200 refugees living in Tamil Nadu receive Sri Lankan passport

200 refugees living in Tamil Nadu receive Sri Lankan passport

A group of 200 Sri Lankan refugees living in Tamil Nadu recieved 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 recieved under Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe’s new initiative to issue passports to “resettled Sri Lankans living in Tamil Nadu”.

Earlier, if Sri Lankan refugees living in Tamil Nadu wanted to leave for a third country, they had to first travel to Sri Lanka on a passport issued under the Refugee Repatriation Programme and then apply for a Sri Lankan passport there. Under the new initiative, they need not visit Sri Lanka, but can instead apply directly for a passport though the diplomatic missions in India, after which they can leave for a foreign country from India.

Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province Governor Senthil Thondaiman, High Commissioner to India Kshenuka Seneviratne, and Deputy High Commissioner D. Venkateshwaran distributed the passports to the first batch of 200 in a ceremony at the Deputy High Commission in Chennai.

Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Non Resident Tamils Welfare Gingee K.S. Masthan, who was also present, recalled that the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly had adopted a resolution urging the Union government to grant Indian citizenship to Sri Lankans living in Tamil Nadu. 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.”

Mr. Thondaiman 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 Tamil Nadu government headed by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and the State’s people for being a “guardian” for over one lakh Tamil people from Sri Lanka.

Mr. Thondaiman also recalled his appeal to BJP State president K. Annamalai in the presence of the Lankan president 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 S. Jaishankar, he said, adding that “work has commenced” in this regard.

Sagala Ratnayaka, advisor to the Sri Lankan president, addressed the meeting virtually. He said that Sri Lanka was very grateful to the Indian and Tamil Nadu 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.