Rajapaksa rules out withdrawal of army from north

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today ruled out any possibility of withdrawing army from the former LTTE stronghold in the north.
"There are demands that we remove the troops from the north. This is not a practical thing to do and it will not be done," he said addressing a defence award ceremony here.
He said since the victory of the military four years ago over the LTTE, his government has been accused of not doing enough to provide relief to war affected Tamil population.
With the accusation came the demand for the removal of troops from the north, Rajapaksa said.

Ever since the civil war ended in 2009, different Tamil minority and international rights groups have repeatedly raised the issue of militarisation in the north and demanded troops withdrawal from the area.
The government resisted the calls, saying national security imperatives make it compulsory to retain troops in the north.
With the popular mandate won by the main Tamil party TNA in last month's northern provincial council election, the calls for reducing troop level have once again surfaced.
Responding to criticism, the government released some of the private properties acquired for military purposes during the three decades old conflict.