COLOMBO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan government is to release the members of the clergy among the internally displaced (IDP) people now living in government welfare camps.

    "We are releasing 400 of them today to join relatives while some of them will go back to their original places," Mrs PSM Charles, the chief government administrator of the northern town of Vavuniya said Wednesday.

    Government says some 800 Hindu priests, six catholic priests and two nuns were among the near 300,000 IDPs who had arrived from the former territory controlled by the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

    Sri Lanka has come under international pressure to keep its word to resettling the IDPs within 180 days as pledged by the government.

    De-mining of the areas is paramount the government maintains before sending people back to their original locations.

    The LTTE campaign for a separate Tamil homeland ended in May with government's successful military campaign.