The UN on Friday lauded Sri Lanka for setting up the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), terming it a significant milestone for all searching for nearly 20,000 people who are still missing eight years after the end of nearly three-decade-long brutal civil war. <br/><br/>Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena signed the gazette on the OMP yesterday, a move which has drawn praise from the international community. <br/><br/>Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutereres, said that establishment of the OMP was a significant milestone for all Sri Lankans still searching for the truth about their missing loved ones.<br/>According to the government estimates, around 20,000 people are still missing due to various conflicts including the 30-year-long separatist war with Lankan Tamils in the north and east which claimed the lives of at least 100,000 people. <br/><br/>The LTTE, which led the separatist war for a separate Tamil homeland, was finally crushed by the Lankan military in 2009 with the death of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.