COLOMBO: In what was seen as a bold step towards tracing missing persons, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday signed a special order assigning a government minister to supervise setting up of an office of missing persons (OMP).

State Minister for Reconciliation A. H. M. Fowzie will supervise the office that will be effectively under President Sirisena himself as the minister is his second-in-command.

Tamil National Alliance MP M. A. Sumanthiran said that the next step would be appointment of seven commissioners for the OMP by the constitutional council to oversee the work.

The minority Tamils have been agitating for the past two years for the setting up of the OMP having received strong support for their call from domestic and international human rights lobbies and the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2017