A group of 200 Sri Lankan refugees living in Tamil Nadu (TN) received Sri Lankan passports at the country’s Deputy High Commission in Chennai on Friday, in a first for the refugee community. So far, 900 applications have been received under President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s new initiative to issue passports to resettled Sri Lankans living in TN.
Earlier, if Sri Lankan refugees living in TN wished to leave for a third country, they had to first travel to Sri Lanka on a passport issued under the Refugee Repatriation Program (RRP) and then apply for a Sri Lankan passport. Under the new initiative, they need not visit Sri Lanka, but can instead apply directly for a passport through the diplomatic missions in India, after which they can leave for a foreign country from India.
Eastern Province Governor Senthil Thondaman, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Kshenuka Seneviratne and Deputy High Commissioner D. Venkateshwaran presented the passports to the first batch of 200 at the Deputy High Commission in Chennai.
TN Minister for Non Resident Tamils’ Welfare, Gingee K.S. Masthan, who was also present, said that the TN Legislative Assembly had adopted a resolution urging the Union Government to grant Indian citizenship to Sri Lankans living in TN. Referring to the interim report submitted by a panel which explored durable solutions to the issues faced by Sri Lankan Tamils living in and out of camps across the State, he said: “The Chief Minister will consider it and will soon share a good news.”
Governor Thondaman thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Indian Government’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, and for having accommodated Sri Lankans living in India for over four decades. He thanked the TN Government headed by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and the State’s people for being a “guardian” for over 100,000 Tamils from Sri Lanka.
Thondaman also recalled his appeal to BJP State President K. Annamalai in the presence of President Ranil Wickremesinghe during his visit to Jaffna that Indian citizenship be granted to the children born to Sri Lankan refugees in India. The issue is being discussed, including with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister for External Affairs, Dr. S. Jaishankar, he said, adding that “work has commenced” in this regard.
Chief of staff to the President and National Security Advisor Sagala Ratnayaka addressed the meeting virtually. He said that Sri Lanka was grateful to the Indian and TN Governments for always standing by Sri Lanka during difficult times and for taking the Sri Lankan people in and looking after them for over four decades. “Even during the most recent economic crisis, the Government of India stepped in to assist Sri Lanka to stabilise its economy,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner said that the issuance of all-country passports to these Sri Lankan nationals was due to a decision taken by the President and the Government of Sri Lanka within its overarching national policy framework to “promote national reconciliation and integration with the collaboration of related stakeholders”.
Though they were encouraging Sri Lankans to return to Sri Lanka, Deputy HC Venkateshwaran said that this initiative would permit them to also “explore the possibility to further legal migration to other countries.”
– The Hindu
