Citizenship to refugees: Centre decision soon

"The DMK has passed a resolution that permanent citizenship should be provided to Lankan refugees in India. I spoke about this with the Chief Minister. The Prime Minister, after holding discussions with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, would decided on it soon."
_________

(October 03, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Exactly a week after Tamilnadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi put forth a proposal to provide permanent citizenship to the Sri Lankan refugees who prefer to stay in India, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said the Centre would take a decision on the issue soon.

Talking to mediapersons after meeting Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence here, Chidambaram said the Union government would also decide soon on sending an MPs delegation to the island nation to know the condition of Tamils there.

‘The DMK has passed a resolution that permanent citizenship should be provided to Lankan refugees in India. I spoke about this with the Chief Minister. The Prime Minister, after holding discussions with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, would decided on it soon. I also spoke with the CM on sending an MPs team to Sri Lanka,’ he said.

Karunanidhi said Saturday last that he would take steps to ensure that the Centre granted citizenship to the more than one lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in the State if they desired so. He made the announcement at a function bringing down the curtains on the year-long centenary celebrations of C N Annadurai in Kancheepuram, the DMK founder’s birthplace.

‘We will adopt legal and peaceful means to press the Centre to let the Sri Lankan Tamils who have taken refuge in Tamilnadu for the past 20 years, to stay here permanently and rehabilitate them,’ he declared.

Earlier, the DMK passed a resolution requesting the party chief to take steps to ensure that the Tamil refugees in the State were given the option of citizenship under the Indian Citizenship Act.

The DMK ‘Mupperum Vizha’, adopted another resolution urging the Centre to retrieve the island of Katchatheevu, ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974, back to India to protect the dignity and livelihood interests of Tamilnadu fishermen.

As many as 73,572 refugees have been staying in 115 camps across Tamilnadu and more than 30,000 reside outside the camps in different parts of the state. Following the end of the Eelam war and defeat of the LTTE, there has been much apprehension among the refugees that they would be sent back home against their wish.

-Sri Lanka Guardian