The top cease-fire monitor in Sri Lanka flew Thursday to the island’s east to meet with army and rebel commanders and Muslim and Tamil community leaders to try to end a spate of murders of Muslims, allegedly by the guerrillas. Tensions have been mounting in the island’s east – where the majority of Sri Lanka’s 1.3 million Muslims live – after at least four people were killed by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels earlier this month. Since then, the area has been hit by a string of protests against the insurgents. The government says it will recruit and deploy 550 Muslim policemen to the east to improve security amid reports that Muslims are arming themselves against possible attacks. But representatives of a mainstream Tamil political party have objected to the recruitment. “Under the present circumstances, attempts to create a police force will give a wrong signal to Tamils in the area,” R. Sambandan, a leader of the Tamil National Alliance, told reporters in Colombo. He said security should be provided equally to all communities and his party had raised its objections during a meeting with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday. Full Story
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