The Sri Lankan army’s much-trumpeted bid to recruit Tamil girls with a view to giving the force an acceptable look in the Tamil-speaking Northern Province, has hit a rough patch, with many of the 103 girls reportedly wanting to quit.
Fourteen of the girls undergoing training at the Krishnapuram camp near Kilinochchi were admitted to the Kilinochchi army hospital recently with various complaints, including a feeling of being “possessed by an evil spirit”, according to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP S Sritharan. Further, the fact that parents were not allowed to visit the recruits at the camp when they wanted, had triggered suspicions about the nature of the training.
The controversy seems to be due to a misunderstanding about the nature and purpose of the recruitment and training. While consenting to the recruitment, the girls were under the impression that the training was for clerical cadre. Some even thought that they were going to be absorbed in the local civil administration! The salary promised was an attractive LKR 30,000 per month. However, once in, they discovered that it was army training, albeit rudimentary. They feared that they were going to be made combatants.