The Sri Lankan government held a ceremony to honour the Civil Defence Force (CDF) for its role during the armed conflict, gifting members with houses, laptops and textbooks.
Additional Secretary to the Defence Ministry S. H. Hettiarachchi praised the role played by the Civil Defence Force, stating that it was a key unit involved in the security forces’ offensive during the armed conflict.
Chandraratne Pallegama, the Director General of the CDF said over 600 houses had been constructed for CDF personnel and presented keys to 240 houses at the ceremony in Colombo. Meanwhile children of CDF troops were gifted ten million rupees worth of text books and three million rupees worth lap tops, reports The Island.
The Civil Defence Force is the forerunner to the “home guards” which terrorised Tamil villagers and gathered intelligence throughout the armed conflict.
The unit has been involved in abductions, land grabs, sexual violence and massacres as documented in reports filed by international human rights organisations.
The unit also falls under direct control of the defence ministry and has recruited Tamil women and men, with reports of coercion, sexual assault and at least one death of a female recruit.
Additional Secretary to the Defence Ministry S. H. Hettiarachchi praised the role played by the Civil Defence Force, stating that it was a key unit involved in the security forces’ offensive during the armed conflict.
Chandraratne Pallegama, the Director General of the CDF said over 600 houses had been constructed for CDF personnel and presented keys to 240 houses at the ceremony in Colombo. Meanwhile children of CDF troops were gifted ten million rupees worth of text books and three million rupees worth lap tops, reports The Island.
The Civil Defence Force is the forerunner to the “home guards” which terrorised Tamil villagers and gathered intelligence throughout the armed conflict.
The unit has been involved in abductions, land grabs, sexual violence and massacres as documented in reports filed by international human rights organisations.
The unit also falls under direct control of the defence ministry and has recruited Tamil women and men, with reports of coercion, sexual assault and at least one death of a female recruit.