Beefed-up maritime patrols to stop Lankan economic refugees fleeing to TN
Navy and security authorities have stepped up security and patrolling activities along the North-East maritime border to prevent Sri Lankan economic refugees from fleeing to Tamil Nadu citing food scarcity.
On Thursday, a family of four, including an infant, and the skipper of the fishing boat were arrested by Navy teams deployed in the Gulf of Mannar while they were waiting for passage the following day. They have been handed over to the police for legal action.
With 19 Sri Lankan refugees reaching India’s Tamil Nadu coast last Sunday, the total number of refugees who fled from Sri Lanka due to the economic crisis has increased to 39 since March 22 this year.
More than 100,000 Sri Lankan refugees are still living in temporary camps and rented homes across the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, almost 13 years after the end of the separatist insurgency in the North.
Navy teams organised meetings with civil society, fishermen’s federations and the people in Mannar this week to urge them not to get involved in organising illegal passage to India by fishing boats. They were also encouraged to give tip-offs about any such activity in coastal villages.
Meanwhile, the few families that fled to Tamil Nadu recently are being sheltered at the Staterun Mandapam Special camp in Rameshwaran. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin issued a directive to local Indian authorities to provide adequate basic facilities, including dry ration packages to the families.
Mr. Stalin in a message to India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reiterated the State government's commitment to ship essential supplies including food grain, vegetables and medicines from Thoothukudi port to Sri Lankan Tamils in Northern and Eastern parts of
Sri Lanka, Colombo and the plantation sector Tamils who are reeling under severe food crisis.
"I request that this may be facilitated at the earliest in view of the worsening situation in Sri Lanka," the Chief Minister said as per an official statement released by his office on Friday.
GTF says protests should lead to meaningful, long lasting changes
A Tamil diaspora organisation has urged that the current momentum caused by the ongoing protests against the government should not be lost but instead should lead to a historical transformation in the country with meaningful and long lasting changes.
Global Tamil Forum (GTF), an umbrella organisation of Tamil diaspora outfits based in North America and Europe has recognised remarkable and hopeful developments taking place in the country while stressing that "Sri Lanka has undoubtedly reached its nadir in its post-independent history and is fast becoming a failed state,"
It is time the leadership listened to the people, put aside destructive personal and political agendas, and acted in partnership with all political parties to make fundamental changes to the present governance arrangements with targeted initiatives to overcome the economic crisis, the GTF said while stressing embarking on deceptive half measures such as reallocating ministries among the same council of ministers is not a credible option.
"The message from the people is clear – they had enough of the corruption and nepotism of the Rajapaksa family and are calling for accountability for their past and present actions; want freedom to express their views and protest peacefully; do not want authoritarian rule under any political leadership; and want to return to their normal life with basic economic needs met," GTF said.