COLOMBO, May 26: The British High Commissioner in Colombo, John Rankin is on the mat for making inappropriate comments on the size of the military presence in the former battle zones in Sri Lanka’s north.
The English press ‘Daily Mirror’ and ‘The Island’ this morning quoted senior external affairs ministry officials as saying comments made by Rankin had been taken note of.
Rankin appears to have incurred the wrath of officials over his statement recorded in a High Commission video wherein he had said “We hope the military presence in the north and east can resemble the level of the military presence in other parts of the country, rather than the very large military presence we continue to have at the moment”.
The British envoy’s comments came only a few days after President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that withdrawal of the troops just to please foreign powers was not possible as there were security needs which warranted military deployment in all parts of the island.
The international community including Rajapaksa’s own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) had called for reduction of the military presence in the north as means of achieving reconciliation. (PTI)
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