A wide range of civil society actors have expressed 'urgent concerns' regarding the Sri Lankan government's proposed Office of Missing Persons (OMP), and called for 'substantial international involvement', in a letter to President Maithripala Sirisena.

The signatories, which included members of southern civil society and Tamil civil society from the North-East, noted that the government is yet to share the ideas for the mechanism and said there were concerns about continuing violations, such as white van abductions and harassment of victims' families by security forces.

The letter urged that justice cannot be compromised and that the OMP should facilitate rather than impede justice mechanisms.

"We reject the idea that seeking truth may be separated from victim families’ right to justice, and insist that the pursuit of these two rights be recognized as complementary. In this regard, a model that excludes or insulates the OMP from sharing information gathered during tracing investigations with a criminal investigative process would be unacceptable. Information available to the OMP must be made available to other transitional justice mechanisms, with appropriate safeguards in the interests of protection of witnesses or victim families,

"We strongly suggest that the Government rename the proposed Office as ‘Office of Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons’, so as to reflect accurately the mandate of the body," the letter further said.

"We are also concerned about, and would like to draw the Government’s attention to continuing incidents of harassment and intimidation of victim families and activists that are not helpful in creating a conducive environment for public consultations or operationalization of the OMP mechanism. The continued use of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the lack of due process in carrying out arrests and resuming the use of white vans in the past month have heightened the sense of fear and insecurity among affected people."

The leader of the Pivithiru Hela Urumaya, Udaya Gammanpila, said the EU's GSP+ trade concessions "are not a must", after it emerged that the EU imposed strict conditions on its re-granting to Sri Lanka.

Mr Gammanpila, who came third in Colombo in the general election, said the GSP plus scheme was first granted to Sri Lanka in 2004 and lost in 2010.

The current Sri Lankan government continues to keep “much of the war machinery” in place said UN Special Rapporteur Monica Pinto, at a press conference in Colombo on Saturday.

"The government has changed, the war is over,” said Ms Pinto. “But much of the war machinery is still in place."

The Special Rapporteur went on to state that “Sri Lanka is at a crucial moment in its history”.

“It is now critical and urgent to replace the legal framework that allowed serious human rights violations to happen and set up sound democratic institutions and legal standards that will give effect to and protect the human rights embodied in the constitution or Sri Lanka as well as the international human rights treaties it has voluntarily ratified,” she said.

Claims of “international terrorism and organized crime… can never justify the continuation of repressive practices or a normative framework that contributes to violations of fundamental rights and civil liberties,” she added.

Ms Pinto also outlined steps the government should take to implement judicial reform and bring about prosecutions for violations of international humanitarian law.

“The government should ensure that the bodies set up or existing which have to deal with these issues, be composed by independent and impartial people, completely beyond any questioning by the society, well learned in law,” she said.

The Sri Lankan army organised a “mega musical extravaganza” in Jaffna to “strengthen the cordial relations prevailing between the Army and the civilians”, reports an official military website.

A memorial event was held in Jaffna last week, marking the tenth anniversary of the murder of two Uthayan journalists.