Almost ten years since the end of the armed conflict, the Sri Lankan military has approved the permanent appointment of nearly 39,000 Civil Security Department personnel in a ceremony this month, Colombo Page reports.
The CSD orginates from the National Home Guard Service which was effectively a volunatary paramilitary organisation run by the Sri Lankan government in border villages to the North-East where locals were recruited to provide intelligence on Tamil armed resistance movements.
The CSD continues to function as a supplementary unit to the military and police for 'national security'.
Its involvement and recruitment drive in the North-East has been widely criticised by civil society activists who have expressed concern over the ongoing militarisation of the region.
The appointments came as as new recruits completed their probationary period.
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