Radical Islamists were armed by Sri Lankan govt in Civil War; urge India to do more for Hindus: Siva Senai
4 years, 11 months ago

Radical Islamists were armed by Sri Lankan govt in Civil War; urge India to do more for Hindus: Siva Senai

India TV News  

Making a strong pitch for the inclusion of Sri Lankan Hindus under the amended Citizenship Act, Jaffna-based rights’ activist and former United Nations advisor Dr Maravanpulavu Sachithananthan told India TV in an exclusive interview that New Delhi must either create pathways for citizenship for Sri Lankan Hindus or negotiate their rehabilitation in Sri Lanka with Colombo. The Sri Lankan government says that efforts are on to rehabilitate the war refugees, mostly Tamilian Hindus, in the wake of the Sri Lankan Civil War. In the case of Sri Lankan refugees, approximately 1.5 million refugees, mostly Tamilian Hindus, have migrated to 40 different countries. In this backdrop, New Delhi must either grant citizenship to Sri Lankan refugees under the CAA or facilitate their return to Sri Lanka.

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History of this topic

What does Sri Lankan President's promise to return state-occupied land mean for the Tamils?
1 month, 3 weeks ago

What does Sri Lankan President's promise to return state-occupied land mean for the Tamils?

New Indian Express  

According to California-based think tank 'The Oakland Institute', the land grabs strategically targetted the most densely Tamil and Muslim populated areas "to erase their history and culture while destroying their claim to a unified homeland." Even if the politicians want, the military will not give up the control of the land," explained Dr Paul Newman, associate professor of History at …

A story of displacement to one of empowerment
6 months, 3 weeks ago

A story of displacement to one of empowerment

The Hindu  

The Sri Lankan Tamils who arrived on the shores of Tamil Nadu, India, for the first time in 1983 had lost everything. Currently, as of January 1, 2024, there are 57,975 refugees living in 105 government-run camps in Tamil Nadu and an estimated 40,000 Sri Lankan Tamils living outside the camps in Tamil Nadu with police registration from sources such …

A poverty of hope among Sri Lankan Tamils
7 months, 2 weeks ago

A poverty of hope among Sri Lankan Tamils

The Hindu  

When Antony Jesurathnam Mariapushparani, 62, recalls the horrific final days of Sri Lanka’s civil war in striking detail, it is hard to believe it has been 15 years since its end. I saw the destruction with my own eyes,” she says of the time when tens of thousands of Tamils, including women, children, and infants, were killed in the Sri …

Sri Lanka’s Tamils face arrest as they remember the dead
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Sri Lanka’s Tamils face arrest as they remember the dead

The Hindu  

The recent arrest of four Tamils in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province — when they commemorated their loved ones killed in the final phases of the civil war in 2009 — has put Tamils’ right to memorialise in sharp focus yet again. The police said the arrests were based on magistrate court orders that ruled against holding such commemorative events, citing …

End the uncertainty: The Hindu Editorial on the Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu
1 year ago

End the uncertainty: The Hindu Editorial on the Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu

The Hindu  

The Madras High Court has demonstrated how the judiciary can provide succour to a person waiting for over 40 years to get Indian citizenship. In T. Ganesan vs The Government of India & Others, the Madurai Bench of the High Court, in its judgment on November 30, directed the authorities to treat the petitioner and his family as Indian citizens, …

10 Sri Lankan Tamils arrived to India seeking refuge
1 year, 8 months ago

10 Sri Lankan Tamils arrived to India seeking refuge

New Indian Express  

RAMANATHAPURAM: A total of 10 Sri Lankan Tamils, including four children and four women, were rescued from the first sand bar near Dhanushkodi on Saturday. The police found that they were from Mullaitivu region in Sri Lanka and had arrived in India hoping to get a better life. Speaking to TNIE, Jacintha Lazarus, Commissioner of Rehabilitation and Welfare of Non …

Tamils flag escalating attacks on temples in northern Sri Lanka
1 year, 8 months ago

