{"id":97984,"date":"2020-01-19T19:02:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T02:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97984"},"modified":"2020-01-19T19:02:45","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T02:02:45","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-12b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/19\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-12b\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 12B"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

OFFICE ON MISSING PERSONS (OMP)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) Act no 14\nof 2016 was passed in Parliament   in\nAugust 2016. There were complaints that Parliament had not followed proper\nprocedures in adopting it. That   it was\nsteamrollered through Parliament, in an undemocratic manner, disregarding\nobjections of the Joint Opposition.  It\nwent through all three readings very quickly, taking just 40 minutes\naltogether. The JVP voted for it.\nGovernment claims 2\/3 majority for the bill but is unable to state the number\nof votes, said critics. USA\u2019s Asst Secretary of State Nisha Biswal and the US\nAmbassador in Colombo hailed the passing of the OMP Bill.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The objective of the Act is to take all\nmeasures necessary for searching and tracing of missing persons,  clarify \ncircumstances in which such persons went missing,  protect the rights and interests of missing\npersons  and identify  means of redress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Missing Person\u201d is defined as “one whose\nfate or whereabouts are reasonably believed to be unknown” , in connection\nwith the conflict which took place in the Northern and Eastern Provinces<\/a> and its\naftermath, or is a member of the armed forces or police who is identified as\nmissing in action\u201d or  in connection\nwith political unrest or civil disturbances .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OMP has the power to receive, from a\nrelative or any other person complaints about missing persons. OMP also had the\npower to initiate an inquiry into the whereabouts and circumstances of\ndisappearance of a missing person either on a complaint made to OMP or any\nother Commission of inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OMP must set up a Tracing Unit  to trace and search missing persons, how they\nwnet missing and where they are now.OMP must also have a Victim and Witness\nProtection Division that can protect victims, witnesses and relatives of\nmissing persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When authorized by the OMP, an officer of the\nOMP can enter without warrant, at any time, any place of detention, police\nstation, prison or any other place in which any person is suspected to be\ndetained, and make inquiries to find out the conditions of detention. They can\ntake away any document or object. The public cannot obstruct, resist or\nthreaten OMP officers, or any persons who are assisting the OMP. They must not\ntry to influence OMP officers either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OMP can compel any person in Sri Lanka to\nappear before the OMP to provide a statement or produce any document or other\nthing in his possession. They cannot refuse to come or refuse to answer\nquestions. They must obey any orders made by OMP and must produce documents\nwhen OMP asks for them.  Failure to do so\nwill go as contempt of OMP. When that occurs, the OMP will report the matter to\nthe Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal will treat it as thought it was\ncontempt committed against the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OMP can accept confidential information or information\nin camera. The provisions of the Right to Information Act, No. 12 of 2016, will\nnot apply to such confidential information. No order, decision, act or omission\nof OMP or its staff can be questioned in any proceedings or any court of law,\nexcept under Article 126 or 140 of the Constitution. No proceedings civil or\ncriminal can be instituted against any member of the OMP or any officer or\nservant appointed to assist the OMP, other than for contempt against the\nauthority of the OMP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Act permits OMP to ignore the provisions\nof the Evidence Ordinance. OMP can  \naccept any statement or material, written or oral, which might be\ninadmissible in civil or criminal proceedings. This clause carries other implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Palitha\nSenanayake observed that certain categories of evidence, which would help\nsupport war crimes allegations, could  \nbe entertained, by the OMP using this clause. That will be evidence\nwhich is not accepted under   the law of evidence. Evidence concocted by the\nlikes of Channel 4, as well as Tamil Separatist propaganda could also be accepted\nby the OMP, as evidence against the Sri Lanka forces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarath Weerasekera   adding\nto this said that the two Acts, Office of Missing Persons Act and Enforced\nDisappearance International Convention Act would help to collect false evidence\nagainst war heroes and subject them to foreign judicial powers and to ICC\njurisdiction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chandraprema made a series of\nobservations on the Act. This office will be outside the state justice system,\nhe noted.  