Military in Jaffna district to stay, says SLA Commander

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 January 2011, 01:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, while addressing a news conference at the army headquarters in Colombo, said that the Sri Lanka's defence ministry will not move out the security forces stationed in the Jaffna peninsula, the state-run Dinamina newspaper said in a front page article Friday.

The SLA Commander further said no plans are afoot to relax the security imposed in the Jaffna peninsula and across other parts of Sri Lanka, Dinamina added.

The security forces will continue to be stationed in all parts of Sri Lanka to maintain strict law and order in Sri Lanka, Jayasuriya was reported as saying.

“While the police was engaging in maintain the peace and order, whenever the necessity arises, the military will step in to assist the police to maintain law and order,” the SLA Commander said, according to the paper.

The statement follows a similar announcement in Jaffna by the colonial commander of the occupying SL military, Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe in a meeting held in the district secretariat Saturday.

"Mounted on bicycles, the SL military in Jaffna will be ‘patrolling’ the streets. They may not enter houses but will be engaged in street checks. They will act in the same way they were functioning during war times. The military cannot be confined to barracks," the Jaffna Commander was reported as saying in the Secretariat meeting.