Even in Colombo you can see that, and I think that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission did say that the MOD, should withdraw from inappropriate civilian administrative activities. Their response to that, I think if you look up the website of the Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka, you will see that it is called the ministry of defence and urban renewal. I think it's urban renewal, but it's a phrase along those lines. Again, it's kind of laughable on one level, but really quite sinister on another.
It demonstrates the increasing...the regime is based on the military. The regime is based on its military loyalty, and if you look at what's happening.... Another sort of key factor.... Actually last year, the Ministry of Defence's budget—this is the fourth year after the end of the war—went up something like 25%. There are huge, huge numbers, and I wasn't able to get up there to see because I was stopped, but there are huge numbers of military in the north.
The military is taking over. There is a massive land grab going on there. There is something like 7,000 acres of land subject to legal proceedings just now. The military are building bases on Tamil lands. The military are running hotels and whale watching trips for tourists. The military are running shops; they're running groceries. They have a huge military with not a lot to do, and they are being used to, if you like, destroy the ethnic identity of what are seen as the Tamil homelands in the north. The vast majority of the military are back up in the north, in the northeast and in the Tamil areas. They have been given a bonus for having a third child, a quite clear and open and blatant attempt to ethnically re-engineer the north, a really quite sinister process.
The military are also the power base of the president's brother—the defence secretary—who is seen by many as the power behind the throne, and has played a critical role in the conduct of the war, and is now playing a critical role in the conduct of the country.