The OMP can received foreign\nfunding directly, can enter into agreements with foreign organization, they can\nreceive complaints from just anybody. All government bodies, including military\nhave to give fullest cooperation to OMP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OMP can authorize special officers who\ncan be foreigners to enter without warrant, and investigate any time of the day\nany police office, prison, military installations and can seize documents .If a\nmissing persons is found, if he so wishes he can remain missing, as unless he\nagrees, this relative will not be informed, concluded Chandraprema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seven members of the OMP are to be\nappointed by the Constitutional Council. This Council is dominated by western\nfunded NGOs, observed Manohara de Silva. Further, the members of the OMP must\nbe persons with previous experience in fact finding or investigation, human\nrights law, international humanitarian law and investigative skills. This means\nthat all the appointments will be persons from foreign funded NGOs, added\nManohara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Office\nwas established 15 September 2017, and operations commenced in February 2018.\nThe OMP had a budget of Rs 1.3 Billion in 2018. OMP annual report for the year\n2018  said that it had received 14,641\ncomplaints from National Integration and Reconciliation Ministry, plus an\nadditional 129 new complaints through letters, telephone calls, visits to the\nOMP Head Office, public meetings and through direct meetings with families of\nthe missing and disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Complaints about missing persons had\nstarted long before. In 2001 Amnesty International published accounts of\nmissing. A woman in Ariyala, Jaffna said  \narmy personnel came and arrested her son who subsequently disappeared.\nThere were witnesses\u2019 to the arrest. In\nMadhu a woman said her husband had been abducted from their home by a man who\nshe is told had worked for the CID. Several\nsaid that they suspected that the navy personnel manning local checkpoints were\nresponsible for the disappearances. One man had disappeared on his way home\nfrom a beer bar at a junction where navy were checking IDs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 2017\nonwards there were organized protests over missing persons. There was a sit\ndown protest for over 200 days in Kilinochchi in 2017. Most of them were women,\nreported the media.  All had lost their\nloved ones in the final days of the war in 2009. On the 100th<\/sup>\nday\nthese women called a massive demonstration and hundreds of people took to the\nstreets and blocked the A-9 in Kilinochchi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sit when\nit rains, and they sit when the hot wind off the A-9 highway blows sand into\ntheir makeshift tent. They\u2019ve been sitting for over 200 days now in\nKilinochchi, protesting the loss of their family members. They are mostly\nwomen, and they say they have one thing in common: they all lost their loved\nones in the final days of the war in 2009, reported the media in 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They want to\nknow if their sons, daughters, parents, husbands and in-laws are dead, or if\nthey\u2019re alive somewhere, in a prison or detention camp. Many believe\nthat their loved ones are still alive somewhere, and if they were released,\nthey could come home and help take care of their shattered families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the missing\nare LTTE who surrendered after the Army\u2019s final offensive .But others were just\ncivilians, picked up in camps for internally-displaced persons or loaded on to\nbuses and never seen again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thangavelu\nSathiyathevy recalled the last time she saw her family. She said she remembers\nthe day exactly. This was May 18, 2009. We were in Vadduvakallu, and there\nwere buses taking people away,\u201d she said. Thousands of displaced people had\ngathered on the beaches there, seeking safety from the fighting. Vaddavakallu\nwas technically in a no-fire zone. My daughter, son-in-law, and their three\nchildren were taken into the bus. He was an LTTE member,\u201d she said, we also\nasked to join with them. But they said no, you can go separately.\u201dSathiyathevy\nsaid she was taken to Manik Farm, an IDP camp near Vavuniya. But she has never\nseen or heard from her family again. The children were 2, 9, and 10 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sivayogam\nRatnaraja said she and her family was also taken to an IDP camp in Vavuniya\nafter the war. In June, her son Ratnam Ratnaraja came to visit them from the\nUniversity of Moratuwa, where he was studying engineering. But after he left\nthe camp, he was arrested by local police. Ratnaraja said she was never given a\nreason for his arrest. But she has a suspicion. Her elder son, Ratnam\u2019s older\nbrother, was an LTTE cadre and died during the fighting. The Police or an\ninformant might have known this. Six months later, Ratnaraja said one of her\nneighbors, met with and spoke with her son at Anuradhapura prison. But she has\nnot heard from him thereafter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeyakanthi\nNarmila\u2019s husband from Thilaiyampathi in Kondavil, Jaffna, disappeared on\nAugust 17, 2007. She alleged that he was taken away by the Army in a white van.\nSome Army soldiers reached my home in a white van, it was around 3.30 am. He\nhas not returned since. I haven\u2019t heard anything about him. I made complaints\nabout the abduction of my husband to the Uralu Army Camp and the Kopai Police,\u201d\nshe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six months\nafter the disappearance, she had seen her husband on a motorcycle pillion,\nridden by an Army soldier. Three years later, she saw her husband once again,\nin an army truck. On that day, a piece of cloth was tied round his mouth.