A eastern town: Ampara

The bishop alleged that security forces were violating human rights with impunity in the former war zone.

He and a group of senior Catholic witness who were similarly critical of the Sri Lankan government were were testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) on Wednesday.

A member of the commission repeatedly challenged the contention of the clergy that the 27 year-old state of emergency should be lifted.

Missing:

The Bishop of Batticoloa and Trincomalee Kingsley Swampillai, told the commission there were numerous missing and disappeared Sri Lankans whose fate was unknown for many years now.

Most of the cases remained undocumented, said Bishop Swamipillai .

The missing included priests – father Jim Brown who went missing in Jaffna in 2006 and another, Father Joseph Francis, who the bishop said was in his late 70s and had “got involved with” the Tamil Tiger militants while living in their heartland.

Bishop Swamipillai said Father Francis was among those leaving the war zone in May 2009 and passing through the military checkpoint at Omanthai.

At Omanthai while he was being checked, the people who had travelled with him had said that he was taken in for special questioning by the military.

Nobody has seen him thereafter.