Sri Lanka refugees in a quandary on returning to homeland

Chennai: The Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka has left in a quandary refugees of the island nation living in Tamil Nadu, who recently opted to return to their homeland.

The series of blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday left 310 people dead.

Expressing serious concern about the blasts in his homeland, founder of the Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation S. C. Chandrahasan said 3,815 refugees in Tamil Nadu recently opted to return to Sri Lanka.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed though Sri Lanka was apprised by the Indian government of the intent of 3,815 refugees to return,” he told PTI here.

Chandrahasan is the son of late “Thanthai Selva” (Father Selva), S. J. V. Chelvanayagam, a prominent Tamil leader of Sri Lanka of yesteryear.

The violence of such a magnitude indicated the hand of external forces and it could have a serious impact on the economy of his country, he said.

Sectors like tourism in particular may be hit and it would reflect on job opportunities for everyone, including the returnees, he said.

Though refugees betting on agriculture and fishing were still confident of making their ends meet once they go back, everybody could not be expected to “depend on land (farming) or sea (fishing) for a living,” he noted.

It may not be possible to spell out immediately as to how many of the 3,815 refugees would stick to their plans to return, he said.

Chandrahasan (77) works for the welfare of Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu. A native of Tellipalai in Jaffna district in Sri Lanka, he arrived in Chennai in 1983 when the island nation touched a new high in violence, resulting in alleged killings of Tamils.

Asked about the impact of the bombings in the ties between Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka’s eastern province, where both lived in large numbers, he said the lives of both were intertwined.

He wanted all possible steps to ensure that differences were not allowed to crop up following the blasts. The concern over a section of Muslim youth in the eastern province in Sri Lanka getting swayed by extremist influences was shared by Islamic elders as well, he pointed out.

“Thankfully,” he said, it was only a small section of youth that was influenced by such extremist ideologies. The Srilankan government should take all steps to address the issue of extremist influence on sections of the youth, he said.

A native of Batticaloa in the eastern province and a refugee Param said Muslims and Tamils were dependent on each other.

“If a Tamil has to visit his farm, he has to traverse a Muslim’s landholdings and vice versa in villages of the eastern province. One village will be Tamil and another Muslim and we live together and we have to do,” he said.

If the situation was not handled well by all stakeholders, it may lead to problems, he added. Chandrahasan said “we (the Tamil people), by working alongside Muslims, have to secure our rights.”

If extremism reared its ugly head, it will become problematic. “Especially in Batticaloa this has become a big challenge,” Chandrahasan noted. Of the about one lakh Sri Lankan refugees, approximately 61,000 live in 107 camps in TN.