\nThereafter, I never saw my husband again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018 media\nreported that families of the disappeared were protesting across Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu<\/a>, demanding\nto know the whereabouts of their loved ones. Relatives of those missing still\ncontinue with their public protests even as their numbers get less due to the\nvicissitudes of time and age, said Jehan Perera. The fate of the missing\npersons is an emblematic issue to the northern people. The numbers who went\nmissing was large, one of the largest in the world at that time, and memories\nof those beloved do not fade for those who living, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.In 2019 Mannar\nresidents protested opposite Mannar GA office demanding that government locate\nthose reported missing during the war. Families of those missing during Eelam\nwar IV also gathered in Colombo, Jaffna and Batticaloa. In Colombo they protested\nin silence at Lipton Circus. Lovers who have been deprived due to enforced\ndisappearance during armed conflict, commemorated \u2018Missing lovers Day\u2019 opposite\nDutch Hospital in Colombo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A series of\ndemonstrations and protest marches were organized in the North, in 2019 to mark\nthe \u2018International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances\u2019. The Association\nof Missing Persons Relatives\u201d and other organizations had organized\ndemonstrations and protest marches in every district in the Northern Province.\nThey wanted the Government to trace their loved ones and to mete out justice to\ntheir families.  They said they didn\u2019t want an Office on\nMissing People, they needed relief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One protest march\nwas to wish for the destruction of the United Nations, which, they said, was\nnot doing enough for those who had disappeared during the war. The protestors\nsaid that they had complained to the UNHRC on a number of occasions but their\ncomplaints had gone unheeded.”Therefore we curse them. We hope that the\nUNHRC will face destruction,” a protester said. After wishing ill on the\nUN, the protesters marched across Vavuniya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hope that the establishment of an Office\nof Missing Persons would bring a solution has ebbed as no one who disappeared\nhas yet been said Jehan Perera. In 2019, a group of people protested\nopposite the Office of Missing Persons Office, demanding that it be closed as\nit had served no purpose. The protesters also called for a proper compensation\nscheme as Rs. 6,000 promised to families of the missing persons was\ninsufficient. They also said that the government did not need to obtain information\non missing persons afresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, OMP\nwas not inactive. In 2018, in is interim report, OMP spoke of the economic\nhardships faced by families of the disappeared and missing. The importance of\nproviding interim relief until compensation and other forms of reparation are\nprovided to address their complex needs\nand acknowledge the harms suffered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MP had\nrecommended that the government provide Rs.6,000 monthly relief to families of\nmission persons  as interim relief  for those who have obtained Certificate of\nAbsence, unit the Office for Reparations resolves their claims. OMP stated that\nthis must not be regarded waiver of the right to adequate, prompt and effective\nreparations and to seek judicial remedies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the great\njoy of the OMP, Yahapalana government \nincluded  the Rs 6,000\npayment  in its 2019 Budget. However, OMP\nobserved that the linking of the monthly relief to the possession of a\nCertificate of Absence (COA) poses a challenge. The OMP has a legal\nresponsibility to facilitate the provision of COAs and is in the process of\ndevising methods to increase awareness and assist families to apply for COAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OMP made\na number of other recommendations relating to interim relief including debt\nrelief, housing, education, vocational training and livelihood development and\nemployment. One such recommendation is that the families of the missing and\ndisappeared be included in financial aid programmes and loan schemes such as\n\u2018Enterprise Sri Lanka\u2019 to help families achieve economic independence . The families\nare required to join the livelihood programmes coordinated by the Office for\nNational Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MANNAR SKELETONS  <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May \n2018, a mass grave of more than 300 skeletons were discovered at a\nconstruction site in Mannar. It was the second mass grave found in Mannar. The\nfirst was found in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The German\nAmbassador in Colombo accompanied by a large group of foreign and local\njournalists, was one of the first diplomats to inspect the site on. A British\nteam came next. There was speculation whether these bodies had been tortured. Office\non Missing Persons  funded tests, to\ndetermine whether the victims were killed during the Eelam conflict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Beta\nAnalytic Institute of Florida, USA, said that the samples of skeletal remains\nsent from the Mannar mass grave site for carbon dating, were dated to  a period between 1499 and 1719 AD. This was\nthe time of Portuguese-Dutch rule . The National Peace Council, Center for\nPolicy Alternatives and TNA called for a second opinion.” TNA  wanted the bones to be tested in a different\ncountry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana government signed and ratified the \u2018International\nConvention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances\u2019 in December\n2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 10 of this Convention makes it clear\nthat any State in whose territory a person (who can be a citizen of any other\nmember state) suspected of having committed an offence of enforced\ndisappearance is present, can take that person into custody, said Chandraprema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Article 