Photograph: Army.lk
The Sri Lankan army is set to officially declare the country free from mines and explosives by 2022. Although twelve years have passed since the end of the armed conflict in the North-East, intense search operations and raids have continued to be carried out in Tamil communities.
Photograph: Army.lk
In 2020, Sri Lankan security forces conducted a large-scale excavation to recover weapons belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Vavuniya and only found a crowbar and an empty beer can.
Sri Lankan officials have also repeatedly attempted to link the LTTE or former LTTE cadres to several criminal investigations following the armed conflict. In the past year, there have been many incidents of the Sri Lankan state carrying out raids and excavation operations to recover weapons and explosives.
Human rights groups have stressed that former LTTE fighters are victimised and harassed by the Sri Lankan state, with many calling out instances of weapon discoveries as a ploy to normalise the militarisation of the North-East.
Photograph: Army.lk
Since 2002, the Sri Lanka Army Humanitarian Demining Unit (SLAHDU) has “recovered 99,727 Anti-Personnel Mines, 223 Anti-Tank Mines and 42,919 unexploded ordnance or explosives during the Army demining operations” as “identified as hazardous in the north,” reports army.lk.
Now under the instruction of Sri Lankan army commander and accused war criminal Shavendra Silva, the unit is working towards the national target for overall de-mining by the end of the year in 2022.
Major General Nihal Amarasekera and a team of senior officers and commanders toured demining sites in Mullaitivu, Jaffna and Kilinochchi to recommend further measures for progress of their demining goals. Amarasekera highlighted "the importance of reaching the national target by accelerating existing demining capacities.”
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