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Time not right for repatriating Tamil refugees: Panneerselvam
Chennai, Jan 28
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O.
Panneerselvam Wednesday said discussions on voluntary repatriation of
Sri Lankan Tamil refugees should be deferred as it is premature to
deliberate the matter now.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, the text of which was released to the media here, Panneerselvam
said: "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 gain the requisite confidence to return to
their native land."
"In this context, we believe that having a
meeting to discuss voluntary repatriation of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees
is premature and should be deferred for the present," he said.
Panneerselvam
was responding to a letter from the ministry of external affairs to the
state government inviting a senior officer to attend an
inter-ministerial meeting Jan 30 on voluntary repatriation of Lankan
Tamil refugees.
Pointing out that Lankan Tamil refugees can go
back on their own even now, Panneerselvam termed the proposed meeting an
exercise to encourage them to leave for their homeland.
Panneerselvam
said presently there are 102,055 refugees belonging to 34,524 families
in Tamil Nadu of whom 64,924 belonging to 19,625 families are in 107
refugee camps.
"Further, I would like to place on record that 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.
While recent political developments in Lanka are a cause
for hope and have raised expectations of reconciliation there are still
apprehensions about the presence of the Sri Lankan Army in Tamil areas,
Panneerselvam said.
"The positive intention of the new government
in Sri Lanka to ensure rehabilitation and reconciliation are yet to be
translated into action which would give confidence to the Sri Lankan
Tamils living outside Sri Lanka to return," he said.
Credible and
specific reconciliation measures must be undertaken which alone can
create adequate confidence amongst the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to
return to their native land.
"The autonomy and democratic rights
of the minority Tamil population in the country must be fully protected
and they should not be subjected to further persecution and humiliation
nor their second class citizenship status perpetuated," Panneerselvam
said.
"Only after such measures are taken and confidence
restored, will the refugees be able to even countenance any possible
voluntary repatriation," he said.