11, after making an\narrest in that manner, the member state concerned can take one of three\nalternative courses of action – (a) extradite that person to another country in\naccordance with its international obligations, (b) prosecute that person under\nits own laws or (c) hand him over for prosecution to an international criminal\ntribunal whose jurisdiction that member state has recognized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two Articles of the International\nConvention Against Disappearances read together gives a clear picture of the\naction that any member state of this Convention can take against one of its own\ncitizens or the citizen of any other member state who may be present in its\nterritory, continued Chandraprema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 13 of the international convention also\nstates that any member state may request the extradition of a person suspected\nof being responsible for enforced disappearances in any other member state and\nall member states are supposed to respect such requests for extradition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Because\nSri Lanka is now a signatory to the International Convention for the Protection\nof All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the provisions of Articles 10, 11\nand 13 form a part of our obligations under this Convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clause 8 says that where a request is made to\nthe Government of Sri Lanka, by the Government of a Convention State for the\nextradition of any person accused or convicted of causing an enforced\ndisappearance, the Minister shall, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka,\nforthwith notify the Government of the requesting State of the measures which\nthe Government of Sri Lanka has taken, or proposes to take, for the prosecution\nor extradition of that person for that offence, continued Chandraprema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you read Articles 10, 11 and 13 of the\nInternational Convention Against Enforced Disappearances together with Clauses\n8 and 21 of the Bill that had been presented to Parliament to give effect to\nthat convention in Sri Lanka, it is clear that once the Convention becomes\noperational in Sri Lanka, foreign countries which are members of the\nInternational Convention will have complete jurisdiction over Sri Lankans who\nare alleged to have been involved in causing enforced disappearances in Sri\nLanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if a person believed by foreign states to\nhave been involved in enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka happens to be in Sri\nLanka, any interested foreign government can request the Sri Lankan government\nto extradite that person to their country to be prosecuted or handed over to an\ninternational criminal tribunal to be prosecuted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 By\nsigning and ratifying the International Convention against Enforced\nDisappearances Sri Lanka has accepted that its citizens can be handed over to\nan international criminal tribunal for prosecution under Article 11. Nobody\nwill be able to argue that the ICC does not have the jurisdiction to prosecute\na Sri Lankan handed to them by a third country because Sri Lanka has granted\nauthority to all member states of the International Convention against Enforced\nDisappearances to take action against Sri Lankans for offences under this\nConvention and one of the actions specifically sanctioned is the handing over\nof suspects to an international criminal tribunal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chandraprema pointed out that the United States, Britain,\nAustralia and Canada, had not signed this Convention. USA has a clear policy\nthat no foreign government is going to try an American soldier. Scandinavian\ncountries which are usually at the forefront of any human rights initiative had\nsigned it in 2007, but never ratified it. India had also signed it ten years\nago, she too had never ratified it. But Yahapalana had had signed and ratified\nthis convention within a few months . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana then moved on to the next step which was a Bill to\nincorporate into the law of Sri Lanka, the provisions of the \u2018International\nConvention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was opposition.<\/strong>\nThis Bill seeks to enable foreign countries to request the extradition of a Sri\nLankan who is suspected, accused or convicted of having caused enforced\ndisappearances in Sri Lanka. Under this law foreign countries would also be\nauthorized to arrest and try Sri Lankans for disappearances that allegedly took\nplace in Sri Lanka and even to hand over persons so arrested to an international\ncriminal tribunal even if Sri Lanka does not come under the jurisdiction of\nthat international tribunal, said Chandraprema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

G.L.Peiris  observed that\nthis Bill was probably not even drafted here but sent from overseas. earlier\nthe controversy was about whether foreign judges should be allowed to serve in\na war crimes tribunal in Sri Lanka but that now the government seems to have\nchanged their strategy and instead of bringing foreign judges here, they are\ntrying through this proposed legislation to send our armed forces personnel\noverseas to be tried by interested foreign governments, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed out that this proposed legislation seeks to circumvent\nthe safeguards in Sri Lanka\u2019s Extradition Law No 8 of 1977. One of those\nprotections was that no person can be extradited for an offence of a political\nnature. That\nprotection which is even enshrined in customary international law, is\nspecifically taken away and furthermore, that through this proposed Bill, it\nbecomes possible to send Sri Lankans to the Hague through a foreign