Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil leaders on Sunday asked the top human rights official
of the United Nations to help determine the fate of more than 4,000 civilians reported
missing in the country's long civil war amid the government's assertion that most
of them are probably dead. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein,
met the chief minister of Sri Lanka's Northern Province, the arena of the civil war,
which ended in 2009. Zeid arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday on a four-day visit aimed
at reviewing the measures taken by the island nation to investigate alleged atrocities
committed during the long civil war that left tens of thousands dead.
Both the Sri Lankan government and the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels are accused of
serious human rights violations. According to U.N. estimates, up to 100,000 people
were killed in the 26-year war, but many more are feared to have died, including
up to 40,000 civilians in the final months of the fighting.
The U.N. Human Rights Council last year adopted a consensus resolution in which Sri
Lanka agreed to an investigation with foreign participation.
Zeid said he discussed several issues with Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran
and other provincial officials, including the missing people, detentions without
trial and military-occupied private land. He said he would take the issues up with
the central government. ``The discussions very much focused on the challenges faced
by the province, but also the plans and achievements in that regard, and the people
who aspire to see more information in terms of those detained and those missing and
the issue of release of lands,'' Zeid said. He said the discussions would continue
during his visit.
Wigneswaran said he gave Zeid a list of the more than 4,000 people reported missing,
with dates and places where they were seen last. Many civilians have not been heard
from since they were picked up by police or military personnel at their homes or
abducted by pro-government militia during the war. Relatives say there are many whom
they personally handed over to the military at the end of the fighting, after the
military requested the surrender of anyone who had even the smallest link to the now-defeated
Tamil Tiger rebels, promising their early release.
7 Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elected last year, has
said most of those reported missing are probably dead. He said that the new government
found no secret detention centers being run by the state, as suspected by families
of the missing, and that there are only 292 people in government detention. Wigneswaran
said Zeid opposed the suggestion of negotiating an amnesty for Tamil rebel suspects
detained for years without trial. Zeid said releasing innocents through a quick and
proper legal process would be the best course of action. (Source: AP/Reuters)
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