Amnesty for deserters - yet again

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
After threatening to impose dire punishment on deserters who did not rejoin by Friday Oct. 24, the Sri Lankan army decided last evening to extend the amnesty once again to thousands of its men who are still at large in the Sinhala countryside.

A communiqué by the SLA said that the amnesty to Sri Lankan army deserters has been extended until the end of this month.

This is the fifth attempt by the Sri Lankan army to woo and coerce its soldiers back to the ranks since late last year.

The extension was given in view of the poor response to the SLA's amnesty offer which expired on Friday Oct. 24.

The army expected to get the required minimum through that amnesty for the purpose of adjusting troop shortages that have arisen as a result of raising a new division and the holding operations in the Vanni.

Although the terms of the SLA's recent amnesty offers have been very generous and in contravention of general military custom, few of the Sinhala soldiers who have run away are coming back.

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