Sri Lanka's Reconciliation Commission to hear from people in conflict-affected areas

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to probe the events during the last stages of the ethnic conflict is preparing to listen to the people's accounts in the conflict-affected areas.


The eight-member Commission says it has decided to hold public sittings in the provinces, particularly, in affected areas to enable the public in theses areas to have easy access to the Commission, in order to make their representations.
A statement issued by the Commission says holding public sittings will enable the Commission to gather first hand information from the affected areas. The Commission is currently engaged in drawing up a work plan as a part of this process, it said.
The Commission expects to commence public hearings during the month of August 2010.
The Commission has held regular meetings during the month of June 2010 initially focusing on the institutional matters to make preparations for the soon to follow public hearings.
The investigative body has published a public notice in newspapers in all three languages calling for written representations to the Commission on matters related to the Commission's mandate. The public has until August 18th August to make written representations and the Commission urges the people to send them early to facilitate its work.
The Commission will also invite on its own motion persons who represent a broad spectrum of views and who have been actively engaged in the areas falling within the ambit of its Warrant to testify before the Commission.
The Commission is appointed to probe the events in the period between 21st February 2002 to 19th May 2009 and report on the lessons to be learnt from those events and whether any person, group, or institution directly or indirectly bears responsibility for those events.
The Reconciliation Commission chaired by the former Attorney General Chitta Ranjan de Silva includes President's Counsel Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera, Prof. Mohamed Thahir, Professor Karunaratne Hangawatte of the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), Attorneys-at-Law Mohamed Jiffry, Chandirapal Chanmugam, H.M.G. Siripala Palihakkara, Mrs. Manohari Ramanathan and Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama.