HRW allegations false - Military

8 April 2011 07:17 am

The Sri Lankan Military today denied the latest allegation by the Human Rights Watch that members of the LTTE taken into custody during the last stages of the war have not been accounted for.

“All those taken into custody have been accounted for and their relatives have been notified and given access to see these persons. Therefore there is no truth in these allegations by Human Rights Watch,” Military Spokesperson Maj. Gen Ubaya Madawela told the Daily Mirror.  

The Military was responding to a statement made by the HRW which said that the “government should account for everyone who was taken into custody at the end of Sri Lanka's 26-year-long armed conflict in May 2009 and are feared to have been "disappeared,".  It added that despite numerous requests from families for information about their relatives, the authorities do not appear to have conducted any serious investigations.

Making a statement Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch said that the "The Sri Lankan government needs to respond to all allegations of disappearances with more than a ritual blanket denial,". He further added that the “Family members of the disappeared have the right to know if their loved ones are alive or dead." (DS)