Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday (Aug 18) appointed an officer from the island's Tamil minority to head the navy for the first time since a separatist war erupted 45 years ago. 


Rear-Admiral Travis Sinniah is the first Tamil to head a wing of the military since 1970, even though Tamils make up around 15 per cent of Sri Lanka's population. 


In 1972, the separatist Tamil Tigers took up arms and launched a bloody guerilla war for a separate state for the ethnic minority that only ended in May 2009 when they were crushed in a no-holds-barred military offensive

Source: NNA