Sri Lanka’s second International Defence Seminar will be held from August 8-10 in Colombo, Army Commander Brigadier Jagath Jayasuriya announced on Wednesday.
The conference has been themed ‘Towards Lasting Peace and Stability’ and will focus on ‘post-war 5Rs’ – rehabilitation, re-integration, re-construction, resettlement and reconciliation.
The keynote speaker will be none other than Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who has very recently been in the media spotlight for his rhetoric skills.
Colombo Page said over 100 foreign delegates including former combatants, war-affected communities, political leaders, state officials and academics, from 63 countries are expected to participate.
The Daily Mirror reports that in a press conference on the seminar, Jayasuriya had said:
“No one can challenge or dispute the right of the Army to be serving anywhere in the country. It is their prerogative and area of responsibility.
"The public in Jaffna overwhelmingly support the Army presence and they know very well it is the Army who will come to their help in the event of any emergency.
"I don’t think the Jaffna public would ever dare to allow the Army to move out in any case.”
The first seminar held in 2011 and entitled ‘Defeating Terrorism – the Sri Lankan Experience’, was criticised by human rights organisations.
Human Rights Watch had called on foreign governments to boycott the conference, as it sought to “legitimise the unlawful killing of thousands of civilians”.
