The Sri Lankan government’s plan to send for rehabilitation and eventual release 217 Tamils detained for alleged links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has run into legal difficulties.  

On November 17, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, M.A.Sumanthiran, had said that government would send the first batch for rehabilitation in ten days. But according to the Minister of National Dialogue, Mano Ganeshan, there may be a delay on account of the fact that some prisoners have more than one case against them. A prisoner might be qualified for rehabilitation and release in one case, but not in another, he explained.

“We are discussing this issue with the Attorney General to find a way out. In a week or so, it may be sorted out,” Ganeshan has told the New India Express news agency.

Rationale For Amnesty.

Tamil lawyers point out that if a prisoner says he has “surrendered”, it means he is accepting the charge that he had worked for the LTTE, when, so far, he has  been maintaining that he had not worked for the LTTE.

The lawyers also say that even after rehabilitation and release, an ex-detainee could be hounded and arrested. This is the reason why the prisoners have been seeking a “Presidential Amnesty” which will close the cases against them irrevocably.

And for this they had gone on an indefinite fast. The fast was called off only when the government put forward the Rehabilitation and Release Plan. In mid-November, 85 of the 217 detainees had sought rehabilitation in writing. (Courtesy – NIE)