The Sri Lankan military hosted an Indonesian government delegation this week and showcased the “success” it has had in rehabilitating former LTTE cadres.
The commander of Sri Lanka’s army met with the five member Indonesian delegation, as they listened to a lecture on the “rehabilitation” programme the Sri Lankan government has in place for former LTTE fighters.
A report last year detailed the programme of physical and psychological torture in Sri Lanka’s “rehabilitation” camps for former LTTE members.
Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) gathered evidence from former detainees, who detailed systematic torture, beatings, humiliation and sexual abuse in the camps, and concluded that rehabilitation in Sri Lanka is a “physical and mental pacification programme that forms a cornerstone of the Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist state-building project”.
Major General Hettiarachchi however told the Indonesian delegation that Sri Lanka was ”taking all necessary efforts in transforming the minds of those brainwashed combatants from violence to non-violence and enlightened them on the value of life and correct social commitments while living in harmony with all as law-abiding citizens of one country”.
Also see our earlier posts:
Six Tamil village officers sent for 'rehabilitation' at military camp (01 Jul 2015)
Tamil man arrested and sent to CID for 'rehabilitation' (01 Jul 2015)
New report details torture and abuse in SL's rehabilitation camps (12 Feb 2014)
Rehabilitation threat to silence human rights activists - Ananthy Sasitharan (16 Jan 2014)
Ananthy Sasitharan may be rehabilitated to prevent separatist tendencies – The Island (14 Jan 2014)