The Hindu : Front Page : Conditional amnesty offered to LTTE cadres

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Monday, May 04, 2009
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Front Page

Conditional amnesty offered to LTTE cadres

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Offer not applicable to top rung of the Tigers: Minister

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka government is ready to give conditional amnesty to the lower rungs of the LTTE holed up in the remaining area of the no fire zone (NFZ) if they give up arms and surrender to the military.

This was stated by Sri Lanka Minister for Human Rights and Disaster Management Mahinda Samarasinghe on Sunday.

Three days ago, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said at a public function here that even now it was not late for the LTTE cadres, against whom no cases were pending, to throw up arms and surrender to the military.

Not for LTTE top rung

The offer is not applicable to the top rung of the LTTE, including its chief Velupillai Prabakaran and all others against whom criminal cases are pending.

The military believes that an estimated 300 to 400 LTTE leaders and cadres had taken shelter in the remaining part of the NFZ and they are holding a large number of civilians as human shield.

While the government estimates of the civilians in the NFZ is from 15,000 to 20,000, the U.N. and other international agencies have put the figure at 50,000. The Tigers maintain that the number is over 1.5 lakh.

It is on account of the presence of such a large number of civilians the military is finding it difficult to move further into the NFZ.

Since the army breached the three sq. km. earth wall-cum-bund built by the LTTE on April 20 and paved the way for escape of 1.15 lakh civilians, the troops have not been able to make much progress in their mission to rescue the remaining civilians.

As per the military, hundreds of LTTE cadres had surrendered to the military after crossing over to the government territory along with the fleeing civilians.

Some of the prominent members of the LTTE who have taken shelter with the military include the former media coordinator, Daya Master, and George Master, former official translator for the late political wing chief Thamilchelvan.

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