Govt may offer general amnesty to LTTE cadres

However the amnesty will not be granted to those who have already been charged or convicted in courts. “In these cases,the legal process will be applied,” the minister told reporters.

He said an undisclosed number of LTTE members had come along with the displaced people to the camps in Wanni. “While some have confessed they are members of the LTTE,others are being investigated for their links with the group”. Samarasinghe said he was not aware of the exact number of the LTTE cadres among the displaced people but some estimates put it at 3000.

The LTTE members would be rehabilitated and later allowed to re-integrate with others once the investigators get convinced that they have shunned separatism,Samarasinghe was quoted as saying by the ‘Sunday Times’.

Officials said that around 1000 rebels had already confessed their involvement with the LTTE and were undergoing rehabilitation in special transit camps in Wanni and elsewhere,the newspaper said.

Earlier the United Nations had urged the government to consider a general amnesty for the LTTE members willing to give up arms. Late last month,President Mahinda Rajapksa had said there will be no amnesty for Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran as he has “spurned chances for pardon”.

“The LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has spurned the possibility of pardon by us. In doing so,by not giving up arms and surrendering as required,he must now face the consequences of his acts,” Rajapaksa said.

Rajapaksa said his government has earlier shown the example by offering clemency to Karuna Amman and Pillaiyan,who are now a Minister and a Chief Minister respectively. “Such clemency would have been possible for Prabhakaran if he had surrendered,given up arms and abandoned violence,as called for on several occasions,and not caused so much suffering to the people,” the President had said.