OMP rejects GSLF allegations

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) Chairman Saliya Pieris PC today rejected the allegations made by the Global Sri Lankan Forum (GSLF) raising concerns over the conduct of the OMP.

In a statement, the OMP Chairman said their attention is drawn to a letter purported to be addressed to the President, by an organisation calling itself the Global Sri Lankan Forum which was published in Daily Mirror.

“Regrettably the contents of the letter are teeming with inaccuracies and distortions, not least on the law relating to the OMP.

The OMP last week issued a detailed media release in its mandate and objectives.

The OMP reiterates that the definition of Missing Persons in the OMP Act is not limited to those missing or disappeared, during the conflict in the North and East and it’s aftermath but also covers persons missing and disappeared as a result of enforced disappearances as well as other political and civil disturbances in every part of the country.

The mandate of the OMP is not limited to a particular area, community or time period and also covers those of the Sri Lankan Forces Missing in Action.

The OMP is not a quasi-judicial body and its objective is to trace the missing and disappeared and to inform the relatives of those persons, the circumstances of the disappearances and the fate of their loved ones.

The findings of the OMP do not give rise to criminal or civil liability. While the work of the OMP is confidential in nature, it is as is every institution in the country subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in the exercise of its Fundamental Rights and Writ jurisdiction.  

The OMP intends to follow the best practices in setting about its work and will act impartially and independently without fear or favour.

None of the members of the OMP have ever advocated the cause of separatism and all members of the OMP unequivocally support and believe in a united Sri Lanka and are convinced that a strong domestic mechanism will be useful to establish the credibility of the country in granting relief to the loved ones of the missing and disappeared,” the statement said.