OMP: 31 located out of 23,352 complaints
The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) recently said in Jaffna that it located 31 people from the 23,352 complaints received over the years.The OMP said that thousands of other cases remained at various stages of its process. The OMP chairman Mahesh Katulanda said so addressing the media briefing, alongside board members Thambiah Yogarajah and Mirak […]
The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) in Jaffna reported locating 31 individuals out of the 23,352 complaints they received over the years. Chairman Mahesh Katulanda, alongside board members Thambiah Yogarajah and Mirak Raheem, addressed the media briefing on this matter. Out of the initial 23,352 applications, 16,966 were taken up for consideration after excluding complaints related to armed forces members and duplicate applications.
Preliminary investigations were completed in 9,819 cases, representing approximately 42% of the total complaints initially received. About 2,000 applications requiring further investigation have been forwarded to the office's investigations division, with around 800 currently being pursued through letters to relevant institutions.
The OMP did not disclose the criteria used to exclude applications or explain the filtering process through its stages. Additionally, 7,726 complaints have been referred to the Office for Reparations for interim assistance, with 5,540 applicants receiving payments of 200,000 rupees each. This assistance is not compensation but livelihood aid for the dependents of missing persons.
The government and the Ministry of Justice have established a special committee to examine the issue of compensation, with a decision on a potential mechanism to follow its recommendations pending.
Written by urgent.news from The Island Sri Lanka's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
