Addressing students at an awards ceremony in Jaffna on May 11, Sri Lanka's army commander in the region, Major General Darshana Hettiarachchi told youths to join the military.
Over 600 Tamil students at Venthan Arts College were being awarded for the completion of a Sinhala language course.
Stating that Jaffna Tamils were very intelligent and have a long history of working as government officials including doctors and engineers, Major General Hettiarachchi argued, "a military job is also a government job".
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