The chairman of the Sri Lankan government's Presidential Commission into Missing Persons said the authorities had not set a deadline to complete its investigations.
The commission was announced over two years ago, under the previous Sri Lankan government led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The commission’s Chairman Maxwell Paranagama told The Sunday Leader that the commission would not yet fix a date as to when it would conclude, stating that investigations were still ongoing.
Last month, marking the “The Day of the Disappeared”, Amnesty International stated that successive Sri Lankan governments have appointed and largely ignored commissions to investigate the issue of disappearances.
The government had previously announced the commission would release a second interim report, just days before the release of the UN's report, the OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka, which is examining mass atrocities committed on the island.
Mr Paranagama said the interim report would be handed over to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in the “near future”.
See related articles:
Successive Sri Lankan authorities have ignored commissions – Amnesty International (28 Aug 2015)
Govt's missing persons interim report to be released ahead of OISL (25 Aug 2015)