Colombo: A batch of 75 former LTTE members rehabilitated by the government were today released to their families in the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavuniya on Sunday.
“Out of the 12,000 sent for rehabilitation we have already released 11,000. Around 700 only remain to be released from four rehabilitation centres. “There are also another 600 suspects in custody who would be sent for rehabilitation”, A Dissanayake, the secretary to the ministry of rehabilitation and prison reforms said.
Dissanayake said President Mahinda Rajapaksa was keen to see the full completion of the rehabilitation process. Dissanayake said self-employment loans would be allocated to all rehabilitated former LTTE recruits.
They were made to undergo language and vocational training during the rehabilitation process.
Lanka has also removed military form manning a few key security check points here and replaced them with police, a top army official said today. “We had military personnel manning a few selected check points in the city. From today, they will be replaced by the police,” military spokesman Brig Ruwan Wanigasuriya said.
Wanigasuriya said the change would reflect the improved security situation in the country. During the height of the three year military campaign against the LTTE, thousands of troops were deployed to carry out road checks of vehicles to prevent the Tamil rebels from transporting deadly explosives and their suicide bombers. (PTI)
