COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s government Monday raised defense spending to a record 253 billion rupees ($1.95 billion), despite international pressure to scale down the military after ending a decades-long separatist war.
Figures presented in parliament showed the defense ministry getting its highest ever allocation for spending in 2014, marginally higher than the 249 billion rupees budgeted for this year.
The latest figures were unveiled as the UN Human Rights Council and other rights groups asked the government to de-militarize the former war zones in the island’s north after crushing Tamil rebels in May 2009.
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