Tamils flag escalating attacks on temples in northern Sri Lanka

The Hindu  

Tamils in Sri Lanka have witnessed an escalation in the attack on Hindu temples in recent weeks, a trend that they note is part of the State’s “ongoing Sinhalisation project” in the island’s north. Mr. Sajith was the Minister in charge of this project.” Mr. Ponnambalam said Tamils have been struggling against “this genocidal agenda”, of “erasing the Tamil identity” …

Keen to solve Tamil community problems in Sri Lanka by next year: Wickremesinghe
2 years, 1 month ago

Keen to solve Tamil community problems in Sri Lanka by next year: Wickremesinghe

Deccan Chronicle  

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday said that he is keen to solve all issues, including land and housing, pertaining to the Tamil minority community in the country's Northern Province by next year when the island nation celebrates its 75th anniversary of Independence. Speaking in Vavuniya, a Tamil dominated district in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka where …

Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe hopeful of resolving problems faced by ethnic Tamils
2 years, 2 months ago

Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe hopeful of resolving problems faced by ethnic Tamils

The Hindu  

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said he is hopeful of resolving the problems faced by ethnic Tamils in the country, as he announced the appointment of a committee to find ways to integrate the Indian-origin workers in the plantation sector into the society. “While some of the Tamils of Hill Country origin had integrated successfully into the Sri Lankan …

Persecuted Hindu Tamils from Sri Lanka could obtain Indian citizenship under CAA: Madras HC
2 years, 2 months ago

Persecuted Hindu Tamils from Sri Lanka could obtain Indian citizenship under CAA: Madras HC

Op India  

On Sunday, October 16, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court observed that the principles of the 2019 Citizenship Act could be applied to Hindu Tamils who were forced to abandon Sri Lanka. The single-judge bench of Justice GR Swaminathan held that although Sri Lanka is not covered under CAA, the Hindu Tamils in the Island country could obtain …

Sri Lanka crisis: Refugees in Tamil Nadu were dreaming of returning to their island nation
2 years, 7 months ago

Sri Lanka crisis: Refugees in Tamil Nadu were dreaming of returning to their island nation

The Hindu  

For over 80 Tamils, including children and infants, who took boats and landed in Tamil Nadu in the last few months, the risky journey was not only about fleeing Sri Lanka’s dire economic situation. “After spending years or decades away in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, many families came back hoping to build a new life here,” says P. Nagenthiran, …

Sri Lankan protesters include Tamil victims in war memorial
2 years, 7 months ago

Sri Lankan protesters include Tamil victims in war memorial

Associated Press  

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan protesters lit flames and offered prayers Wednesday remembering thousands — including ethnic Tamil civilians — killed in the final stages of the country’s decadeslong civil war, in the first-ever event where mostly majority ethnic Sinhalese openly memorialized the minority group. Protesters gathered outside the president’s office floated flowers in the nearby sea and prayed …

T.N. requests temporary asylum for Tamils arriving from Sri Lanka
2 years, 8 months ago

T.N. requests temporary asylum for Tamils arriving from Sri Lanka

The Hindu  

With people from Tamil-speaking areas of Sri Lanka arriving in Tamil Nadu illegally in the wake of the economic crisis in the island nation, the State government has requested the Union government to grant permission for “special provisions to give temporary asylum” to them, as in the case of the refugees staying in camps. Fishermen’s plight In a letter to …

19 more Lankan Tamils take reach India amid worst economic crisis
2 years, 9 months ago

19 more Lankan Tamils take reach India amid worst economic crisis

India TV News  

Highlights 19 more Sri Lankan Tamils seek refuge in India as Sri Lanka The Lankan refugees arrived near Rameswaram early on Sunday morning Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948 19 more Sri Lankan Tamils seek refuge in India as Sri Lanka witnessed one of its worst economic crises. Police personnel, including …

Sri Lankan family returns to Tamil Nadu as refugees after 12 years
2 years, 9 months ago

