10,000 former cadres to be given self-employment loans

Saturday, 3 March 2012 00:50 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Over 10,000 former combatants of the Tamil Tigers will be provided with loan facilities to start businesses by the Government.

The Cabinet decided to introduce the scheme through a State bank to provide loans up to a maximum of Rs. 250,000 for self-employment purposes to 10,375 former combatants of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE). Mostly from the north and east parts of Sri Lanka, they have successfully completed the rehabilitation programme conducted by the Government, according to Acting Cabinet Spokesman Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana.

The 10,375 former LTTE cadres have now been reintegrated into society, but 765 people still remain in Government custody. .

An initial Rs. 300 million will be released to the Ministry to provide loans to 2,000 rehabilitated cadres recommended by the Government.

The move comes in the backdrop of a US resolution on Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes during the last phase of the conflict in 2009 to be presented to the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva.