{"id":87446,"date":"2026-03-18T03:30:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T07:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=87446"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:09:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:09:59","slug":"87446","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=87446","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka is ready to receive and support all those forced to flee the country during the civil war and now living as refugees in Tamil Nadu states Cabinet Minister and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake."},"content":{"rendered":"

By
\nMeera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka is ready to receive and support all those forced to flee the country during the civil war and now living as refugees in Tamil Nadu, Cabinet Minister and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake told The Hindu, urging the Governments of India and Tamil Nadu to refrain from using refugees as \u201ca tool for political propaganda\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Minister made the remarks when queried about the government\u2019s current position on refugee-returnees from Tamil Nadu, in the wake of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin\u2019s letter \u2014 dated February 15, 2026 \u2014 to Prime Minister Modi seeking the Union government\u2019s intervention on issues concerning Sri Lankan Tamils living in India for over four decades. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Apart from requesting New Delhi to rescind administrative instructions barring consideration of citizenship applications from Sri Lankan Tamils, Mr. Stalin sought an executive clarification waiving passport and visa requirements, where appropriate, for citizenship or long-term visa applications based on verified identity documentation issued by the Tamil Nadu government. <\/p>\n

According to Mr. Stalin\u2019s letter, around 89,000 individuals reside in and outside camps across Tamil Nadu. Nearly 40% of them were born there.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pointing out that 18,542 persons returned from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 16-year period from January 2009 \u2014 the civil war ended in May that year \u2014 to June 2025, Minister Rathnayake said: \u201cWe are certainly ready to welcome those who wish to return. However, if some of them, born in India, or who have lived, studied, and worked there for decades, or married an Indian, decide to seek Indian citizenship, we cannot argue with that position. It is their reality and their right to seek citizenship there.\u201d <\/p>\n

Further, in a message to political actors in India, he said: \u201cMy humble request to the Government of India and Government of Tamil Nadu is that please don\u2019t use the refugees as a tool for political propaganda around elections. They have endured enormous suffering already; we must treat their request with care and sensitivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A prominent voice in the ruling Anura Kumara Dissanayake administration, Mr. Rathnayake, who is a polit bureau member of the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or People\u2019s Liberation Front, had visited refugee camps in Tamil Nadu in 2007, and pushed the Sri Lankan government to pass a law granting citizenship to 28,500 persons living in the camps. <\/p>\n

In May 2025, when former Jaffna MP and senior lawyer M.A. Sumanthiran highlighted the arrest of a 75-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil refugee returning from India, on charges of leaving the island without a valid passport, Mr. Rathnayake said the government would address the matter. \u201cThe government immediately instructed the Immigration Department and police not to detain those returning, citing their departure from a so-called illegal port decades ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Stalin\u2019s letter to PM Modi drew wide attention in Sri Lankan media and among politicians. Mano Ganesan, Opposition MP and leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance \u2014 representing the Malaiyaha Tamils \u2014 called for a \u201cpermanent, humane solution\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cSri Lankan refugees living inside and outside settlements in India need clarity, not decades of uncertainty. Give them a dignified choice\u2026 a generation born, educated and integrated in India deserves justice. Others deserve freedom of choice,\u201d he said in a social media post.<\/p>\n

Last week, speaking in New Delhi at a screening of Frontline journalist R.K. Radhakrishnan\u2019s documentary on refugees, Mr. Sumanthiran, general secretary of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), said that while the diminishing number of Tamils in Sri Lanka may not favour the Tamil polity trying to strengthen its constituency, \u201cthis is an exceptional situation.\u201d Those who wish to remain in India must have the option, he said, adding that \u201cin international law, nobody should be a stateless person.\u201d He also urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure the smooth return of those who wish to come back, where there is no fear of arrest.<\/p>\n

Authorities said a total of 246 persons from 46 families returned from India to Sri Lanka between July 2025 and February 2026, with no arrests reported during the time. S. Sooriyakumari, president of OfERR (Organisation for Eelam Refugees\u2019 Rehabilitation) Ceylon, a non-profit organisation working with Sri Lankan refugee communities, said the Sri Lankan government must clear administrative hurdles, facilitate easy paperwork, and ensure smooth reintegration of those returning. \u201cIt is very important that the governments of India and Sri Lanka discuss this matter and develop a structured programme to look into the future of the refugees; it must not remain ambiguous,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The UN Refugee agency, which stepped back following arrests of some returnees last year, has now agreed to facilitate their return, sources familiar with the process said. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some like Antan Roshanthiny \u2014 born in a refugee camp in Tamil Nadu \u2014 are happy to be back. \u201cMy parents fled during the war and were refugees in Tamil Nadu. I was born there. After the war, my family returned in phases. I came back in 2014,\u201d she said. Ms. Roshanthiny\u2019s early years in the northern Kilinochchi district were not easy. Her family had to rebuild a home, sort out land contestations, navigate delays in paperwork, and cope with unkind local reactions to a different Tamil accent. \u201cOver time, things got better and I started feeling more at home. Seeing administrative faults and widespread corruption around me, I decided to work on people\u2019s issues,\u201d said the 29-year-old, now a full-time political activist with the ruling National People\u2019s Power coalition.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lanka is ready to receive and support all those forced to flee the country during the civil war and now living as refugees in Tamil Nadu, Cabinet Minister and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake told The Hindu, urging the Governments of India and Tamil Nadu to refrain from using refugees …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka is ready to receive and support all those forced to flee the country during the civil war and now living as refugees in Tamil Nadu states Cabinet Minister and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87446"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87450,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87446\/revisions\/87450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}