Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said necessary investigations would be conducted before a death certificate is issued for thousands of people missing from the country's three-decade-long LTTE war.<br />'' <br />'' Issuing a statement to clarify certain media reports quoting President stating that 20,000 listed as missing are dead, the President's Media Division said in all these reports, the crucial detail that necessary investigations would be conducted before a death certificate would be issued had been wittingly or unwittingly omitted.<br />'' <br />'' It said President did not make any such acknowledgment and nor did he make a reference to a number as missing or dead, in his meeting with United Nations Resident Coordinator Ms Hanna Singer. The statement said the meeting between President Rajapaksa and Ms Singer last week was in itself a general discussion that touched on a number of topics. It said addressing the issue of missing persons was discussed as a response to a query by Ms Singer.<br />'' <br />'' President Rajapaksa observed that because bodies have not been recovered, families do not know the fate of those who had disappeared adding that most of these families attest that those disappeared had been recruited or forcibly coned by the LTTE. He had said steps would be taken to issue a death certificate and the necessary support for the families to rebuild their lives. <br />''  <br />