Chief Govt Whip tells House about :

The living 'dead'

Uditha KUMARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE

Chief Government Whip and Urban and Sacred Area Development Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament yesterday a large number of LTTE members who were believed to have perished or missing since the tsunami had been found to be alive in foreign countries and among the arrested terrorists.

Soon after the tsunami tragedy the LTTE had declared a list of names who died and those missing due to the tsunami.

"But, later we found this was a false list as we found them alive living abroad and among the LTTE cadres who are detained by the security forces," the Minister said.

"We investigate all these matters thoroughly and a correct list of names of those who were killed by the Tsunami will be declared," he noted.

The Minister was replying to a question raised by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake regarding the accurate numbers of people who died officially owing to the Tsunami.