country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that Clause 23 of the proposed Bill enables the proposed\nlaw to supersede all other written laws in Sri Lanka giving it a status akin to\nthe constitution. Joint Opposition said it does not want the debate on this\nBill. They want it withdrawn altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana  government took\nno notice. Sri Lanka enacted the International Convention for the Protection of\nAll Persons from Enforced Disappearance Act in March 2018. Here are  two clauses in this Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where\na request is made to the Government of Sri Lanka, by or on behalf of the\nGovernment of a Convention State for the extradition of any person accused or\nconvicted of an offence under sections 3 or 4, the Minister shall, on behalf of\nthe Government of Sri Lanka, forthwith notify the Government of the requesting\nState of the measures which the Government of Sri Lanka has taken, or proposes\nto take, for the prosecution or extradition of that person for that offence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notwithstanding anything in the Extradition Law, No. 8 of 1977,\nan offence specified in the Schedule to that Law or an offence under this Act,\nshall  not be deemed an offence of a political character<\/strong> for the purposes of the\nextradition of any person accused or convicted of any such offence, as between\nthe Government of Sri Lanka and any Convention State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OFFICE FOR\nREPARATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana\ngovernment passed the Office for Reparations Act, No. 34 of 2018. Yahapalana\nappointed  the Board in April 2019.Dhara Wijayatilake, Chairperson,\nJ. M. Swaminathan, Sellathamby Sumithra, A.A.M. Fathihu, Lt. Colonel (Retired)\nRathnapriya Bandu . Yahapalana government allocated Rs. 700 million for the\nOffice for Reparations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office for\nReparations is the second step of the transitional justice mechanisms for\nreconciliation process formulated locally and implemented by the Government of\nSri Lanka, said Yahapalana .It is the responsibility of the Office for\nReparation to identify the aggrieved victims qualified for reparation and\nprovide appropriate compensation individually or collectively to them, reported\nthe media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Office for\nReparations is an independent body reporting to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Office is tasked to\nidentify the aggrieved persons, who are eligible for reparations as well as\ntheir level of need, and to formulate and recommend policies on Reparations and\nguidelines with regard to the grant of individual and collective reparations,\nincluding the criteria for eligibility, and the nature and severity of\ngrievances for which reparations will be available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The objectives of this Office would include formulating policies\non reparation to grant individual and collective reparations to aggrieved\npersons. Also to facilitate and implement such Policies, which could include\nmemorialization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Office for\nReparations   had the power to receive\nrecommendations with regard to reparations to be made to aggrieved persons from\nOMP, other relevant bodies, institutions,  \nas well as aggrieved persons or their representatives and to verify the\nauthenticity of such applications, for the purpose of assessing the eligibility\nfor reparations also to consider non-monetary reparations and collective reparation.\nThe Office was also to take action on collective reparations such as memorials\nand measures of restitution, including the provision of land and housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The    Office for Reparation was to focus\nprimarily on those affected by Eelam war, or enforced disappearances as defined\nin the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced\nDisappearance Act, No. 5 of 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of reparation had been floated\nlong  before the Act was passed. In 2016\n‘Fairplay’ had written to the papers saying that the government should pay\ncompensation to Tiger widows.  Then  In \n2018, MP Swaminathan wanted enhanced compensation\u201d paid to Tiger\nguerrilla ex-combatants who were defeated in the separatist war that ended in\n2009 and their next of kin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swaminathan  made use of an LLRC recommendation that said\nex combatants and next of kin should also be considered eligible for\ncompensatory relief. Compensatory\nrelief  should be given for the deaths\nand injuries of those who were involved in suspected terrorist activities and\ntheir next of kin, said LLRC. Government\nwants to pay enhanced\u201d compensation to those who took to arms to create a separate\nhomeland\u201d in Sri Lanka, observed  contemptuous critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swaminathan\nhad submitted this proposal to Cabinet thrice. The Cabinet Paper had been deferred\nin the first two instances, but on the third occasions, due to continued\nprotests from Ministers, was stopped for good, reported the media. The paper\nhad also proposed to compensate civilians, places of religious worship and the\nfamilies of dead LTTE cadres as persons affected by the war. ( Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS OFFICE ON MISSING PERSONS (OMP) The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) Act no 14 of 2016 was passed in Parliament   in August 2016. There were complaints that Parliament had not followed proper procedures in adopting it. That   it was steamrollered through Parliament, in an undemocratic manner, disregarding objections of the Joint Opposition.  It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}