Meet on Tamils repatriation ‘premature’: Panneerselvam

Conditions in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka still not conducive, the Chief Minister says

January 28, 2015 03:05 pm | Updated April 02, 2016 01:48 am IST - CHENNAI:

Terming as premature an inter-ministerial meeting to be held on Friday in New Delhi to discuss the issue of voluntary repatriation of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Wednesday called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defer the meeting for the present.

“The process of voluntary repatriation could be considered only after concrete and credible measures are taken by the Sri Lankan Government and the Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu are given adequate verifiable assurances and [they] gain the requisite confidence to return to their native land,” Chief Minister said in his letter to Mr. Modi.

Pointing out that even now, refugees who wanted to leave for Sri Lanka on their own volition were doing so, the Chief Minister said the meeting could be perceived to be an exercise to encourage Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to leave for Sri Lanka. Besides, “the conditions in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka are still not conducive for the refugees to return to their native land,” he said.

At present about 1.02 lakh refugees belonging to about 34,500 families were living in the State, of whom around 65,000 refugees were in 107 refugee camps, he added

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.