The Forever War?: Military Control in Sri Lanka’s North

25 March 2014 by Crisis Group

Sri Lanka’s army soldiers stand guard in the back of a truck during the opening of a Bartleet Finance Limited investment branch in Jaffna, April 30, 2010. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

The heavy militarisation of Sri Lanka’s northern province after the civil war’s bloody end in 2009 has been the subject of growing domestic and international concern. The large numbers of military personnel in the north, and the deep involvement of the military in the province’s governance, endanger the re-establishment of democratic institutions that i
s necessary to lasting peace (see our Nov 2013 report Sri Lanka’s Potemkin Peace: Democracy Under Fire).

The Forever War Military Control in Sri Lanka’s North by nelvely