‘Lanka made significant progress’
9 Aug 2012 7:30 AM IST
Asserting that Sri Lanka has made remarkable progress since the end of the war with the LTTE, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said reconciliation remains the only issue on which the government can be criticised.
‘Considering the indisputable progress that has been achieved on demining, reconstruction, resettlement, rehabilitation and reintegration, reconciliation has become the only issue on which those who wish to criticise Sri Lanka can dwell,’ Gotabhaya said.
Gotabhaya was making the keynote address at a three-day international defence seminar which got underway on Wednesday. Over 100 delegates from 43 countries including India, US, UK and China are taking part.
Since the conflict ended, Sri Lanka has come under increasing international focus for lack of progress in achieving reconciliation with the Tamil minority.
Last March, the island faced a US moved, India backed resolution which urged the Rajapaksa administration to expedite the reconciliation process.
Commenting on the progress with regard to the near 300,000 internally displaced people housed in government welfare camps since the end to the armed conflict, Gotabhaya said that only 5,424 individuals from 1,597 families remain in the last functioning Welfare Village.
‘These IDPs are from areas that have the highest concentration of mines, which have taken a little longer than expected to render safe. The Government intends to complete the resettlement of all IDPs by the middle of this month. Resettling nearly 300,000 internally displaced people in just three years is a very significant accomplishment,’ he said.
Responding to criticism of excessive military presence in the former conflict zones, Gotabhaya said the number of troops deployed and the number of camps remaining in the North and East has also been reduced to a bare minimum.
‘Troops will remain in strategic locations for security purposes, but their presence will be non-intrusive. The day-to-day maintenance of law and order has already been handed over to the Police.’
To restore normalcy as quickly as possible disarming the armed groups that had stood against the LTTE in these areas during the war was very important, he said.
‘Considering the indisputable progress that has been achieved on demining, reconstruction, resettlement, rehabilitation and reintegration, reconciliation has become the only issue on which those who wish to criticise Sri Lanka can dwell,’ Gotabhaya said.
Gotabhaya was making the keynote address at a three-day international defence seminar which got underway on Wednesday. Over 100 delegates from 43 countries including India, US, UK and China are taking part.
Since the conflict ended, Sri Lanka has come under increasing international focus for lack of progress in achieving reconciliation with the Tamil minority.
Last March, the island faced a US moved, India backed resolution which urged the Rajapaksa administration to expedite the reconciliation process.
Commenting on the progress with regard to the near 300,000 internally displaced people housed in government welfare camps since the end to the armed conflict, Gotabhaya said that only 5,424 individuals from 1,597 families remain in the last functioning Welfare Village.
‘These IDPs are from areas that have the highest concentration of mines, which have taken a little longer than expected to render safe. The Government intends to complete the resettlement of all IDPs by the middle of this month. Resettling nearly 300,000 internally displaced people in just three years is a very significant accomplishment,’ he said.
Responding to criticism of excessive military presence in the former conflict zones, Gotabhaya said the number of troops deployed and the number of camps remaining in the North and East has also been reduced to a bare minimum.
‘Troops will remain in strategic locations for security purposes, but their presence will be non-intrusive. The day-to-day maintenance of law and order has already been handed over to the Police.’
To restore normalcy as quickly as possible disarming the armed groups that had stood against the LTTE in these areas during the war was very important, he said.
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