Colombo: The rehabilitation process of
former members of the LTTE has now reached its last stage,
Lankan officials said on Saturday.
"The process is in its last stage. We have 3512 of
them undergoing rehabilitation in 8 centres. By end of June or
early July we will be releasing a further 600 of them to the
society," Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, Commissioner
General of Rehabilitation, said.
The government handles the programme backed by the
International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Several donors
have contributed to the ex-combatants rehabilitation programme.
Over 6000 of them have been already re-integrated into
the society, rehabilitation officials said.
The ex-child soldiers of LTTE have been released to
their parents after rehabilitating them.
Former LTTE cadres were provided with vocational
training while school children were facilitated to complete
their secondary education. In the last university entrance
examination held in August last year, some 500 rehabilitated
LTTE cadres sat for the examination, officials said.
The former cadres are also given loan facilities for
self employment at concessionary interest rates. This enables
them to make use of the vocation training provided to them
under the rehabilitation process, officials added.
PTI
