100 female Tamil soldiers to join Sri Lanka Army today

Saturday, 17 November 2012 03:33 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Army has taken steps to recruit 100 female Tamil soldiers to the force.

The Army will hold a special ceremony in Kilinochchi on Saturday to select 100 women in the age group of 18-22 to undergo training as soldiers.

Under a special programme by the Kilinochchi security forces headquarters, the women will be recruited from Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.

The female Tamil soldiers are to be mobilized in peace building and reconciliation programs conducted by the security forces in these areas, Army spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said.

Meanwhile, as a part of the government’s initiative to recruit 2000 Tamil speaking police officers a considerable number of youth from North and East would be recruited this year.

Plans are afoot to recruit 5,000 rehabilitated LTTE cadres from the Northern and Eastern Provinces to fill vocational positions at the Civil Security Department (CSD) in the near future.

The recruited personnel are to be deployed for agricultural projects and other development activities conducted by the CSD in the respective provinces.

As an initial step, 1,500 rehabilitated LTTE cadres were recruited from the Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya districts recently and they would be deployed in development and agricultural projects in the Northern Province.

Previously, the LTTE restricted Tamils from being recruited to armed forces and Police.