After the war, the government had rehabilitated 11,900 LTTE detainees, but the law was yet to take its course with regard those who had supported the outfit by way of giving a meal packet or some water, he said.

According to him, those arrested under the PTA and prosecuted or yet to be prosecuted are political prisoners.

No political prisoners in Lanka

However, solicitor general Suhada Gamlath says there are no political prisoners in Sri Lanka.

It is a total distortion of the truth if someone terms those arrested under the PTA or emergency laws as political prisoners, he notes.

Both made these comments to the media separately following a discussion they had yesterday (10).

Committee to meet on 16th

The solicitor general went onto say that it is wrong to describe a committee that meets on March 16 to discuss the detainees as a committee on political prisoners.

The committee will decide whether to rehabilitate, prosecute or release the detainees, he added.