Accordingly, the term of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will be extended to May 15, 2011, a statement issued by the President's Office said.
The Media Advisor of the LLRC Lakshman Wickremasinghe told media last week that the term of the LLRC was to expire at the end of November, but will be extended to conduct its hearings until May.
He said that the extension was made due to the requests that had been submitted to grant more time to provide testimonies to the LLRC.
The Commission is to hold one of its sessions in Jaffna for four days starting from the 11th of this month. It also hopes to hold more sessions in several conflict-affected areas including Trincomalee in the East.
President Rajapaksa in May 2010 appointed the eight-member Commission to report on the lessons to be learnt from the events during the period from 21st February 2002 to 19th May 2009. The Commission is chaired by the former Attorney General Chitta Ranjan de Silva.
From the evidence the Commission gathered so far, the LLRC has suggested immediate administrative measures to ease the lives of resettled Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and all people living in the former war-battered areas.
LLRC has formulated these measures from the evidence given at the public hearings by the citizens in the former conflict ridden areas and from other individuals and organizations that are keen to see an early return to normalcy in these areas, with effective action towards reconciliation.
The Commission has a mandate to recommend measures for restorative justice for those affected by the conflict, giving it a broader mandate than commissions held before.
International rights groups critical of the Sri Lankan government allege that the LLRC lacks transparency and does not offer any witness protection.
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