 |
A group of Sri Lankan soldiers met with Maithripala Sirisena last week to warn him that Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would fill the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) with those who “couldn’t stomach Sri Lanka’s victory over LTTE terrorism”.
The National War Heroes' Unity headed by Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara met with the Sri Lankan president last week, reports the Ministry of Defence.
The group told The Island that the president had been warned of attempts by both Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and TNA leader R Sampanthan would “utilise unsubstantiated accusations to target the war winning military” and called on him to “review the OMP process and take tangible measures to thwart anti-Sri Lanka agenda”.
Amongst those who may be appointed to the OMP were members of the Global Tamil Forum, decried the soldiers, calling for a ban to be re-imposed on the Tamil diaspora groups. Furthermore, “giving dual citizenship to LTTE activists and pro-LTTE Diaspora posed a serious threat to Sri Lanka,” they added. Though a selection of Tamil diaspora groups are no longer banned by Sri Lanka, many organisations and induvial continue to be listed as “terrorists”.
During the two-hour long meeting, the soldiers also requested that Sri Lankan sergeant Sunil Ratnayake, who is currently on death row over murder of 8 Tamil civilians in the infamous Mirusuvil massacre, be granted a presidential pardon.
They also went on to urge the president not to allow the military to vacate the Tamil North-East, highlighting the military base in Mailaddy in Jaffna. “Mailady is home to vital military installations, including ammo dumps,” said Mr Weerasekara, adding that any withdrawal of troops from the area would “further erode morale”.
See more from The Island here.
