Already facing charges of large scale child recruitment, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has now been accused of forcing families of every student who goes out of the Tiger-controlled area for higher education to give up one member for conscription.
Over 12 university students who "crossed over" made the accusation, said Jaya Pathirana, the Commandant in-charge of the Omanthai Entry Exit point connected to the LTTE dominated Wanni in the North.
The officer said those seeking higher education in the LTTE dominated area of Northern Wanni have been told to give either a brother or a sister to Tigers for recruitment to continue the war against the government.
Two youths from the same family arrived in Omanthai surrendering one of their brothers to the LTTE to continue their university education in the University of Ruhumu and Jaffna respectively, Pathirana was quoted as saying by the Daily News here.
On child recruitment, the LTTE last year asserted that it has strengthened its own Child Protection Authority with certain powers to investigate future allegations of underage recruitment and to take immediate action to release them.
The government has maintained that the LTTE was continuing to abduct children from Jaffna to be trained as fighters.
"As the indiscriminate abductions continue unabated, Jaffna families have sought protection for their children with many parents in the peninsula starting to hand over their children under the custody of the Human Right's Commission (HRC)," a statement said.
Some 200 children have been handed over to the HRC by their parents fearing for their safety and they are now accommodated in a special building in Jaffna following a court order.
HRC member and former Supreme Court judge Dharmasiri Jayawickrama has stated that these children, whose parents had feared that they would be abducted by the LTTE, are being cared for by prisons officials.
