LTTE surrender 'claim' denied by JHRC

Colombo, Sep 29: Rejecting the claim of new military spokesman Udayar Nanayakkara regarding surrender of 42 LTTE cadres during the past few weeks, Jaffna Human Rights Commission (JHRC) has said those who surrendered were youths who feared abduction or recruitment by the ultras.

''The youths are those who fear the LTTE and they will be handed to the police to be produced before the magistrate,'' the 'Daily Mirror' quoted a JHRC official as saying.

The people who handed themselves over to the JHRC were produced before the magistrate and remanded as there is no 'protective' place to keep the civilians who sought security from the LTTE and other actors.

These people are not LTTE and cannot be termed as such, the HR sources said. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in its weekly security assessment reports has also reported about such surrenders taking place but has refrained in terming them as LTTE cadres.

Their has been similar surrenders on September 10 when seven men aged 20 to 35 surrendered to the police in Jaffna with active aid of the HRC due to fear for their lives, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said in a statement.

UNI