An ex-LTTE combatant was given a teaching appointment to Wattrappalai Vidyalaya, Mullaitivu after rehabilitation, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe said yesterday (26).
During the last stage of the war, around 12,000 LTTE fighters surrendered to the troops or were captured.
Of them, only 4,649 still undergo rehabilitation while all the others have been reunited with their families.
Brigadier Ranasinghe said that this combatant, a diploma holder of a National Institute of Education, was among the latest batch of 100 LTTE cadres integrated into society on the Christmas day.
Earlier, he said that a number of ex-combatants were recruited as drivers for the Sri Lanka Central Transport Board, and attached to the Kondavil Depot in Jaffna.
Brigadier Ranasinghe said that 703 combatants identified as hardcore fighters had been sent to a camp in Omanthai for investigation purposes.
“We try to transform the lives of these combatants through rehabilitation. We conduct different vocational training programmes for them. Now, there are major investments in the North. Those investors might employ them,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hundreds ex-LTTE combatants, who successfully completed their rehabilitation programmes, were released on Saturday at a ceremony held in Vavuniya to mark Christmas.
Sources in the Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation said that there were 98 male and two female former LTTE cadres and they had been handed over to their family members.
The government has so far rehabilitated and released over 4,500 former LTTE cadres, including over 300 females.
Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera said that government’s re-integration of former LTTE combatants into the normal life system had received many accolades from international quarters. The Government had provided opportunity for ex-LTTE combatants to reintegrate into civilian society by providing job opportunities and training in different vocations. "We are helping ex-combatants to return to society and re-integrate with their families as some of them are breadwinners," he added. (Courtesy : The Island & Daily Mirror)
