LEGISLATION TO SET UP TRUTH COMM. SHORTLY

The government will enact legislation to set up a truth and reconciliation commission shortly, Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday.

Speaking during the Samurdhi distribution ceremony in Jaffna yesterday the minister told the TNA MPS present at the function to be patient.“we ask you to be patient as a government which had done things for the North. We have already set up the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), a reparation office will also be set up soon. We will also bring in legislation to set up a truth and reconciliation commission soon. All this will happen in time,” the minister said.

Referring to the situation in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks, Minister Samaraweera said certain politicians and media were carrying out the agendas of politicians in order to create another black July. “Actually, 99.9 per cent of Muslims are moderates, though some forces are trying to show that all Muslims are radicals,” he said.