Those who have watched the agony of the million or so of stateless persons of Indian origin in Ceylon hope that, with the co-author of the Sirimavo-Shastri Pact again firmly in the saddle in the island, the Agreement will be fairly and speedily implemented. The latest directive of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike to speed up repatriation of those persons of Indian origin by removing such bottlenecks as the settlement of the provident fund and other dues to such would-be repatriates may well reflect anxiety on her part to get the Pact moving faster. For it is well nigh six years since it was signed, Ceylon thereby agreeing to confer its citizenship on 3,00,000 stateless persons to match the grant of Indian passports to 5,25,000 persons. But for a variety of reasons, political and administrative, Ceylon has lagged far behind India in granting Ceylon citizenship, the actual figures being only 7,316 persons given Ceylon citizenship as against 72,000 persons given Indian passports. What is causing greater concern is the apparent emphasis on Ceylon’s part on matching its grant of citizenship with the actual number of repatriates to India rather than the number of those given Indian citizenship, but whose repatriation may be delayed.
