By IANS,
Washington : A year after the Tamil Tigers were crushed, Sri Lanka has released and rehabilitated more than 4,500 former guerrillas, an official said.
Most of the rebels were captured or surrendered in the final days of the conflict in April and May 2009 when the military overwhelmed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eealm (LTTE), the Sri Lanka embassy said here.
Commissioner General of rehabilitation, Brig Sudantha Ranasinghe, said that since the LTTE’s defeat, 4,685 ex-combatants have been rehabilitated and reintegrated in the society.
“We have handed over the ex-combatants to their parents after rehabilitation. Six thousand more are to be rehabilitated,” the embassy statement quoted Ranasinghe as saying.
Colombo has also offered counselling and rehabilitation to hundreds of child soldiers who were forcefully taken by the LTTE to fight government troops.
The freed former rebels have undergone vocational and English language training.