Still refugees, after 30 years

Chief Minister M K Stalin seeks Indian citizenship for an estimated 89,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing in Tamil Nadu. Will the Centre oblige?

Palaniandi Nagenthiran has completed 15 years since returning to Sri Lanka for good after living for over two decades in India as a Tamil refugee. But he still misses Tamil Nadu.

Now running a business, Nagenthiran, 48, leads a busy life at Mankulam, a small town 93 kilometres south of Jaffna. “I am happy. I am no more a refugee,” he said over the telephone. “Living in a camp was not easy. But when I think of the educational opportunities, medical facilities and recreation there, I long for Tamil Nadu.”

In Chennai, R Pathmanathan, one of the large numbers of Sri Lankan Tamils at a refugee camp adjoining the Central Jail, is all set to return to Mullaitivu in Sri Lanka. Like Nagenthiran, he, too, sailed to Tamil Nadu as a teenager with his parents in 1990, shortly after heavy fighting resumed between the military and the Tamil Tigers after the Indian Army withdrew from the war theatre.

“I have lived for 36 years in Tamil Nadu. I am now 51,” he said. “My parents are in Mullaitivu, we have a house there. So, I want to go back to Sri Lanka. If all goes well, I will fly out of India next week.”

Both Nagenthiran and Pathmanathan admit they represent a minority among the estimated 89,000 Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, as most of them are reluctant to return to Sri Lanka for more reasons than one.

The unsettled status of the refugees has come into focus after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15 to grant them Indian citizenship or suitable long-term visas. Citing humanitarian reasons, Stalin pointed out that many refugees have spent around 30 years in India amid legal uncertainties and almost 40% have been born in Tamil Nadu.

Boatloads of Tamils began fleeing Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu after vicious anti-Tamil riots swept Colombo in 1983, following the killing of 13 soldiers in Jaffna by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A second wave of refugees flocked to India by the sea in the wake of fresh fighting in the island nation in 1990.

Over the years, many refugees migrated from India to Western countries, giving rise to a powerful and affluent Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. But the ones with the least resources were constrained to remain in Tamil Nadu in more than 100 camps.

“More than 80% of our people do not want to return to Sri Lanka,” Pathmanathan said. According to him, most would be happy to stay on in India if they get citizenship. Some aim to join their relatives in the West.

Stalin’s appeal to Modi sparked an immediate reaction in Sri Lanka, where one opposition leader called for a return of all the refugees. But President Anura Dissanayake’s government does not seem eager to welcome them back.

The leader of an NGO, which works with the refugees, says it is high time a permanent solution was found for them. “How long can a people live in limbo?” asked Chandrahasan Ilangovan, also a leader of the Federal Party of Sri Lanka who commutes between Jaffna and Chennai.

Successive Tamil Nadu governments with the backing of the central government have provided every month Rs 1,500 to heads of refugee families. Other adult members get Rs 750 and children under 12 Rs 400. Since this money cannot go far, the refugees are allowed to take up work outside the camps. While a section has attained reasonable education and holds white collar jobs, many – including those with diploma level studies – do odd jobs for a living.

“We are grateful to India for doing so much, but life as refugees is difficult,” said Nataraja Saravanan, 46, who sailed to Tamil Nadu as a nine-year-old. “Officials keep checking our IDs. It adds to our problems because we need to be in the camps when this happens.”

Stalin wants New Delhi to axe earlier administrative instructions that barred consideration of citizenship applications and to clarify that refugees sheltered in India up to January 9, 2015 would not be treated as “illegal migrants”.

Shanthan K Thambiah, a Tamil political commentator based out of London, underlined that Sri Lankan Tamils in Europe and North America earned their citizenship within roughly 10 years. “It is not fair that so many are without citizenship even after being in India for three decades,” he said. “I am sure Tamils will prove to be assets if they become Indians. Today, the Tamils’ contribution to the larger society is acknowledged in the UK, Canada and Australia.”

Sri Lankans say that many second-generation Tamil refugees born and raised in India have developed social, cultural and economic roots in Tamil Nadu. For them, Sri Lanka is not a lived homeland but an inherited property shaped by their parents’ displacement. India is the only country they know although life in the refugee camps can be harsh.

“Granting Indian citizenship would offer dignity, legal certainty and long-term stability to those who have already built their lives in India,” said Aruliniyan Mahalingam, who edits the popular monthly, Jaffna Monitor.

Indian officials say the citizenship law does not favour Tamil refugees, but the circumstances could change. Also, authorities remain wary of the persisting influence of the LTTE ideology in some refugees, more so as sections of Tamil Nadu politicians continue to glorify the vanquished rebels.

Some Sri Lankan Tamil leaders, however, feel the mass return of the refugees from India would add to the strength of the community in Sri Lanka where the Tamil population has fallen steeply due to unending migration, leading to the greater political marginalisation of the long-suffering Tamil minority.

(The writer is a long-time observer of Sri Lanka and the author of four books on the ethnic conflict)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.