Rehabilitation of LTTE cadres underway

by Shanika SRIYANANDA

Measures have been taken to rehabilitate over 10,000 ex-LTTE cadres, in the North by the government, according to Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Maj. Gen. Daya Ratnayake.

Maj. Gen. Daya Ratnayake, who is now saddled with preparing a well detailed program, told the Sunday Observer that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is very keen to help these ex-cadres who were misled by the LTTE. The process to classify the ex-cadres into different groups considering their age, gender and involvement in the outfit has already been completed and the ground work to move them into new rehabilitation centres is nearing completion.

According to Maj. Gen. Ratnayake, over 80 percent of these ex-cadres are now temporarily sheltered in government schools.

“We want to hand over these government schools and five new centres are under construction at the moment. They will be moved to the new centres before the end of this month”, he said.

He said that the basic facilities required would be provided to the ex-cadres and training will commence according to their skills. The children between the ages of 12 to 18 years have already been separated from the group. There are over 455 children, the majority of whom the LTTE had forcefully recruited at its last stage of the battle. The youngest is 12 years-old. Former female LTTEers numbering 1,700 have also been separated and housed separately. The authorities have taken steps to separate male ex-LTTE cadres over 45 years of age and they will be given training according to their professions, skills, and their liking to undergo a vocational training.

Maj. Gen. Ratnayake said that donor assistance for the rehabilitation process is vital and needs the support of local and international NGOs, the experts in related fields and the community leaders to make the rehabilitation program a success.