The controversial practice of making the children attending certain pre-schools in the Sinhala military-occupied Vanni to wear uniforms of the so-called Civil Security Department, a military outfit of genocidal Sri Lanka, has surfaced again, Tamil rights activists in Ki’linochchi told TamilNet on Tuesday. The CSD, which is an official SL military-outfit, is still operating the farms and pre-schools, where it has deployed around 10,000 enslaved ex-members of the LTTE as a slave workforce. Following strong criticisms, there was a brief period where the SL military kept a low profile in the practice of enforcing the uniform on pre-school children for some time. Now, there is another attempt of promoting CSD branded uniforms in the preschools in Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts.
CSD Lion ‘uniforms’ to pre-school children in Vanni. The letters are also in Sinhala.
The NPC has been continuously questioning the involvement of Sri Lankan military, while there is an Education Ministry under the NPC prepared to take over the pre-schools.
SL President Maithiripala Sirisena was also on the record agreeing with the concerns that the military should not be intervening in the education and that the NPC should be taking charge of the operation of such preschools.
However, Director General of the ‘Civil Security Department’ Chandraratne Pallegama, has categorically refused to hand over the preschools to the NPC.
If the SL President Sirisena is the Commander-in-Chief of the three armed forces of the SL State, how could an official in charge of a department organized under the Defence Ministry could refuse to cooperate with the requested transition, ask the activists in Vanni.
In reality, the SL President has been manipulating himself away from the demand of handing over the so-called CSD-run farms and pre-schools, the activists further said.
SL Governor to Northern Province Reginald Cooray has also been promoting the operation of the CSD and military-run farms.
At the same time, NPC was not allocated funds by the SL State to operate the pre-schools or the farms in Vanni.
Present attempt of providing CSD branded uniforms for preschool teachers and students also has an agenda of orientating the people in the occupied Vanni to get accustomed to the practice of military-administration of civil affairs.
The move should be seen as a SL government tactic for sustaining the conditions for slave-mentality among the civilians towards the Sinhala military, rights activists in Ki’linochchi said.
