State Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijewardene, speaking at an event held at the Cadets Headquarters in Rantambe, on Sunday, said that there is no need to pay heed to extremist requests.

The State Minister of Defence stated that the chief minister of the Northern Province with a group of extremist politicians had organised a hartal movement in Jaffna. The state minister said:

As the government, this is seen as an attempt to instill extremism among the people in the north, at a time when we as a government are taking steps towards reconciliation. But no matter what demands they put forward, the government will not take any steps to remove the army camps in the North and these camps will continue to operate.

“We as a government will continue this process of reconciliation. We actually don’t even have to listen to their demands..”, said the State Minister.

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