800 LTTE cadres quit

by Shanika Sriyananda

Military sources in the East confirmed that nearly 800 LTTE cadres have left the organisation from February till to date, after capturing Thoppigala.

"They have abandoned the organisation. Some of them have gone back to their villages and re-united with their families", Commanding Officer of the 23 division of the East Major General Daya Ratnayake told the 'Sunday Observer', yesterday.

He said that the LTTE had 1500 cadres in the entire Eastern region before the area was captured and according to military analysts the majority of the cadres were from Batticaloa.

"They were taken and kept by force by the LTTE. The majority of the cadres are not ready to join the LTTE", he said.

Maj. Gen. Ratnayake said that according to estimates, 500 to 600 child soldiers were used to fight against the military in the East.

The estimated 250 underaged child soldiers had escaped from the jungles during the war. He said that after the East was liberated the parents did not want their children to die once again. "The government is looking after the people well. Massive development programs are now under way to meet all the challenges. Today, people in Vakarai are happy. Children are going to school and what ever they earned is safe today. They also have freedom now", he said. Maj. Gen. Ratnayake said that the military in the East keeps a close watch on the LTTE cadres who left the organisation and several programs had been initiated to keep them under surveillance.

"According to our estimates 200 to 250 cadres have escaped the military and have gone to areas in the North. We are trying to get them back to the Vanni", he said adding that the military was able to get the support of the people in the East to liberate the region from the LTTE. Maj. Gen. Ratnayake said the combination of the two strategies - military and political - had led the Eastern victory.

"The morale, dedication, commitment and the sacrifices of the soldiers are immense and we have never seen it in recent history. In the past we had a huge conceptual vaccuum. Everybody was trying to correct the soldier, but this time there is a genuine effort", he said. He also said that efforts of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Commander of the Army and the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence had motivated the soldiers to liberate the East.