A senior Sinhala Buddhist monk told Sri Lankan government minister Mahinda Samrasinghe that army camps must remain in the North in order to preserve national security, reports The Island.
The Mahanayake of Asgiriya, Warakagoda Sri Gunnaratana told Minister Samarasinghe that army camps in the North must not be removed, despite repeated calls for the military to be withdrawn from Tamil areas of the island.
Mr Samarasinghe, who represented the previous Sri Lankan government in Geneva as the president’s special envoy on human rights agreed with the monk, telling him that “the army security in the north is essential".
“Peace had been restored in the north again,” said Mr Samamrasinghe, stating that the “international community was extending its unstinted support to the country”.
The minister went on to add that any problems with the international community had now dissipated since the election of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
“The IMF had approved a very handsome loan,” he said adding that “the GSP+ would be granted to Sri Lanka.”
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