Separate LTTE cadres from IDPs: Lanka Oppn

The government should separate the 25,000 suspected LTTE cadres likely to be present in camps for the war-displaced in northern Sri Lanka and resettle the rest, the Opposition said on Thursday and cautioned against treating the Tamil refugees as "criminals".

"The government says there are likely to be 25,000 LTTE cadres and 9,000 of them have been identified. They should be separated and the rest of the nearly three lakh Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) should be resettled in Wanni and other areas," ex-premier Ranil Wickremasinghe told reporters.

"The government knows the people will not vote for them during the forthcoming Presidential and Parliament elections. They are keeping the IDPs in the welfare camps to take their votes," the Opposition leader claimed.

The United National Party chief said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had assured UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon in May that 80 per cent of the IDPs would be resettled in six months. "They have not taken any steps in this direction," he said.

Another Opposition Parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera said there should be easy access for the UN, Amnesty International and international NGOs into the IDP camps.

"The IDP issue has become an international issue. The IDPs are being looked at as criminals. They should be allowed to move freely," he said. The camp administration should be handed over to civil authorities from the army, he demanded.

Tags: IDP, LTTE, Sri Lanka, Tamils

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