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| Tuesday, 10 February 2004 |
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Ceasefire Agreement will continue - Army Commander by Ramani Kangaraarachchi The Ceasefire Agreement will continue despite the political change, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle said yesterday adding that he believed that the LTTE too would adhere to the same. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the International Humanitarian Law & Human Rights Advanced Training Course for Military Officers held at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute today. Appreciating the efforts taken by the Directorate of IHL & HR of the Army in training officers and soldiers on the subject he said the number of HR violations have been dropped remarkably as a result. Referring to the past incidents of disappearances, he said that the responsibility of HR violations had to be taken by the senior officers. He also pointed out the importance of teaching spoken Tamil for the soldiers. "Without that we cannot interact with the Tamil community. We have to be professional to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil community" he said. Five thousand seven hundred officers and soldiers have been trained by the Army so far in Tamil, 1250 have obtained the proficiency in the Tamil language examinations conducted by the Department of Official Languages. Finally he said that officers should also be trained in counselling to help the soldiers in their personal problems and prevent the cases of committing suicide by them. Thirty six selected officers commenced training under Sri Lanka Army's 5 year IHL & HR Training Plan funded by the British High Commission. Cyril Herath, Secretary Defence was the Chief Guest at this event and Chairman Human Rights Commission T. Thiyagarajah, Head of ICRC and senior officers were present. |
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