Sumanthiran says time not right for salary increase to OMP members

The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) has rejected a proposal to increase salary and various payments to Chairman and members of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), according to the Communication Department of Parliament.

Kurunegala District lawmaker Anura Priyadarshana Yapa chaired the meeting at Parliament, where COPF discussed the issue at hand. The Communication Department quoted TNA Jaffna District MP M. A. Sumanthiran, PC, as having strongly opposed the proposal in view of the current situation in the country. Sumanthiran received the backing of all other members of the COPF, hence the decision to dismiss the proposal.

Wartime IGP Jayantha Wickremaratne recently received the appointment as Chairman of the OMP established during the Yahapalana administration in terms of the OMP Act passed in August 2016.

Current President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Saliya Peiris, PC, functioned as the first Chairman of the OMP, one of the key mechanisms established in line with the previous understanding with the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council.

Political sources said that civil society activists had strongly opposed the appointment of former IGP as head of the OMP. (SF)