He was addressing a meeting at Akkaraipattu yesterday (30) that followed a public rally organized by Britto Fernando on behalf of families of missing persons.

It was attended by around 500 women who carried pictures of the missing.

The minister said that 20-odd years after independence, the country had been ruled by killing many youths and making others to disappear.

People of the north-east voted for a new administration to prevent a recurrence, Samaraweera noted.

Agreement has been reached to obtain international assistance in an investigation under a local mechanism into what had happened during the war, said the minister.

Persons responsible for wrongdoing should be punished and laws introduced to prevent such incidents from taking place again, he said.

The missing who could possibly be found would be found and compensation paid, said Samaraweera, promising that no one would be allowed to go missing again.

He recalled how all communities joined together to obtain independence.

Minister Mano Ganeshan and MP M.A. Sumanthiran also participated.