He was speaking to 'Sri Lanka Mirror' over the recent comments made by Justice Maxwell Paranagama, Chairman of the Sri Lankan Commission on missing persons and war crimes.

Justice Paranagama said that the death toll in the final phase of Eelam War IV was not 40,000, as claimed in the 2011 report of the Panel of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, but probably a little above 7,000.

"According to Fr. Rayappu Joseph, there is a grave discrepancy between the govt. figures on the numbers who entered the No Fire Zone and those who came out of it."

Also, this commission was appointed by the Rajapaksa government just to portray it as a commission to the international community. Not to reveal the truth. Therefore, it is hard to have faith on this commission, he added.

Fernando also says that in the backdrop that prevailed back then, many who had complained before the commission were intimidated. Thus, many victims prefered not to come before the commission, he added.

"The other factor is the impossibility of testifying in cases where entire families were destroyed. This report is not one formulated to reveal the truth. It is formulated only to show to the international community."

Statements made by those such as Justice Paranagama would lead to people starting to distrust the government, he added.

Therefore, it is the government's responsibility to ensure a mechanism to enable Tamil nationals to come forward and testify without fear, Fernando said, adding that the truth should be sought through means of such accountability.