By Xinhua,
Colombo: The Sri Lankan government will recruit Tamils in the police force, an official said Tuesday.
There had been an overwhelming response from Tamils to join as constables in northern Jaffna, police spokesman Nimal Mediwaka told reporters.
“We received more than 6,000 applications for 500 vacancies,” Mediwaka said.
He said no police recruitment was possible in Jaffna since 1979 due to the Tamil insurgency.
Mediwaka said with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May, the government now wants to open new police stations in former rebel held areas.
He said all applicants would be subject to screening to verify past records.
Before the conflict began in the mid-1980s, majority of the police personnel deployed in Tamil dominated regions, were from the majority Sinhala community. Tamils are in minority in this island nation.