Army strength not reduced – Defence Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 September 2002, 13:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Defence Minister said Tuesday that the Army camps removed from areas in the northeast province under the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers have been relocated close to their original locations and denied the number of soldiers deployed in Tamil areas had been reduced.

"The number of army camps in the northeast province is at present 486. Of this only 120 camps have been removed according to the ceasefire agreement. The removed camps have been re-established three hundred meters away from the original places," said Mr. Tilak Marapone, answering a question by a Marxist Janatha Vimukthi parliamentarian Mr. Sunil Handunetti.

“However the number of army soldiers in the northeast province has not been reduced by any means," Mr. Marapone added.

"The army occupies sixty one public buildings in the northeast province. 6197 soldiers are stationed in these camps," the Defence Minister said further.