Sri Lanka army to delist over 60,000 deserters

The Sri Lankan military is to delist over 60,000 troops who had deserted their ranks during and after a 30-year war against Tamil Tiger rebels, an army spokesman said on Monday. The army had given several amnesty periods since the war ended just over two years ago for the deserters to return to their ranks and not face punishment. Sri Lanka army spokesman Brigadier Nihal Hapuarachchi told Xinhua that the army will now delist the soldiers who had not reported back to service. \"These are soldiers who had deserted their ranks since 1982. Soldiers who had not reported back to service are considered deserters and they will now be delisted from the army,\" he said. Hapuarachchi said that of the 60,000 soldiers around 5000 still must report back to their respective military bases to pay off some financial loans which they had taken while in service and also go through some other formalities before being delisted. \"The other 55,000 soldiers are not expected to return and notice will be issued saying that they have been delisted,\" he said. Meanwhile the military and the police are hunting for around 500 soldiers who have been reported to have been involved in criminal activities. \"We are now mainly focusing on this small number only. We want the soldiers who were involved in criminal activity after deserting their ranks to be arrested,\" Hapuarachchi said. A number of soldiers, rebels and civilians were killed during the war against the rebels before they were finally defeated in May 2009. With the end of the war, several international human rights groups accused the Sri Lankan army of committing war crimes during the final stages of the conflict, which the military has rejected.