‘Government will extend highest respect to security forces’ – Sirisena

01 Feb  2017

Sri Lanka’s president stated that his government would “extend its highest respect to the security forces,” as he praised troops at a military ceremony on Monday.

Maithripala Sirisena stated that his government “will execute its responsibility to strengthen them to help to win their future challenges, gratefully remembering their commitment made through many a sacrifice during the period of conflict”.

His comments, during the awarding of the first-ever President's Truncheon and the Regimental Truncheon to the Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR), come ahead of a United Nations Human Rights Council session in Geneva next month, where accountability for mass atrocities will be discussed. Sri Lankan troops are accused of massacring tens of thousands of Tamil civilians during the final stages of the armed conflict.

According to Mr Sirisena’s official website, the Sri Lankan president “commended the pride and great service rendered by Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment for the national security in the country”. He went on to praise the “soldiers’ unparalleled achievements, exemplary valour, gallantry, dedication and commitment to the cause, and more distinctively, its War Heroes’ unmatched supreme sacrifices in the battlefields”.

“The SLSR had played an important role during the humanitarian operations,” said Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence.