Ratwatte visits Palaly base
[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Deputy Minister for Defence Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte visited the Palaly SLA base complex yesterday to attend an army sports festival in connection with the Sinhala new year. The sports function was held on the grounds of the Palaly Teachers' Training College which is now part of the SLA base.
The minister distributed prizes to the Jaffna athletes who were successful in games organised by the army in Jaffna town on Tuesday. He told the large gathering of SLA officers and soldiers that there had been only 1000-2000 people when he visited Jaffna two years ago but that today there are more than five hundred thousand. "Therefore, the army should do its duty to help the people lead peaceful lives. Your main concern should be to maintain good relations with the people" he told the gathering. The Minister returned to Colombo in the evening.
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