SL Military Intelligence recommences recruitment of notorious ex-paramilitary operatives

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 July 2018, 21:53 GMT]
SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the occupying military, and SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe have given green signals to the respective intelligence services under their control to recommence recruitment of former Tamil paramilitary operatives in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils in the North and East, informed ex-paramilitary sources in Jaffna said.

There have been some meetings in the last four weeks targeting the recruitment of former Tamil paramilitary operatives with ‘lucrative offers’ from the SL Commander Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake the Commander of the SL Army. His term has also been extended with one more year by the SL President on Tuesday.

Interviews have been conducted in Jaffna and Vanni by dreaded SL Military Intelligence officers, who were responsible for psy-ops harassments, white-van abductions, enforced disappearances and assassinations during the times of war in the past.

After the end of the genocidal war, they were promoted to high ranks, and many of them remained loyal to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. They were responsible for surveillance and psy-ops operations during the times of Rajapaksa.

With Maithiripala Sirisena becoming the SL president and Ranil Wickramasinghe coming to power as the prime minister, both of them were particular in transferring away Rajapaksa-friendly intelligence officers to new areas or areas close to their homes in the South with a salary increase.

But, some of them are now back in service in the North, according to some of the key EPDP ex-paramilitary operatives who attended the recruitment meetings.

One of their first assignments is to deal with the newly elected representatives to the civic bodies in the North.

The commander of the ‘Sri Lanka’ Army in Jaffna Maj. Gen. Darshana Hettiarachchi has launched a specific surveillance programme to influence, harass and control the democratically elected local bodies in the North.

Hettiarachchi is preoccupied with monitoring the activities of the divisional councils, especially when they are set to pass a resolution in favour of the people demanding the release of SL military-occupied properties, the sources further revealed.