Sri Lankan family returns to Tamil Nadu as refugees after 12 years

India Today  

A family of four, including a 2-year-old child, reached Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka on Friday, April 8. The severe economic crisis has forced another family from Sri Lanka to come to India as refugees. Ranjitha and Kishanthan used to live as refugees in India during the Sri Lankan civil war. The Indian coast guard has advised officials to intensify …

Passage to India: Arrival of economic refugees from Sri Lanka looms large
2 years, 9 months ago

Passage to India: Arrival of economic refugees from Sri Lanka looms large

The Hindu  

O n March 29, the Indian Coast Guard observed a Sri Lankan fishing boat off Point Calimere on the Indian side of the International Maritime Boundary Line. Indian intelligence agencies suspect that the boat was on a reconnaissance mission to figure out new landing strips on the Indian side because of a new business opportunity: that of ferrying Sri Lankan …

Home away from home: Sri Lankan Tamils and Rohingyas rebuild their lives
2 years, 9 months ago

Home away from home: Sri Lankan Tamils and Rohingyas rebuild their lives

The Hindu  

Although India has hosted refugees since Independence, it is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol and does not have a national policy applicable to refugees. The study, titled ‘ Rohingyas and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu: a replicable model of semi-permanent resettlement in low-resource settings ’, published in Equality, Diversity …

Crisis in Sri Lanka: The Hindu Editorial on the economic crisis
2 years, 9 months ago

Crisis in Sri Lanka: The Hindu Editorial on the economic crisis

The Hindu  

Sri Lanka is facing an economic crisis with long queues in front of petrol stations, steep rise in prices of essential commodities and frequent blackouts. Over the last three months, India has provided assistance of $2.4 billion including a $500 million loan deferment and $1 billion credit line to enable the supply of essential commodities. Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa should also …

Question mark remains over status of 16 Sri Lankans who reached T.N.
2 years, 9 months ago

Question mark remains over status of 16 Sri Lankans who reached T.N.

The Hindu  

The illegal entry of 16 persons from Sri Lanka’s Northern Province into Rameswaram on Tuesday has triggered a debate on whether they can be accorded the refugee status. Ordinarily, a person who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion is regarded as a refugee …

Tamil Nadu government announces a slew of benefits for Sri Lankan refugees, including measures to improve conditions in camps
3 years, 4 months ago

Tamil Nadu government announces a slew of benefits for Sri Lankan refugees, including measures to improve conditions in camps

The Hindu  

Stalin has announced a series of welfare measures and benefits for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, at a total cost of Rs.317 crore. The first Sri Lankan Tamil refugees came to Tamil Nadu following the ethnic cleansing pogrom in Sri Lanka in 1983. The scheme includes construction of 3,510 houses for Sri Lankan refugees at a cost of …

India ramps up engagement for Tamil rights in Sri Lanka
3 years, 6 months ago

India ramps up engagement for Tamil rights in Sri Lanka

India Today  

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday held two interesting meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the importance that New Delhi places on issues such as negotiated devolution of powers for Sri Lankan Tamils and their aspirations for equality, justice, and peace. The citizenship of Sri Lankan refugees in the state, a permanent solution to the fishermen's issue, …

What is behind the anti-Muslim measures in Sri Lanka?
3 years, 8 months ago

What is behind the anti-Muslim measures in Sri Lanka?

Al Jazeera  

On March 13, Sarath Weerasekara, Sri Lanka’s minister of public security, announced that the government will ban wearing of the burqa and close more than 1,000 Islamic schools in the country. During their political campaigning after 2015, the Rajapaksas’ new party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, took on a Sinhala supremacist position, accommodating activist monks and anti-Muslim movement stalwarts. When …

Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu: The nowhere people
3 years, 10 months ago

Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu: The nowhere people

India Today  

Days after the Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019, T Yanadhan, a 28-year-old man born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents living in a refugee camp in Pavalathanur in Tamil Nadu's Salem district, sought the collector's permission to kill himself. Yanadhan is one among 94,069 Sri Lanka Tamil refugees living in various parts of Tamil Nadu: most of …

