MCM Iqbal, Secretary to several commissions of inquiry in Involuntary Disappearances recalls some of narratives of cases told by witness before the commissions. This is from a taped interview with Basil Fernando
Since I was secretary at two of the separate evidence commissions that were conducting inquiries into disappearances during the so-called period of terror, from the late 1980s to the middle of the 1990s I was able to listen to the evidence given by many of the complainants personally, I was present when the inquiries were being conducted.
And some of the cases remain in my mind, because they were so gory, such brutal cases that I can recollect most of the information pertaining to them. I will just narrate a few of them to give a sample of the kind of brutality that existed during that period.
There was a mother, she was about 60 or a little more than that, who came before the commission. She said that since her son had disappeared, she had been looking for him everywhere until she heard from somebody that there were hundreds of heads of people who had been killed and planted on posts around the valley, on Kappetipola Road in the hill country of Sri Lanka. (more…)
Filed under: abductions, child rights, civil society, corruption, disappearances, human rights, police, rule of law, Sri Lanka, torture, violations, witness protection | Leave a Comment »
Negombo is just a short distance from Colombo, Sri Lanka, and is far away from the north and the east where a military conflict is under way. However, the extent of lawlessness there does not reflect that distance. The law virtually does not exist. You can commit murder and get away with it without much of a problem. The best friends that criminals can have in the area are the policemen.
