The Sri Lankan Army has suspended a planned recruitment of 10,000 men as the new government prepared to launch a fresh peace initiative, military sources said.
The army had set up a major advertising campaign to launch the recruitment drive from earlier this week to fill a large number of vacancies created by desertions and the high rate of casualties, the sources said. The recruitment plans were drawn up some months ago, but with the new government taking office it was felt that it was better to wait and see, a military source said.
He said the new government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was still assessing the situation within the military establishment amid moves to go in for a possible de-escalation of the military conflict. Defence sources said that any moves by the military to recruit large numbers at a delicate time when the new government was trying to start peace negotiations would have been seen as sabotaging the peace process.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe managed to wrest control over the defence ministry by persuading President Chandrika Kumaratunga to give up the crucial portfolio she held earlier. Under the tense cohabitation government, the President and Parliament are from rival parties. But Wickremesinghe has moved to assert the authority of parliament while walking a tightrope with the president still enjoying considerable amount of power.
Tigers marked the first day of the government by announcing a ceasefire for a period of one month from Christmas eve. Bureau Report