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by Ranil Wijayapala

"If not for the peace process initiated by the UNF Government, the detainees would have to languish for another ten or more years in captivity or die without seeing the light of freedom," Commander Ajith Boyagoda said yesterday.

Commander Boyagoda, the most senior Security Forces officer who was released by the LTTE on Saturday, in an interview with the Daily News at his residence at Boralesgamuwa said the peace process has brought both waring parties closer to each other.

"The war will never allow the two parties to get closer. We tried war for nearly 20 years and this time we should give peace a chance", he added.

"We have sacrificed much of our resources to the war and each and every single life sacrificed to the war is an invaluable asset to the nation", he added.

"It is too early to comment on the success of the peace process. It must go forward and it has a long way to go. The Government has the willingness and the determination towards reaching a solution to this problem", he said.

Living in a prison is not a comfortable thing. Like in prisons here in the South we also had lesser facilities and we could not expect more facilities from an unsettled organisation like the LTTE.

He said, "We also moved with them from place to place when they shifted their hideouts. We had to undergo difficult times when they were engaged in massive operations.

The treatment changed once the leadership of the prison was changed and we had mixed feelings towards them", recollecting his memories in the LTTE prisons Boyagoda added.

They never physically tortured us. But mental torture was there. However things began to change in the year 2000 and they started treating us well, Boyagoda added.

"Following our hunger strike in 2000 they allowed the family members to visit us and to receive a parcel from our families. They treated us with a separate section of prisoners and not like traitors. We also demanded that we should not be treated as hardcore criminals", he added.

They commenced releasing the 22 prisoners section by section and we were the lucky seven to be released at last by the LTTE.

The LTTE had bigger hopes towards the victory of the United National Front and its leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. They hoped that if the UNF won the elections something could have been done towards reaching a settlement. They campaigned for the victory of the UNF.

The signing of the MoU led to bigger changes. Civilian life underwent changes. The roads were constructed, shops were loaded with goods and the prices of essential items dropped.

It is the duty of every citizen to assist the peace process, Boyagoda said.

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