-8,000 despite the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam claiming that the numbers were between 30,000 and 40,000.