Over 4,000 ex-LTTE rebels rehabilitated in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO - Over 4,000 former Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka have been rehabilitated and reintegrated in the society, officials said Saturday.

“We have rehabilitated over 4,000 former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and sent them back to their families. Six thousand more are to be rehabilitated,” Xinhua quoted commissioner general of Rehabilitation Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe as saying.

Sri Lanka detained thousands of ex-rebels from the former LTTE territory during the last days of the government troops’ military operation in May last year.

The government has put them through rehabilitation since then. The latest batch of 498, more than a half of them women, were released in the northern town of Vavuniya Friday.

The released former rebels have gone through vocational and English language training.

The private sector firms have shown interest to recruit them — mostly in the apparel export sector.