NewsPresident Maithripala Sirisena handed over the appointment letters to the commissioners of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (Feb 28), the government news portal reported. The OMP is tasked with determining the status of all missing persons in Sri Lanka and is the first pillar of the Transitional Justice mechanisms under design and implementation. The Commissioners were appointed for a 3-year period include;Mr Saliya Pieris, PC – Chairman/ OMPMs Jayatheepa Punniyamoorthy – Member/OMPMajor General (Rtd.) Mohanti Antonette Peiris – Member/ OMPDr Sriyani Nimalka Fernando – Member/ OMPMr Mirak Raheem – Member/ OMPMr Somasiri K Liyanage – Member/ OMPMr Kanapathipillai Venthan – Member/ OMPSri Lanka’s National Budget for 2018 also made an allocation of Rs 1.3bn to establish the OMP. The Commissioners were selected in an open and competitive process conducted by the Constitutional Council (CC) of Sri Lanka and were nominated by them for appointment to the President.

Source: Sunday Times March 01, 2018 06:33 UTC