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Two villages in the Vadamaraadchi region of the Jaffna peninsula saw Christmas events organised by the Sri Lankan Army.
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Soldiers of the 55th Division, based in Vetrilaikerni near Elephant Pass, dressed up as Santa and in traditional Singhalese clothes, singing songs in Singhalese, English and Tamil.
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Pictures on the “Civil Military Coordination” website, show dozens of children watching the show put on by the soldiers, many of whom would have taken part in combat during the brutal end-phase of the armed conflict in 2009.
We wrote about the military presence in the Tamil homeland in a previous editorial:
"The Sri Lankan state has relentlessly continued to consolidate its militarisation of the North-East since the armed conflict drew to a close in 2009. Regardless of international efforts at closed door diplomacy and the occasional public wrist slapping, the Sri Lankan state has shown no signs of relenting. The burgeoning military budget, the grabbing of civilian lands for military housing and establishments, and the military’s saturating presence within everyday civilian life has continued; not only contrary to well-trodden paths of post-conflict reconciliation, but in brazen defiance of international criticism.
"It is not the physical deployment of Sri Lankan military soldiers in the North-East, but a state of terror imposed on the Tamil nation."
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