Both cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne and military spokesman Brig. Jayanath Jayaweera said at yesterday’s (07) cabinet news briefing that they had not seen a report released on January 06 by ITJP led by Yasmin Sooka that made the allegations.

Senaratne said white vans had not been tasked with abducting people, and that any vehicle can be used to kidnap people, but did not directly reject the abduction accusations.

Received no reports

He went onto say the defence ministry has not received any such reports.

Brig. Jayaweera said he monitored all the newspapers, but did not see this particular news item.

No abductions have been reported officially, he said, asking journalists not to take any seriously if such news is published in a website.

The ITJP and FFT have charged that abductions and torture by the military continued even after Maithripala Sirisena became president.