Sri Lankan Tamil women fighting for land 10 years after war ended
4 years, 9 months ago

Sri Lankan Tamil women fighting for land 10 years after war ended

Al Jazeera  

Dozens have been protesting for the past three years, demanding army return their land confiscated during the civil war. Army spokesman Chandana Wickramasinghe said approximately 85 percent of the private land that was held by the armed forces in the north and east had “already been handed over to the legitimate owners”. “In the Sri Lankan context, land is a …

I favour return of Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka, says former CM of Sri Lanka's Northern Province
4 years, 11 months ago

I favour return of Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka, says former CM of Sri Lanka's Northern Province

The Hindu  

The former Chief Minister of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, C.V. Wigneswaran, on Monday asserted that he was for the return of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in Tamil Nadu and other parts of India to home soil. When asked whether his recent call for the granting of dual citizenship to the refugees marked any nuanced shift in position …

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India, the nowhere people
5 years ago

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India, the nowhere people

The Hindu  

Defying logic, two communities of SriLankan Tamils have been left out of the ambit of the Citizenship Bill : the plantation Tamils, who have roots in India and were forcibly relocated to Sri Lanka by the British as indentured labourers, and the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in India. The Sri Lankan Tamils in refugee camps tick one more box; …

Tamils should get back lost land: Sri Lankan refugees
5 years, 1 month ago

Tamils should get back lost land: Sri Lankan refugees

Deccan Chronicle  

RAMESWARAM: Responding to the return of the Rakjapaksa brothers to the helm of government in Sri Lanka with a sense of apprehension and trepidation, Tamil refugees from the Island-Republic staying in the Mandapam transit camp near here have urged the new regime to return all the land and property the Tamils in North and East lost during the long civil …

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees seek Indian citizenship
5 years, 5 months ago

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees seek Indian citizenship

Deccan Chronicle  

SALEM: A group of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing in camps in Salem district on Monday trooped to the district collectorate and presented a petition to the district collector S A Raman, urging the Central government to grant them 'Indian Citizenship'. As many as 900 Sri Lankan Tamil families reside in eight camps set up for them in Salem district. …

10 years after Eelam War: ‘We are still refugees, say SL Tamils
5 years, 7 months ago

10 years after Eelam War: ‘We are still refugees, say SL Tamils

Deccan Chronicle  

RAMESWARAM: “Ten years have gone by since the Sri Lankan Armed forces vanquished the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, but we are still refugees with no equal citizenship rights,” lamented Vishwanathan, a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee at the main Mandapam camp near here on Sunday, disapproving the Island-Government’s “celebration” of this day to mark its military victory. “For the Sri …

Radicalization among Sri Lanka’s Muslims was slow and steady
5 years, 8 months ago

Radicalization among Sri Lanka’s Muslims was slow and steady

Associated Press  

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Attacks against mosques, shrines and followers of Sufi sheikhs in Sri Lanka more than a decade ago point to early warning signs of fundamentalism taking root among a sliver of the country’s Muslims. In 2014, a group called the “Peace Loving Moderate Muslims in Sri Lanka” published a statement in the local Daily Mirror newspaper …

25 Sri Lankan Tamil families want to return home
5 years, 10 months ago

25 Sri Lankan Tamil families want to return home

Deccan Chronicle  

Rameswaram: At least 25 Sri Lankan Tamil families staying the in the largest camp for them at Mandapam camp near here for long years have petitioned the special deputy thasildar in-charge of the transit camp, Mr. Ramachandran, stating they wish to get back to Sri Lanka as early as possible. This is reflective of a wider trend found among over …

Sri Lanka wants to take back all Tamil refugees from India: Envoy
5 years, 11 months ago

Sri Lanka wants to take back all Tamil refugees from India: Envoy

India TV News  

Sri Lanka wants to take back all Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are now in India, country's High Commissioner to India Austin Fernando said on Friday. "With around 5,000 of these refugees having already returned, we now want to take the rest of them back to their original places," Fernando said while delivering a speech on "Post 2015: Reconciliation Milestones …

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