Sri Lankan army has said it has set up a “Directorate of Overseas Operations” to defend itself against war crimes charges during the three-decade-long LTTE war. Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake told a group of foreign journalists in Colombo last evening that Army considers it necessary to have an organization or a think tank of its own, to defend the institution in the context of the grave charges.

The General said that the Directorate was set up in April and is already engaged in the collection of the relevant material. His comments came as pro-LTTE organizations claimed to kill off up to 40 thousand civilians during the last phase of the war in 2009. There is thousands more missing and Sri Lankan government has set up the office of missing persons to investigate into such cases.

The commander said that most of these allegations are made by people living abroad but his organization will welcome any evidence provided in this regard. He said that around 77 percent of land acquired by armed forces during the war has been returned to the rightful owners. The army commander said that they are also in the process of rightsizing the strength of armed forces after the end of the war.