Sri Lanka not to prosecute child LTTE soldiers: Rajapaksa

by lalith | July 20, 2009 at 09:23 am

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Sri Lanka not to prosecute child LTTE soldiers: Rajapaksa
Colombo (PTI): In a humanitarian gesture to Tamils, Sri Lanka has said that child soldiers recruited by the LTTE would not be prosecuted, and instead made to go to schools.

The gesture was announced by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa who said: "our hearts are not vicious. We will not prosecute children who are 12, 13 and 14 years of age and were forced to take up arms."

"We need to integrate them into society after rehabilitation," he said.

The President pointed out that the LTTE denied education to young children in the North and East by recruiting them as combatants to fight a "useless" war.

Mr. Rajapaksa was speaking in the holy town of Mahiyangana in Badulla District in the Uva Province on Saturday and he recalled that when the children in the South studied, the LTTE made the young in the North carry T-56 weapons.

He said the government has released all persons of 60 years of age and above in the IDP camps. The remaining 40,000 refugees are children.

"We have freed all those who are 60 years of age and above. We told them to go to their relatives," he said.

"If I was at an IDP camp, then I would be freed too," Mr. Rajapaksa quipped.

Contrary to media statements made by news agencies, IDPs are doing satisfactorily. Child soldiers are having a good time and are being rehabilitated according to a special programme.

Each child soldier has written in his or her own hand writing, their experiences with the LTTE. These personal stories are also used to talk to the child soldiers individually by the counselors.