Only three of the twenty LTTE detainees who were earmarked for rehabilitation  prior to release are eligible for rehabilitation, says the Tamil National Alliance MP and alliance spokesman, M.A.Sumanthiran.

He told the media in Colombo that most of the 20  detainees have more than one case against them and a few have already served their term and are due for full  release anyway.

For a detainee to be eligible for rehabilitation, he has to be released from every case. And this will take time. Only three of the 20 have only one case against them and only these three can be released now, Sumanthiran said.

The TNA MP, who is also a senior counsel in the Supreme Court, said that he had pointed these out to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Law and Order and Justice Ministers, and the Attorney General.

He has also told them that the conditions attached to the rehabilitation and release scheme are not acceptable.

The government had told Sumanthiran on November  17, that by November 25, the  first  batch of ten will be released for rehabilitation. Eventually he was given a list of 20. In all 85 had opted for rehabilitation, the government said.

Meanwhile, political pressure is being mounted on the TNA leadership to get a full Presidential Amnesty for the detainees, just as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) activists got after the 1989 insurrection in the Sinhalese South was crushed.

Tamil Civil Society and the media are also on an anti-TNA campaign on this issue.

On the other hand, on the south Sri Lankan side, the pro-Mahinda Rajapaksa group is campaigning against the release of the ex-militants on the grounds that they will pose a security threat to Sri Lanka.

(The New Indian Express)