Rehabilitation of ex-LTTErs in final phase

The rehabilitation of former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres was in its final phase and would be completed by the first quarter of next year, the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Major General Jagath Wijetilleke said today.

He said there were only 129 former members of the LTTE including four females, currently undergoing rehabilitation; they were the last batch.

They were currently undergoing the one-year rehabilitation programme jointly conducted by the Sri Lanka Army and Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation (BCGR) at the Poonthottam Rehabilitation Centre in Vavuniya.

“Every three months, we reintegrate a batch to the society. We will be reintegrating a batch of 12 ex-combatants this month,” he added.

From those who had already been rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society, more than 230 had qualified to pursue higher education while 35 were currently studying at universities.

Nearly 12,000 former LTTE cadres had either surrendered or were taken into custody following the end of the war in 2009. They were rehabilitated separately. (Lahiru Pothmulla)