• Handwritten prison and rehabilitation records under scrutiny
• 23,352 missing-person cases recorded, including 16,966 active civilian cases

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) has launched a ‘special silent operation’ to trace individuals who disappeared during the 1971 and 1988–’89 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) insurrections, targeting historical records held in prisons, rehabilitation camps, and displacement camps, alongside a detailed update on its active caseload.

OMP Chairman Mahesh Katulanda, Commissioners Mirak Raheem and T. Yogarajah, and Executive Director J. Thatparan outlined the new phase of the office’s work during a media briefing on Thursday (13). 

This phase turns investigative focus towards historical records from the two earlier periods of unrest, at a time when the OMP’s work has largely centred on cases arising from the more recent civil conflict. 

“We are looking into prisons, rehabilitation camps, and displaced camps where people were held,” Katulanda said, describing the search as vital to establishing the fate of those arrested or detained decades ago.

Explaining the scale and difficulty of the undertaking, he said: “If we look back at the history of this country regarding prisons, rehabilitation camps where detainees were held, or displacement camps where displaced persons stayed, we are silently conducting a special operation regarding those camps where people were said to have been taken and sent for rehabilitation in ’71 and ’88/’89. 

“Likewise, the ’88/’89 era was not a technologically advanced era, and in ’71 technology was not that advanced either; all those records were kept in writing on paper and in books.”

Katulanda said this meant investigators were having to manually search through handwritten books and paper records, a process he described as painstaking but necessary.

Raheem framed the effort as a significant expansion of the OMP’s mandate to address what he called the long-term struggle of families dating back to the 1980s and said that it was part of ensuring the State fulfilled its legal obligation to provide answers and redress to all victims of enforced disappearance, not only those from the more recent conflict.

Beyond the historical cases, Raheem said that the OMP had also been proactive in its interventions with current Prisons authorities, working to prevent the recurrence of enforced disappearances. Citing a recent complaint involving six specific detainees following unrest at the Negombo Prison, Katulanda said the OMP had confirmed through official channels that all six were in custody at present and that the office was coordinating meetings between them and their families.

Giving a detailed account of how the OMP’s database had evolved, Katulanda said that the office had originally inherited a list of approximately 42,000 complaints from various past commissions and organisations.

Through a verification process to remove duplicates – including cases where multiple relatives had separately reported the same missing individual – the list was initially refined to 14,992 unique individuals. As public trust in the institution has grown, new complaints have continued to be registered, bringing the current total to 23,352 records, according to Katulanda, of which 16,966 are active civilian cases.

Thatparan said that the OMP had personally met with 9,072 families for face-to-face inquiries and that the office had established the fate of 31 individuals to date: 25 cases have been fully verified as deaths, while six others are known to be living, pending final verification. 

On the OMP’s role in mass grave investigations, Raheem stated that the office was observing several high-profile excavations and continued to advocate for a multidisciplinary approach involving forensic archaeology, anthropology, and genetics.

In Kokkuthoduvai in Mullaitivu, he said, archaeologists had uncovered 68 human remains believed to be of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters; despite public appeals regarding clothing tags and ‘dog tags’ found at the site, no identifying information has been received from the public.

In Mannar, excavation at the Sathosa site has unearthed more than 300 skeletons and the OMP awaits a final archaeological report; Raheem said that the office had advised the court not to rely on a single report, such as carbon dating, in reaching conclusions. 

At the Colombo Port site, 106 human remains have been found, with forensic reports currently being finalised. The Chemmani site, which Raheem described as “very complicated,” has yielded more than 540 human remains to date, with excavation continuing past the 100-day mark. In Kurukkalmadam in Batticaloa, radar tests were carried out following witness reports that 140 Muslims had been abducted from the area in 1990; while the excavation has yet to find remains, Raheem said witnesses were often afraid to break ranks with the community to come forward with evidence.

Thatparan reported significant progress on administrative redress for families. He said that the OMP had recommended 2,716 Certificates of Absence (COAs), of which 335 families had already obtained them, while 464 families had received certificates of death following OMP recommendations in cases where an individual’s fate had been confirmed.

Raheem stated that the COA had specifically been introduced for families who were nervous about accepting a certificate of death while they continued to hold on to hope for answers. 

Thatparan also confirmed that 5,427 families had received a one-time revival payment of Rs. 200,000 as interim relief. Katulanda clarified that this payment was not final compensation but immediate support while a broader reparations package was finalised.

Addressing the temporary removal of the list of military missing persons from the OMP website, which the office said was for technical upgrades, Katulanda announced that the OMP was developing a more advanced, comprehensive database in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Economy. 

“We expect to launch a comprehensive database that everyone can accept by February 2027,” he said. Separately, the Government has authorised the recruitment of 69 new staff members, including lawyers and psychosocial officers, to strengthen the office’s investigative capacity.

The OMP will commemorate the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on 25 August in Jaffna, with a secondary ceremony held in Matara. Katulanda said the event’s theme, ‘Victims First: Immediate Action,’ reflected the office’s commitment to prioritising the needs of affected families.