Relatives tell Sri Lanka war panel scores of surrendered Tamil Tigers still missing

Colombo, Sept 21 (ANI): A number of Tamils in Sri Lanka have complained before the government commission investigating the last phase of Tamil Eelam war that their family members who served with the Tamil Tigers disappeared after surrendering by the end of the war in May last year.

According to the BBC, the panel now intends to question security force officials on the subject of missing people.

A woman claimed that her husband and two children, all former Tigers, surrendered to the army after being mediated by two Roman Catholic priests. She further stated that her family and others who surrendered were taken away in 16 buses, but now she reportedly does not have any idea about their whereabouts.

Others, who said their family members were forcibly recruited by the rebels, had shared almost similar stories.

A shocking testimony of N Sundaramoorthy, an agriculture official from within the war zone, revealed that in one incident, shelling and aerial strikes killed some 40 to 45 pregnant women and babies as they queued for food. His own daughter was injured when a bullet went through her throat.

Earlier, the Sri Lankan government said the commission is the definitive way to examine the final years of the conflict and promote reconciliation and rejected international calls for an external inquiry. (ANI)