Eastern Province: One security guard for each six persons

Is the Eastern Province under military rule?
(Lanka-e-News, 2007 Dec. 20, 8.00PM)
250,000 civil defense personnel have been recruited for the security of the
Eastern Province in addition to the three armed forces, police
and home guards, said Media Minister Lakshman Yapa at the
cabinet press briefing today (20).
The Government provides salaries, firearms and ammunition to
these personnel who work attached to temples and village
offices etc. As Lanka-e-News learns, almost all the Buddhist
temples of the Eastern Province have been used for military
purposes. Such temples have been provided a pick up vehicle
and a walkie-talkie and 40 armed personnel of Civil Defense
Force are attached to the temple.
A Civil Defense Personnel is entitled to Rs. 13,000 salary, a
mobile phone and Rs. 300,000 loan to build a house.
A freelance journalist who travelled in the Eastern Province
recently revealed these facts to Lanka-e-News. No one is
allowed to photograph these areas that are under strict control
of Army.
The total population in the Eastern Province is 1.5 million.
Therefore, one per each six persons is in Civil Defense Force.

President to revert back to the ‘province’
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has agreed to make the
‘province’ the unit of devolution instead of the ‘district’, as
earlier proposed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Minister
Douglas Devananda told media.

Prabhakaran should be killed for lasting peace in Sri Lanka,
says Devananda

Friday, December 21, 2007, 14:44 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
"LTTE leader Prabhakaran cannot survive in a political setup." Dec 21, Colombo: Senior Minister and member of the Tamil community, Douglas Devananda, says LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran should be killed in order to achieve peace in the country.
“As long as Prabhakaran is alive, he won't allow anyone to solve the (Tamil) problem,” Minister Devananda told a group of foreign journalists in Colombo.

“Politically or physically, LTTE leader Prabhakaran cannot survive in a political setup; he will not come forward for political process. He wants a piece of land to rule as a dictator,” said
Mr. Devananda. While stressing that the ethnic conflict should be solved politically, Devananda also said provincial councils should fully function to win the confidence of the majority of Tamils, thus paving the way for a final solution.