The militarisation of the Jaffna peninsula looks set to continue, as the Sri Lankan army announced that it will be taking on a project to renovate 100 Hindu temples this week.
Defying repeated calls for demilitarisation of the North-East, dozens of uniformed Sri Lankan soldiers took part in a religious ceremony at the Thelippalai Muththumari Amman Hindu Kovil last week, which was renovated by Sri Lankan troops.
Also present at the ceremony was the head of Sri Lanka’s army Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake.
An official military website said that the military had carried out “careful observations” of temples in the area before deciding that “many of those temples are badly in need of such repairs and renovations after culmination of the humanitarian operations in the peninsula in May 2009”.
The announcing of the project comes despite calls for the military to remove itself from civilian activities in the North-East. The military however, which remains stationed across Tamil areas, has been heavily involved in civilian projects.
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