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Lanka turns to the old, rebels rob cradles to overcome shortage of men

The Sri Lankan government is recalling 15,000 policemen from retirement to reinforce military forces which lost hundreds of troops last month fighting Tamil separatist rebels, a police spokesman said today.

"The idea is to deploy the recalled men in the operational areas to aid the regular troops,'' said police spokesman Riency Perara.

Policemen in Sri Lanka retire at age 55. Under the new scheme, any retired policeman who is medically fit will be re-employed for three more years on condition he is deployed in the battle zones in the north and the east.

Those policemen who respond to the call will get a special "operational'' allowance -- a danger bonus -- over and above their last drawn salary. On average, a normal salary is SL Rs 6,000 to SL Rs 10,000.

Last month, the security forces and rebels fought a major battle for two key towns along the northern highway to the Jaffna peninsula, with at least 1,800 listed as dead or missing on both sides, according to the military.

The fighting left the army ranks so depleted that the military revived a campaign to round up some of the estimated 25,000 soldiers who have deserted their units in recent years. A military official said today about 3,200 deserters have been detained since October 7. Deserters who accept an amnesty are allowed to rejoin the military without punishment.

Meanwhile, things are not very different across the barricades, with reports coming in of hundreds of mothers in eastern Sri Lanka fleeing with their teenage children to prevent them from being taken away by Tamil rebels who have launched a fresh conscription drive in the region.

Many parents have brought their children into the military controlled eastern Batticaloa town, 303 km north-east of the capital, and are appealing to friends, relations and social organisations to take care of their children to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, residents said.

Rebels are already reported to have conscripted at least 500 children between the age of 12 and 18 years from areas under their control in Batticaloa district, residents said.

Tamil political leaders based in Colombo confirmed that they had received complaints through their area organisers about forced conscription.

A leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, Dharmalingam Siddarthan, who is also a member of parliament, said his group had launched a counter-campaign in the eastern region to protect young children from conscription.

''(The LTTE) have targeted young girls too,'' he said. ''They are even looking for young women who had lost their husbands in the war.''

Rebels fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the north and eastern parts of the country have faced shortages of manpower after recent battles in the northern part of the island which left at least 600 of their cadres dead and more than 1,000 injured.

UNI

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