Sri Lanka's army chief in controversy over election ad
Colombo: Sri Lanka's election chief said Wednesday that he has asked for an explanation from the defense ministry on why the army commander features in an advertisement promoting a candidate for next month's presidential election.
The advertisement, which appeared in a newspaper last weekend, had comments made by Lt Gen Shavendra Silva, the current army chief, in 2009 praising presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his role in ending the country's long civil war.
Rajapaksa was defence chief at the time, serving under his brother, then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Silva was an army division commander. The advertisement includes a photo of Silva in uniform with his comments.
Election chief Mahinda Deshapriya criticised the advertisement and said he has sought an explanation from the secretary to the defence ministry on why the army chief was being used to promote a presidential candidate.
"We highly regret this advertisement," said Deshapriya, adding that "it could be an old statement, but it is regrettable that the rank and designation of the present army commander had been used."
Mahinda Rajapaksa has swept to victory in several elections by promoting himself as the leader who defeated the once invincible Tamil Tiger rebels in the long civil war.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa's popularity is on the increase after April's Easter attacks in Sri Lanka that killed 263 people and wounded 500. But to his opponents and critics, he is a feared defence official accused of condoning rape, torture and shadowy disappearances of critics.
On Tuesday, he said that if he wins the November 16 election, he won't recognise an agreement the government made with the UN human rights council to investigate alleged war crimes during the civil war.
If he does win and follows through with his comments, it would be a severe setback to Sri Lanka's post-war reconciliation process.
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Pakistan forces kill 67 Afghan Taliban personnel in overnight operations: Minister
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan security forces killed another 67 Afghan Taliban personnel in overnight operations, repulsing their attacks at 16 locations along the southwestern border early Tuesday, officials said.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar provided updates on the ongoing Operation Ghazab lil Haq, launched on Feb 26 in response to the Afghan Taliban raids.
Tarar said that 40 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed in overnight operations in the border region along the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Physical attack was attempted at one place, while a fire raid was conducted on 12 locations, which were all repulsed without any loss of life,” he said in an update posted on X.
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“At least 40 Afghan Taliban were killed in the overnight operations in KP,” he said, adding that “follow-up” operations continued.
Separately, the Afghan Taliban resorted to physical attack from across the border on 16 locations in Northern Balochistan in Qilla Saifullah, Noshki and Chaman districts while engaging Pakistan troops on 25 locations in a fire raid.
“The attacks at all the locations were repulsed with Afghan Taliban suffering 27 killed and scores injured,” he said.
The minister also said that one soldier of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan North was killed while five soldiers were injured.
On Monday, the minister said in a statement that Pakistani security forces killed 435 Afghan Taliban combatants and another 630 of them were injured. He said that 188 tanks and armoured vehicles were destroyed, 31 Afghan posts were captured and 51 locations across Afghanistan were successfully targeted in air strikes.
Meanwhile, state-run PTV reported that the Pakistan armed forces successfully conducted an air operation in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, destroying the Khogani base.
“Fitna al-Khawarij and Afghan Taliban face massive setbacks on every front after unprovoked aggression,” PTV reported, citing sources.
It further reported that security sources said Operation Ghadab-ul-Haq is still ongoing and will continue until its objectives are achieved.
