The Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights yesterday (May 6) established a 24-hour hotline enabling the public to seek information on questionable arrests and alleged detentions, abductions and disappearances.

The public could access the hotline on 011 2676413 or 060 2119246. People who seek information would be able to clarify matters in all three languages - Sinhala, Tamil and English.

This follows concerns by the families of persons who are thought to have been taken into custody or detained by government authorities other than the police or thought to have been abducted or disappeared.

The hotline will be operational for a period of eight months – May to December this year. According to the Ministry the necessity for continuing with this initiative will be assessed on the basis of need.