Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on January 11, 2011:
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan authorities appear to be in a muddle over the number of LTTE cadre in detention.
Last week, the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brig Sudantha Ranasinghe, told The Island daily, that out of the 11,696 Tiger cadre detained at the end of Eelam War IV, 5,586 had been released. This means that 6,110 are still in detention.But later in the story, Ranasinghe is quoted as saying that only 4,761 were still in detention. This means that 1,349 are unaccounted for.Ranasinghe had further said 703 detainees, who were leaders or had worked for the LTTE intelligence service, were earmarked for legal action. If these were treated as being part of the 1,349, government would still have to account for 646.Last Sunday, the Tamil daily Virakesari asked whether these 646 persons were kept in a separate secret camp or had they gone missing after being taken into custody. “The government cannot avoid answering these questions,” the paper said.The confusing statistics was leading to speculation on the fate of these cadre who had surrendered to the forces, it added.
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