By Easwaran Rutnam
The post-war reconciliation process of the Government drags on but faces some obstacles following the Easter Sunday attacks.
Next weekend marks 10 years since the end of the war. However, the anniversary this year is overshadowed by the Easter Sunday attacks.
That being said, the Government is determined to move ahead with the post-war reconciliation process despite the Easter Sunday bombings.
The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and the Office for Reparations are two key components of the post-war reconciliation process.
A media officer at the OMP told The Sunday Morning that details pertaining to approximately 15,000 people reported missing were being entered into the system.
Since being established, the OMP conducted sittings around the country, especially in the North and East, and gathered information related to missing people.
The OMP will now look to finalise the information it possesses on missing people and submit the information for further investigation.
The OMP’s primary mandate is to search for and trace the hundreds reported missing.
In order to expand its work, the OMP opened a regional office in Mannar, but was yet to recruit staff for man the office.
“We placed advertisements to recruit staff for our regional office in Mannar and have received a number of applications,” the media officer said.
He said that the deadline to receive applications was 5 April and once the applicants were shortlisted and staff recruited, the regional office will commence work.
The media officers also said that the OMP hoped to open regional offices in Mannar, Batticaloa, and Jaffna.
OMP faces hiccups
However, the opening of regional offices in Mannar, Batticaloa, and Jaffna were now delayed following the Easter Sunday attacks.
“The regional offices were to open this month, but with the incidents that took place after the Easter Sunday attacks, that process had been put on hold and we are focused on our work based in Colombo,” he said.
Created under the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration, and Discharge of Functions) Act No. 14 of 2016, the office was operationalised with the appointment of members on 28 February 2018.
In August 2018, the OMP issued an interim report proposing interim relief to the families as well as recommendations in the quest for justice and truth.
On 5 March 2019, the Government proposed the allocation of Rs. 500 million in the 2019 Budget to provide Rs. 6,000 in monthly relief to support families of missing persons, including members of the armed forces and Police identified as “missing in action”.
As proposed in the Budget 2019, this monthly relief will be provided to families who obtained Certificates of Absence for their missing family members, until the Office for Reparations resolves their claims.
The OMP welcomed the inclusion of this proposal in the Budget 2019, which was recommended by the OMP to the Government in its Interim Report of August 2018.
The OMP said it was committed to assisting the implementation of the proposal and expanding the reach of the programme to enable the thousands of families of the disappeared and missing to access this relief.
Office for Reparations
Another key component of the post-war reconciliation process is the Office for Reparations.
Following the passage of the Office for Reparations Act No. 34 of 2018 on 9 October 2018 and deliberations of the Constitutional Council, the commissioners for the Office for Reparations were appointed last month for a three-year period.
Chairperson Dhara Wijethilake told The Sunday Morning that the Easter Sunday attacks had not affected the setting up of the new office.
The members of the new office are A.A. Fathihu, Col. (Rtd.) W.W Rathnapriya Bandu, Dr. J.M. Swaminathan, and Sumithra Sellathamby.
The commissioners were selected by an open and competitive process conducted by the Constitutional Council (CC) of Sri Lanka and were nominated by them to the President for appointment.
An allocation of Rs. 700 million was made for the establishment and staffing of the Office for Reparations through Sri Lanka’s national Budget for 2019.
The Office for Reparations is an independent authority tasked with formulating, designing, and implementing reparations policies aimed to redress victims who suffered violations in the course of past conflicts in Sri Lanka.
The Office for Reparations can provide individual or collective reparations and make recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers.
Wijethilake said that after the Easter Sunday attacks, the Cabinet had approved payments to the victims, which was now implemented.
She said that the office was now proceeding with the statutory obligation to formulate policy, and similar tasks.
Govt. determined
The Government said it was determined to take the reconciliation process forward, no matter what.
The process faced a temporary roadblock in October last year during the constitutional crisis.
However, now that the process is moving forward, the Minister of National Integration, Social Progress, Official Languages, and Hindu Affairs Mano Ganesan feels there is no turning back.
The Minister told The Sunday Morning that the need for reconciliation had now been accepted by all communities, and was even seen even after the Easter Sunday attacks.
“People, although angry, did not react as they did in the 1980s, 1970s, and 1950s, despite minor incidents,” he said.
The Minister noted that the Tamils were unlucky and suffered during the dark days of the 1980s.
However, he noted that today, things were different as the public do not react like they did back then. He also went on to state that he was relieved because of it.
“It is because the reconciliation process in this country has paid off. People are able to differentiate between terrorists and innocent people. What we face today is terrorism with an international facet and not a reconciliation crisis. Make no mistake, terrorism needs to be crushed, there is no debate about it. It’s a demand in the reconciliation movement as well,” he said.
Ganesan said that he did not think the reconciliation process will not slow down as a result of the Easter Sunday attacks as it had obtained new strength and lessons from the dark incidents of the past.
