LLRC final report before Nov 15

Chaminda PERERA

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) yesterday said that plans are underway to release its final report before November 15.

The Commission stressed that its final report will be completely based on the observations made by the Commissioners through gathering oral and written evidence from the public and field visits.

According to the commission’s media advisor Lakshman Wickremesinghe, the commission in its final report will not attempt to respond to the Darusman Report in any manner though all Commissioners have fully read it.

“The commissioners have fully read the Darusman’s Report since it was made public. But the final LLRC report is based on the first hand information gathered by the Commission through evidence and fields visits,“ he added.

Wickremesinghe added that the Commission is in the process of analysing the evidence and is to prepare an initial draft soon. He added that the Commission completed testifying the members of the public before the Commission and reiterated that it will bring persons who had already given evidence if further clarification is needed.

It conducted public sittings covering all Divisional Secretariats in the Northern Province. It conducted public sittings in the East, South and many parts of the island which were affected by terrorism.

The Commissioners visited a number of places which has direct involvement with the commission’s mandate. The places visited by them include, hospitals, schools and many other places devastated by the terrorists.

Members of the Commission met the former LTTE combatants who are being rehabilitated by the Government too and toured the area where over 300,000 people were forcibly held by the LTTE terrorists in the Mullaitivu district.

The people who were held by the LTTE testified before the commission when it conducted public sittings in the war ravaged areas in the Mullativu district.

The Government appointed an Inter Agency Advisory Council to implement its interim committee proposals. The commission handed over its interim report to the President last November.

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to inquire into the situation that led to the failure of CeaseFire Agreement and sequence of events that followed up to May 19, 2009.

The commission’s mandate also include to recommendation of the institutional administrative and legislative measured which need to be taken to prevent any recurrence of such concerns in the future and promote national unity and the reconciliation among all communities.