Responding to comments made by the Northern Chief Minister that Tamil-speaking policemen should be recruited to serve the people in the Tamil-dominated Northern Province, Sri Lanka’s Police Chief today stated that different police forces cannot be created to suite a certain race.

Inspector General of Police N.K. Illangakoon stated that different police forces cannot be created to suite different races and that all function representing all communities in the country have to be carried out by a single police force. 

“Policemen serving in the north with no Tamil language skills and cultural understanding was an annoyance for a long time,” newly elected Chief Minister Wigneswaran had said while speaking at the historic first session of the northern provincial council in Jaffna yesterday (25).

Even when the Jaffna Police Station first started operations several Tamil police officers were recruited and now every police station in that district has at least 3-4 Tamil policemen, IGP Illangakoon told Ada Derana.

He stated that the police force started recruiting Tamil-speaking officers to resolve the language barrier long before the statement by the Chief Minister of the North.

Around 2,000 Tamil-speaking officers recruited to assist in the affairs of the Police Department are currently serving Island wide, he said.