A group of rehabilitated ex LTTE cadres performed for a distinguished gathering on Monday.

At a reception held at the Cinnamon Grand to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), they got this rare opportunity to display their skills.

Trained at the Abhina Academy of Performing Arts, situated at Kalapura, Templer’s Road, Mount Lavinia, under the guidance of versatile actress Ms. Anoja Weerasinghe, the show reflected the post-war reality, the Island reported.

Among the invitees were Economic Affairs Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Senior Minister Dew Gunasekera, Minister Dilan Perera, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe, Foreign Secretary Karunathilake Amunugama, Justice Secretary Suhada Gamlath and many Colombo-based foreign diplomats.

The group posed for photographs with some of the invitees, including Basil Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka first received IOM assistance in 1990, following the Gulf War. Some 95,000 Sri Lankans fleeing the Gulf War received transport assistance. The agency set up office in Colombo in 2002 and since then has been involved in the fields of labour migration, border management, human trafficking, and reintegration of those returning at the conclusion of the war and migration health. Perhaps, one of the most important decisions taken by the IOM was to throw its weight behind Sri Lanka’s rehabilitation programme.

Addressing the gathering, IOM Sri Lanka Chief of Mission Richard Danziger said that since 1990 the IOM had assisted over 1,300,000 Sri Lankans.

Danziger went on to say, "We thought we should use the occasion to express our gratitude to the Government of Sri Lanka, with whom we have worked so closely over the years, as well as to the many donor countries that have funded our projects and contributed so much to the lives of so many Sri Lankans."

Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe explained the importance of helping them to forget the past. Their involvement with the LTTE shouldn’t be an obstacle, now that the country was engaged in the national reconciliation process.

Maj. Gen. Ranasinghe said that more youth would be sent out from rehabilitation facilities next month. Maybe by end of this, those at rehabilitation centres could be about 1,500, he said, adding that the project was on track.

Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne, who was present at the occasion, told The Island that the country could be rightly proud of its handling of the post-war rehabilitation project. She said that the Government of Sri Lanka had given an opportunity to those who once wielded weapons against the State.