Military to be soon removed from northern areas: Lanka Minister

Sri Lanka would soon pull out its remaining troops from areas still under military control in the Tamil-dominated northern province that was once an LTTE bastion, a prominent Tamil minister has said.

Douglas Devananda, the leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party and a minister in the Sri Lankan Cabinet has said that he needed a month's time to take steps to remove military presence from areas in the Northern Province.

"We have successfully taken the military presence off in most of the areas in the Northern Province. Only two in tenth of the areas are still under military control. We will soon make this area free of military presence. I need a month's time from you to work on this," Devananda said while addressing people at Mathagal, some 16km from here.

Mathagal, one of the fishing hamlets in Northern Province, has been under the control of the Sri Lankan Navy since 1992, after the government troops overwhelmed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

While military presence has been removed from most other areas, Lankan Navy continues to be in a section that includes Mathagal village, which has over 500 fishing families.

"I solely cannot decide that (on reduction of armed forces from the area)... there cannot be any High Security Zones anywhere in Sri Lanka, but there can be army camps," Devananda said while replying to a query from a group of visiting journalists from Chennai on whether he was taking steps to reduce troops in the area.

"We have brought some considerable reduction in troops. We will reduce more troops. I till take some time... If there are any disturbances made by the army, you can ask me. I will not keep my eyes closed," said the minister for traditional industries and small enterprises.