Defence Secretary before the Sri Lanka Reconciliation Commission today

Sri Lanka's Secretary to the Defence Ministry Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is to give evidences at the Lessons Learnt and the Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) hearings today.

Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Mangala Moonesinghe and former Ambassador to China Nihal Rodrigo are also due to give evidence today.
The eight-member Commission conducts its hearings at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute in Colombo 7. The Commission will conduct hearings until August 25th.
Over the past weekend, the LLRC traveled to the North and recorded evidence from the people in the conflict-affected region.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in May 2010 appointed the Commission to report on the lessons to be learnt from the events during the period from 21st February 2002 to 19th May 2009.
The Secretary of the LLRC S.M. Samarakoon has reportedly said that from the 1st of September the Commission will start investigating the evidence from the people in the North and East.
According to Samarakoon, the LLRC will be travelling to the former battlefields for this purpose. District Secretaries of the North and East will be facilitating the process between the Commission and the public.
The Commission is expected to hand over its report to the President in six months.