Door open for Karuna cadres too?

Govt. starts recruitment of Tamil youth to police force in East

As part of measures to establish civil administration in the east, the government has started recruiting Tamil youth to the police force while speculation is rife that Karuna cadres may also be included.

With Karuna refusing to disarm in the east, sources said the invitation for ordinary youth to join the police force would give Karuna cadres the opportunity to be part of the state civil administration.

“A fresh recruitment drive is underway to recruit several thousands of Tamils especially from the eastern region,” a top defence official told the Daily Mirror.

Speaking to the BBC a day after the government celebrated the liberation of the east, Karuna said he had no intention of disarming as the LTTE threat still existed in the region.

“If we disarm now, it will be dangerous for us. We want to carry arms for self-protection,” he told the news agency soon after the government claimed that it had liberated the entire eastern province from the LTTE.

The defence official said the government had mooted the idea to recruit and deploy Tamil youth of the eastern areas to the police force even before military operations started to clear the LTTE from the province.

“Already some youth are undergoing training and will be deployed to police stations in the region,” the official said.

The defence official further added that the government expected to open more than 50 police stations in the newly captured areas including Thoppigala, Vakarai and Verugal. “We need some thousands of Tamil youths for this purpose,” he said.

The official said it was necessary to deploy Tamil officers in these Tamil populated areas to have a good rapport with the Tamil people.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/07/31/front/02.asp)