The post-war reconciliation process of the Government drags on but faces some obstacles following the Easter Sunday attacks.
Next weekend marks 10 years since the end of the war. However, the anniversary this year is overshadowed by the Easter Sunday attacks.
That being said, the Government is determined to move ahead with the post-war reconciliation process despite the Easter Sunday bombings.
The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and the Office for Reparations are two key components of the post-war reconciliation process.
A media officer at the OMP told The Sunday Morning that details pertaining to approximately 15,000 people reported missing were being entered into the system.
Since being established, the OMP conducted sittings around the country, especially in the North and East, and gathered information related to missing people.
The OMP will now look to finalise the information it possesses on missing people and submit the information for further investigation.
The OMP’s primary mandate is to search for and trace the hundreds reported missing.
In order to expand its work, the OMP opened a regional office in Mannar, but was yet to recruit staff for man the office.
“We placed advertisements to recruit staff for our regional office in Mannar and have received a number of applications,” the media officer said.
He said that the deadline to receive applications was 5 April and once the applicants were shortlisted and staff recruited, the regional office will commence work.
The media officers also said that the OMP hoped to open regional offices in Mannar, Batticaloa, and Jaffna.
OMP faces hiccups
However, the opening of regional offices in Mannar, Batticaloa, and Jaffna were now delayed following the Easter Sunday attacks.
“The regional offices were to open this month, but with the incidents that took place after the Easter Sunday attacks, that process had been put on hold and we are focused on our work based in Colombo,” he said.
Created under the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration, and Discharge of Functions) Act No. 14 of 2016, the office was operationalised with the appointment of members on 28 February 2018.
In August 2018, the OMP issued an interim report proposing interim relief to the families as well as recommendations in the quest for justice and truth.
On 5 March 2019, the Government proposed the allocation of Rs. 500 million in the 2019 Budget to provide Rs. 6,000 in monthly relief to support families of missing persons, including members of the armed forces and Police identified as “missing in action”.
As proposed in the Budget 2019, this monthly relief will be provided to families who obtained Certificates of Absence for their missing family members, until the Office for Reparations resolves their claims.
The OMP welcomed the inclusion of this proposal in the Budget 2019, which was recommended by the OMP to the Government in its Interim Report of August 2018.
The OMP said it was committed to assisting the implementation of the proposal and expanding the reach of the programme to enable the thousands of families of the disappeared and missing to access this relief.
Office for Reparations
Another key component of the post-war reconciliation process is the Office for Reparations.
Following the passage of the Office for Reparations Act No. 34 of 2018 on 9 October 2018 and deliberations of the Constitutional Council, the commissioners for the Office for Reparations were appointed last month for a three-year period.
Chairperson Dhara Wijethilake told The Sunday Morning that the Easter Sunday attacks had not affected the setting up of the new office.
The members of the new office are A.A. Fathihu, Col. (Rtd.) W.W Rathnapriya Bandu, Dr. J.M. Swaminathan, and Sumithra Sellathamby.
The commissioners were selected by an open and competitive process conducted by the Constitutional Council (CC) of Sri Lanka and were nominated by them to the President for appointment.
An allocation of Rs. 700 million was made for the establishment and staffing of the Office for Reparations through Sri Lanka’s national Budget for 2019.
The Office for Reparations is an independent authority tasked with formulating, designing, and implementing reparations policies aimed to redress victims who suffered violations in the course of past conflicts in Sri Lanka.
The Office for Reparations can provide individual or collective reparations and make recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers.
Wijethilake said that after the Easter Sunday attacks, the Cabinet had approved payments to the victims, which was now implemented.
She said that the office was now proceeding with the statutory obligation to formulate policy, and similar tasks.
Govt. determined
The Government said it was determined to take the reconciliation process forward, no matter what.
The process faced a temporary roadblock in October last year during the constitutional crisis.
However, now that the process is moving forward, the Minister of National Integration, Social Progress, Official Languages, and Hindu Affairs Mano Ganesan feels there is no turning back.
The Minister told The Sunday Morning that the need for reconciliation had now been accepted by all communities, and was even seen even after the Easter Sunday attacks.
“People, although angry, did not react as they did in the 1980s, 1970s, and 1950s, despite minor incidents,” he said.
The Minister noted that the Tamils were unlucky and suffered during the dark days of the 1980s.
However, he noted that today, things were different as the public do not react like they did back then. He also went on to state that he was relieved because of it.
“It is because the reconciliation process in this country has paid off. People are able to differentiate between terrorists and innocent people. What we face today is terrorism with an international facet and not a reconciliation crisis. Make no mistake, terrorism needs to be crushed, there is no debate about it. It’s a demand in the reconciliation movement as well,” he said.
Ganesan said that he did not think the reconciliation process will not slow down as a result of the Easter Sunday attacks as it had obtained new strength and lessons from the dark incidents of the past.